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“Why are you so nervous?” His eyes pierce through me.
“I’m not…”
“You are. Did you not sleep well last night?”
I gulp. “Ah…”
“With Dante?”
I flinch. “Leo, I can explain?—”
He holds up a hand. “You are a grown woman. You can do what you wish with whomever you wish.”
I nod slowly. He doesn’t care that I slept with someone else? I guess I really don’t mean much to him then. Just another female in his mob who comes and fucks him. I don’t mind sleeping with him at all, but I don’t like the idea of him sleeping with Cara, Izzy, or any of the others.
Which is ridiculous because I slept with Dante the first chance I had.
Who am I to be jealous? Jealousy poisoned Derrick against me so that I lost everyone else in my life, males and females.
“You don’t want to do this, Olivia,” Leo warns.
“Do what?”
He leans against his desk. “Olivia, there's something you need to understand. I've done things, things that go beyond the shadows we tread. I've made choices, and I'll make them again if the need arises.”
His words, a reflection of a past shrouded in darkness, echo through the room, punctuating the silence with the weight of unspoken truths. The air thickens with a sense of foreboding, as if the shadows themselves are bearing witness to the complexities of Leo's existence.
“What are you trying to say?” I ask quietly.
He meets my gaze. “This world, Olivia, it demands a certain ruthlessness. I've walked a path stained by choices that some might call unforgivable. I need you to understand that I'm not a savior, and I'm not seeking redemption.”
A palpable tension lingers in the room, the unspoken acknowledgment of a reality that blurs the lines between right and wrong. Leo, a guardian of shadows, warns me not to tether my emotions too tightly to him, a cautionary tale that unravels amidst the murkiness of the clandestine world.
“I can't promise you a clean slate or absolution,” he says, his tone surprisingly soft. “The shadows have a way of staining everything they touch. Don't get too emotionally invested in me, Olivia. There are aspects of my world that I can't shield you from.”
The room, cloaked in shadows, becomes a canvas for the complexities of our entwined destinies. Leo's caution, delivered with a stoic demeanor, reverberates through the silent chambers, leaving an indelible mark on the fragile threads that bind us within the intricate tapestry of shadows.
twenty
Amidst the shadows that linger in Leo's office, I find the courage to challenge the tacit expectation veiled within his gaze. His eyes, seeking a purity that may no longer exist, meet mine, and I speak words that lay bare the echoes of my own shadows.
“Leo, I'm not innocent,” I say, my voice steady. “I've killed before. I've walked through the darkness, and I've become a part of it.”
The confession hangs in the air, a counterpoint to the unspoken desire he may harbor to see me as something untouched by the shadows. The weight of my admission lingers, a testament to the complexities of the lives we lead within the Obsidian Shadows.
I stare him down. “I'm not the innocent soul you might want me to be. There are stains on my hands, just like there are on yours.”
The acknowledgment, a shared truth that transcends the spoken words, becomes a bridge between us. The illusions of purity crumble in the face of the harsh reality we navigate, and I stand unapologetically before him, a silhouette shaped by the shadows I've embraced.
“Olivia...” he says softly, my name almost a sigh on his lips.
“I won't pretend to be something I'm not,” I say firmly. “We're both products of this world, Leo. Let's not deceive ourselves with illusions of innocence.”
In Leo's eyes, I see a recognition, a shared acknowledgment that the lines between light and darkness are blurred, and within the shadows, redemption is a fleeting concept, replaced by the indelible marks of our shared journey through the clandestine realms.
In the dimly lit sanctuary of Leo's office, where shadows weave tales of secrets and vulnerabilities, a charged silence envelops us. The unspoken tension, a palpable force, becomes the canvas for an unrestrained moment that transcends the boundaries of innocence.
With a boldness that defies the shadows clinging to our pasts, I bridge the distance between us. My hands, guided by an unspoken urgency, reach for Leo's face. The touch, a testament to the shared complexities of our existence, traces the contours of a connection that transcends the clandestine world we inhabit.
