Chapter 45
Lucas
By the time that Leda made it back into the living room, I had picked up a few sandwiches from the bodega around the corner. I had also found a pair of joggers for myself, opting to keep my torso bare.
“Hey,” she said by way of greeting.
“Come eat,” I coaxed her, pulling out a chair from the island. “It’s not a five-star restaurant, but they haven’t killed me before.”
“How often do you come here?” Leda asked as she slid into the seat.
“Not often enough,” I admitted as I pushed a sandwich toward her.
I had preferred my penthouse for years whenever I was able to step away from the Mafia responsibilities. My homes, my lodgings, were my private domains. Before Leda, I hadn’t ever brought a woman to any of them.
There wouldn’t be any other women either. Leda was the only one for me. I was going to be a one-woman man for the rest of the time I had left.
“I like this one,” she stated, picking at the bread with her fingers. “It’s got a lot of light.”
Her voice lacked any sort of warmth, and I busied myself pouring her a glass of water.
I knew what she was going through, but if we weren’t careful, her despair could hurt our kid, and I couldn’t let that happen.
“Drink.”
Leda drew in a breath, leaning back in the chair. “I’m not thirsty, Lucas.”
“It’s not just about you,” I growled, nodding to the sandwich. “You need to keep up your strength, Leda.”
“I know,” she answered in a quiet voice. “I can’t help but think about what my brother is going through right now. And the kids.”
Leda’s voice broke, and I moved around the island, dragging her off the chair and into my arms. Somehow we found ourselves on the couch, Leda in my lap as she cried into my shirt. I tried to calm her, muttering things into her ear that I couldn’t even promise.
I couldn’t let her give up. It wasn’t just about the kid she carried. It was the fact that if I lost her, I lost everything that mattered in my life. She was my last shred of decency in this fucking world, the tether that kept my soul from going completely dark.
Losing her would break me. “Please,” I whispered against her hair. “Please, Leda, I need you to be strong.”
Her sobs finally quieted, and I got Leda to eat half her sandwich before carrying her to bed, tucking my body around hers.
“Thank you,” she whispered, resting her head on my arm.
I tightened my hold on her. “For what?”
“For caring, Lucas.”
That was my problem. I cared too fucking much about her now to live without her. I didn’t want to watch her waste away or to find out what it would be like to live with a broken Leda who had lost everything. Even if we survived this, without her brother, Leda wouldn’t be the same person.
In order for our future to be complete, we needed to find Nico and his family alive. “It’s going to be all right,” I finally said, smoothing her hair. “I swear it, Leda. We will find them.”
She didn’t respond, but once her breathing was even, I allowed myself to relax, falling asleep.
***
I shrugged on my coat and took a look in the mirror, running my hands through my still-damp hair as I did so. The man staring back at me was ruthless, powerful, fearless.
I was fucking Don Cavazzo, and no one could take that from me.
Glancing at my watch, I saw the black wedding band on my hand and frowned. Had Leda and I actually tied the knot? Not that I didn’t want to marry her. She was my future, the mother of my child and the woman that I wanted to have stand beside me for the rest of my life.