Chapter 54
Lucas
I straightened the cuffs on my jacket, touching my pockets to make sure I had everything. An array of guns dotted my body, not to mention the knives tucked into my suit.
It was time to end this.
Exiting the bathroom, I gazed down at the sleeping form in the bed, my heart twisting. It was early still, but I knew when she woke, Leda would be heading to meet with her father and start the process of negotiating for her brother’s life. I had thought about locking her in the bedroom to keep her from going, but after last night, I knew that it was the right thing to do.
As much as I hated it, Leda had her own demons to fight, and she wouldn’t let me join her.
We didn’t have a choice with this, but I could ensure that she was well protected when she did confront her father.
I walked over to the wardrobe and quietly removed two loaded handguns that I had checked earlier. I had seen Leda’s ability to handle a gun, and I wanted her to level the playing field for when she confronted her father.
But that wasn’t it. Reaching in, I pulled down a box, one that I hadn’t looked at in a long, long while, and retrieved the gold ring that Cosimo had left me in his will. It was a signet ring with the Cavazzo emblem outlined with a large emerald. It wasn’t an engagement ring by any means, but if this shit went south today, it would get her the help she needed to raise our son or daughter.
It was all I had. All my holdings, all my properties were now in her name, something I had done long ago before this had gotten serious between us. I wanted Leda to be taken care of, to give her an out so that she didn’t have to depend on her father or her brother ever again.
Moving over to the bed, I placed the items on the nightstand, a wealth of emotions welling up inside me. There was so much to say and very little time to say it. I doubted she would ever know the depth of my love for her, how she had changed my fucking life and made me wish that I was a better man to give her the life she deserved.
My life was fucked up, but Leda had been the only person who had found it meaningful.
Swallowing hard, I gazed down at her sleeping form. Last night I had tried to show her what she meant to me, to help her understand that she had given a fucking soul to a monster. I knew that Leda didn’t care. I knew she loved me and all my faults, and if I was going to meet my maker today, then it would be her face that I would see in the end, the regrets more because I wouldn’t be there for our kid than anything.
My hand drifted into her hair lightly and I leaned down, brushing my lips over her temple. “I love you,” I whispered. I had never said the words so much before as I had with her and every time I said them, I realized that they were imprints on my soul. There would never be another for me.
Leda was it.
Stepping back, my eyes drifted over the slight bump under the covers. That was what I was doing this for. Fuck the Mafia. Fuck my title and all the power that went with it. I wanted to see that kid grow up, and every move I made had that particular thought in mind.
I had to survive this confrontation with Adrian and then rescue my life, my love, from her father.
It was that easy.
I moved away before I changed my mind and walked silently to the elevator, taking it to the first floor. I’d stared death in the face many times before, and each time I’d laughed in its face.
This time, I went in with a different thought, one that was going to be more calculated than ever. I had a shitload to live for now.
That, and I didn’t have any backup to help me, nor did I want any. I was going to handle this myself.
Instead of calling for a car, I took an Uber to the address that Adrian had sent me, pushing any thoughts of Leda out of my mind for now. I needed to concentrate if I wanted to see another day. It was time for the enforcer to come back out to play, and I wasn’t going to leave until Adrian’s blood coated my hands. Adrian had gotten away with attempting to ruin me for far too long.
The ride was short, and I was surprised to see that it was only a few blocks from where Leda and I had been staying. The cluster of buildings all looking vaguely the same in the early morning light.
There were a lot of places for me to be ambushed. I cautiously stepped out of the car, my hand on my gun tucked into my waistband. It would have been a hell of a lot easier to send a team, whatever team we had left that is, to scout the location and eliminate the threat, but I didn’t have that sort of time on my hands. Besides, Adrian wasn’t the smartest crayon in the box, and if he had planned some elaborate trap, I would be fucking surprised. I knew he wanted blood, my blood to be exact.
I wouldn’t mind shedding his either. Because of his fucking idiocy, he had nearly gotten Leda killed more times than I could count. He had touched her, hit her, and that was enough for me to make him suffer.
Not only that, but he had also taken those that I cared about and scared the hell out of them to draw me out. That alone was a death sentence that Adrian was going to find out about really quickly. He had overstepped his bounds by taking my Mafia from me, but more importantly, he had tried to take the things that I cherished the most.
It was going to be a move he would live to regret.
Straightening my shoulders, I forced myself to don the mask that I had used for many years, reminding myself that I was an enforcer, a don, a monster.
Adrian had messed with the wrong man.
The door opened nearly immediately as I approached the building, and before I could draw my weapon, Ruhua appeared in the doorway.