“Leda.”
My name came out as a whispered plea, and I closed my eyes, my heart breaking.
“Take the gun.”
I opened my eyes, drawing in a shaky breath. “No. I don’t need anything from you, Lucas. Not anymore.”
With that, I opened the door and stepped out into the drizzling rain, seeing my brother’s second-in-command standing near the car. “Vincent,” I acknowledged, adjusting the backpack and forgetting all about the don who was watching my every step.
“Leda,” he replied, inclining his head. “Are you ready to go home?”
Home. That word held so many mixed emotions. I thought that I might have been home with Lucas, wherever we landed, but that had proved to not be the case.
Now I wasn’t sure where I belonged.
So, I straightened my shoulders. “Of course. I can’t wait to see my family.”
His lips lifted in a slight smile, and he opened the door to the back of the car. “Then let’s make that happen.”
I refused to turn back to look at Lucas, climbing into the back seat of the car and placing my bag next to me.
Chapter 46
Leda
Vincent climbed into the car, and I kept my eyes trained on the seat in front of me as he pulled away from the house, effectively leaving my heart behind.
My heart.
Lucas was my heart. Despite everything he had done, everything he had said, he was mine. I could pretend like I got over him, and maybe after a few months, the pain in my chest would lessen. Maybe I would go on to find someone who saw me as something special, something worth fighting for.
But no matter who it was, it wouldn’t be like my first love.
A tear slipped down my cheek as the car approached the road. I couldn’t stop this. I couldn’t refuse to go any further. Lucas wanted me gone, discarded like trash.
And it fucking hurt.
Nausea suddenly swarmed in the back of my throat, and I forced it back down, not wanting to throw up in the car. I never had gotten carsick before. Maybe it was the realization that I was really leaving Lucas and that my father was free and was possibly going to come after me to use me against Nico.
Maybe it was that I felt like my life wasn’t my own, nor had it ever been.
“Won’t be too long now,” Vincent explained as he turned onto the road. “We can stop for food if you want.”
“I’m good,” I forced out. “How are Nico and Rory?”
His eyes met mine in the rear-view mirror. “They are worried about you. Once I get you home, everyone will breathe a sigh of relief.”
“And my father?”
Vincent’s jaw clenched. “We are monitoring his movements. You are safe, Leda.”
Safe.
I wanted to laugh aloud, but the nausea wouldn’t let me. I wasn’t safe anywhere when it came to my father. He was too powerful. I mean, he had just gotten out of prison. Nothing could hold him. Nothing.
Vaguely I heard what sounded like rocks hitting the car before Vincent swore, the car taking off.
“Get down!” he shouted.