Chapter 36
Leda
He was alive.
I wanted to throw myself at him, to run my hands over his body and ensure that what I was seeing was indeed true.
But now he was giving me the third degree about waiting up for him. Like I could do anything but pace these floors! I had begged him not to go, but after some concessions, I had let him go. Lucas had been holed up with me for too long, and no matter how much I wanted him to stay by my side, safe and secure, Lucas was a fighter. He needed to be out there with the men, and I could understand it.
As long as he didn’t come back with any injuries. Or worse yet.
“I’m paying attention,” I finally said, seeing the flash of concern across his handsome features. “Standing on my feet isn’t going to make this baby come, Lucas.”
“Upstairs, now,” he growled, thrusting his hand through his hair.
I suppressed a groan and did as he asked, knowing there was no reason to fight with him. I wasn’t going to win. He thought I was some fragile woman because I was carrying his child, and while I enjoyed his attention, it was getting downright ridiculous.
When we made it upstairs, he walked over to the kitchen as I sat on the comfortable couch. “Do you think we are hitting the tipping point?” I asked, propping my feet up on the ottoman in front of me.
“We have to be,” Lucas admitted as he poured himself a glass of whiskey. “Adrian not being there tonight is proof that we are getting close. He’s running scared.”
I hoped so. I wanted it to be over, to move past this war with my father before this child was born. If we were still fighting afterward, then Lucas would have two people to worry about, and right now, he only had me to protect. And even that was getting more and more complicated by the day.
Lucas walked over to the ottoman and drank the entire glass of whiskey before sitting down, still dressed in the dark suit he preferred whenever he was out hunting.
His words, not mine.
“I really wish you would listen to me,” he said as he picked up one of my legs and slid the shoe from my foot. Even though it was turning cold outside, I always felt like I was baking on the inside. Tonight, I had chosen one of Lucas’s T-shirts and a pair of joggers, paired with some slip-on shoes that I had paced relentlessly in while he was gone.
Besides, nothing in my closet fitted me anymore. Lucas had offered to send Emil to pick up some maternity clothing, but it really didn’t matter. No one was going to see me anyway. “I’m trying,” I admitted as his thumb pressed into the arch of my foot. “It’s hard.”
He chuckled, that darn lock of hair falling over his forehead and making him look less like the Mafia Don that he was and more like a normal man. “Don’t make me tie you to the bed next time, Leda.”
A thrill shot through me, my nipples tingling at the thought. The last time he had tied me up, he had tortured me with his tongue until I couldn’t breathe. Swallowing, I forced the memory away. “I saw that the new mayoral candidate is backing down on defunding the police.”
The new change had been all over the news tonight, followed by speculation that he was attempting to hang onto the lead in the mayoral race.
Lucas ran a thumb up my foot, and I bit back a moan. God, that felt so good!
“Yeah, that won’t bode too well for us then,” he started, kneading my foot lightly. “I’m seeing more and more patrol cars around. Pretty soon, they’ll start arresting first, and asking questions later.”
I didn’t know if that was necessarily a bad thing overall, but it would be more difficult to find my father if we were all forced to hunker down.
Lucas moved to the other foot, giving me the same orgasmic feel as he had with the first.
“I’ve already made plans,” he was saying as I leaned against the cushions, watching him under heavy-lidded eyes. “I moved some money into another account. It’s not as much as I wanted it to be, but it’s enough to get us through a year or two if we are careful.”
I thought about all the frivolous things I had thrown away in my lifetime, the traveling and clothing that I hadn’t thought twice about spending money on. It was weird having to be a little more cautious now, all the funds going to supply the raids and keep the assault going.
Not that I had anywhere to go or anything to even do. “Maybe you won’t have to worry about it,” I said, resting my hand on my stomach. “If we can find them before then.”
“Then this shit will be over,” Lucas finished for me, giving my foot a pat. “Trust me, this is what I want more than anything, Leda. I want us to be able to leave here together and not have to worry about our lives.”
I wanted the same thing. I wanted to free not only myself and Lucas but also Nico and Rory from my father’s rule. I wanted us to have a home with a backyard so we could have cookouts with our loved ones.
Most of all, I didn’t want to have to worry.
“Did you check on the penthouse?” I asked lightly, knowing that had been on Lucas’s long list of things to do when he left.