AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“No, my father told you to get rid of his body; he never told you to kill him, but if you do, you seal your daughter’s future,” Leone tells him.
“Exactly what am I supposed to do, then? I can’t let him go,” the man said. Leone had an answer for that, too.
“You got rid of him. You didn’t know he was still alive. If my father finds him, I will tell him I helped him.” The man shook his head.
“Kill him then. I’ll see Emily at school tomorrow.” Leone shrugged. The man’s jaw clenched before cursing.
“And when your father finds him?”
“I said I would handle it,” Leone answered coldly before the man paced for a moment, deciding which fate was worse, his death or his daughter’s future. He chose his daughter’s future before storming out of the basement. I’ve been by Leone’s side ever since, and that day replays as I fall asleep.
TWENTY-SIX
LEONE
The sudden knocking on the door wakes me. “Enter,” I command, the sharpness of my voice slicing through the morning stillness as Maria’s persistent knock drills into my consciousness. My hand moves swiftly, covering Fallon’s exposed skin with the blanket. The door creaks open, and Maria, whose imperturbable demeanor doesn’t waiver, steps into the room without a twitch of her well-groomed brows.
“Your father is here,” she announces, her voice steady, betraying none of the urgency such news warrants. “Waiting in the study,” she adds.
“Dammit,” I groan, the word hissing through clenched teeth.
“Tell him I’ll be down in a minute.” I make no move to rise yet, lingering in the warmth beside Fallon, a moment longer knowing the questions; I thought I would have enough time to go over with her before she was forced to meet him.
“Also,” Maria adds, her eyes not straying to the entanglement of limbs on the bed, “Dante was rummaging through your desk earlier.”
My pulse spikes, irritation flaring hot beneath my skin. “Did you say anything to him?”
She shakes her head, the ghost of disapproval fleeting across her features. “Good. Stay away from Dante; you know how trigger-happy he can be,” I warn. I have lost too many staff members to his unhinged hand.
With a nod, she turns and exits, leaving behind the echo of a door closing and a tension that claws at my chest.
“Leone...” Fallon’s voice is a drowsy murmur, but I’m already forcing myself upright, every muscle coiling like a spring.
“Go back to sleep, amore,” I murmur, planting a soft kiss on her forehead, a gesture at odds with the storm brewing inside me.
Milo stirs, his gaze sharp even through the fog of sleep. “What’s happening?”
“My Father’s here,” I spit out, the words tasting like venom. “No doubt Dante ran to him before the ink dried on the marriage certificate.”
“Need me to come with you?” Milo asks, already pushing off the sheets.
“No.” I shake my head. “My Father, my problem. Get some breakfast. I’ll call if I need backup.”
My Father will be livid. Marriages are chess moves in our world, strategic alliances, not acts of passion or rebellion. Marriages steeped in culture and tradition. My father will not be pleased by a marriage to a random American woman with no ties and culture. And Fallon – strong, fierce, beautiful Fallon—will be nothing more than a pawn in his eyes. A nobody. A liability.
The thought alone makes my blood boil, the bitter taste of resentment for his interference threatening to choke me. Slipping into just a pair of gray sweats, every muscle in my body tenses, anticipating the conflict that awaits. Milo is up and moving by the time I come out of the walk-in, and I notice Fallon also looking more alert. “You keep her away from my office; I don’t want my father meeting her yet,” I warn Milo, who nods once. Leaving the room, I head downstairs. The office door creaks open, a familiar but unwelcome sound as I step into a lion’s den of my own making.
“Enjoying yourself?” I sneer at Dante, who lounges behind my desk, a stolen cigar pinched between his fingers and a half-empty glass of whiskey on the coaster.
His smirk is like a slap, irritating and smug. “Just sampling the goods, brother.”
I ignore him, eyes locking with the old man’s stormy gaze as he turns from the window. The fury rolling off him is palpable.
“Where was my invitation, Leone?” His voice is low and controlled but seething beneath the surface.
“Since when do you need an invitation to anything, Father?”
He slams his fist onto the wood-paneled walls. “You defy me by marrying some... nobody? Without my consent?”
