18. Leo
Chapter eighteen
Leo
A scream of death rings out, piercing me straight in the chest and abruptly waking me. Blinking a few times, I wonder if it was just a dream until I hear Brutus barking beside my bed followed by a blood-curdling scream ascending from across the hall.
Scarlett.
I leap out of bed with stealth as I reach inside my nightstand for my gun, bypass Brutus, and shove open my door. Scarlett’s door is secured shut, not showing any malicious attempt by someone entering. I slap my hand on the scanner and wait the two point five seconds for it to recognize me. The mere seconds feel like an eternity as the screaming continues to assault me from the other side of the door. At the exact second the door unlatches, I storm inside like a bull seeing red. My eyes survey the dark room, the only source of light coming from the nightlight, casting a glow directly onto the bed, revealing only Scarlett.
My hammering heart begins to settle at the realization there’s no intruder. Nor any person causing physical harm to her.
As I approach the bed, watching Scarlett toss and turn with tears running down both cheeks, she screams, “No, please don’t!”
My chest tightens painfully from her plea. A plea I’m sure she used several times.
I sit beside her and place my gun on her nightstand, the bed creaking beneath my weight. Leaning over her, I run my knuckles along her jaw.
“Scarlett, wake up. You’re okay, baby.”
“No. No. Please don’t!” She sobs, kicking the blankets off her body.
I can’t bear the sight of her in so much distress, so I reach for her shoulders, gently giving her a little shake. “Scarlett!”
Her eyes pop open, her chest heaving from exertion. She blinks back tears, appearing lost in a trance as flashes of horrific images dance across her irises.
“It was just a dream. You’re safe.” I remove my hands from her, unsure if my touch is too much for her to handle right now after what I can only assume she dreamed about.
But as abruptly as my hands leave her, she jumps up and plasters her tiny body onto my lap. Her legs wrap around my torso like a vice, and her arms wrap around my neck, hauling herself into me. She buries her head into the crook of my neck, her tears dampening my skin.
“It felt so real. I couldn’t make it stop,” she sobs. “He tried… He tried to…”
“Shhhh.” I stroke my fingers through her hair while my other hand wraps around her trembling body, holding her protectively to me. “I know, baby. I’m here. You’re safe. I won’t let anyone ever hurt you again.”
She relaxes the tiniest bit in my hold, her cries slowly dying out.
We sit like this for a few minutes, and I’m struggling with the thought of having to let her go. Having to leave her alone in her room after the pleas I heard her scream out in terror.
I’m certain she’s fallen asleep until her soft voice breaks the silence surrounding us. “Can I…” She stops herself, pressing her forehead against my chest.
“Can you what?”
She lets out a deep breath. “Can I stay with you tonight?” she asks softly, her voice laced with vulnerability.
“Of course, baby.” I move my hand over her back, noticing how damp her T-shirt is. “Do you want to walk, or are you okay if I carry you?”
“Carry me,” she whispers.
My hands move under her thighs, holding her to me as I stand and exit her room. Walking into my room, I find Brutus pacing beside the window. He hurries over to me, his nose anxiously sniffing Scarlett. “She’s okay,” I tell him as I head straight to the bed. Noting that I’ve got it handled, he pivots toward his bed and plops down, curling into a ball. “Let me get you a new shirt to wear.” I settle Scarlett down onto the mattress, pulling the blankets over her bare legs. I turn to my dresser and pull out a simple black T-shirt. As I approach the bed, I notice her eyes gazing over my body, wandering over every tattoo with a tilt of her head, and I realize this is the first time in years that she’s seen me without a shirt on. “Would you be more comfortable if I put something on?”
She shakes her head as a delicate blush creeps up her neck.
The blush is a good sign.
It means she’s feeling something other than fear.
I hold the shirt out for her, but she remains frozen.
“Do you want help?”
Her eyes meet mine, and she doesn’t need to say anything for me to know what she wants.
“Hands up,” I tell her.
She reaches her shaking hands in the air, waiting for me to remove her T-shirt. My fingers grip the hem of her shirt, carefully pulling it up and over her body. My eyes stay glued to her eyes the whole time. As much as there is a part of me wanting to trail over every goddamn beautiful inch of her body, there’s a bigger part of me that won’t allow my eyes that privilege.
Not until she allows me.
After replacing her shirt with the new one, she snuggles her body into the mattress beneath the comforter. “Thank you.”
I sit on the bed beside her, my hand cupping her cheek as I stroke her skin with my thumb. “Do you want to talk about it?”
She shakes her head. “I just want to forget about it.”
I nod in understanding. Reaching into my nightstand, I pull out a bottle of pills the family’s doctor, Dr. Hayes, gave me for her to take in situations like these.
“Do you want to take one of the pills Dr. Hayes prescribed you? He said it would help—”
“No.” She sits up, clutching my forearm. “Please don’t make me take it. I can’t. It will only make things worse. Please don’t,” she begs, sounding fearful.
“Hey.” I embrace her, pulling her into me. “I would never make you do anything.” Her body relaxes, her head resting on my shoulder.
I glance at the container in my hand, reading the label. Take one as needed every twelve hours . It seems like a regular prescription to me. “Out of curiosity, why don’t you want one of these?”
She stares at the bottle. “When I take one, I still have nightmares. I just can’t wake up. I can’t scream. I can’t move. It puts me into a state of sleep paralysis.”
I arch a brow. Sleep paralysis? I remove the cap, peering at the thirty or so pills in it. What the fuck is this shit? “Does Dr. Hayes know this?”
She pinches her eyes shut and nods. “I told him what happens when I take one, but he told me I should continue to take them so I wouldn’t…” She swallows hard. “Disturb you.”
My body becomes rigid. That son of a bitch.
“I’m sorry for waking you. Really, I am. I didn’t mean—”
“You didn’t wake me. I was already up,” I lie, rubbing her back.
She appears relieved. “I don’t know how easy it will be for me to fall back to sleep.”
“Is there anything that might help?”
She ponders my question, her eyes appearing unsure.
“Tell me what you need, and I’ll do it.”
She bites her bottom lip. “Can we cuddle?”
I tip my head and kiss her temple. “Lie down.”
She rolls in her bottom lip, trying to hide a smile breaking free. It’s so goddamn cute, too. I watch as she lies down before I get up and round the bed, sliding in beside her. My fingers clutch the blanket, dragging it up and over our bodies. Once settled, I slide my bicep under her head to use as a pillow. She inches closer, resting her shaking hand against my chest, and I wrap my other arm around her waist, my hand splaying out over her back. I feel her body ease against me, her feet tangling with mine.
“Leo?”
“Yes?”
She lets out a little yawn, melting into the mattress. “When did you get the firefly tattoo?” Her hand reaches up, pressing flat against my heart, right over the design.
My lips tug up. I wasn’t sure she caught the sight of it in the dark. “Years ago,” I answer. “When I knew there was only ever going to be one woman who owned my heart.”
She peeks up at me under her lashes. Neither of us says anything as we lock eyes, and she leans up, pressing her lips to mine. “My heart is yours,” she whispers, closing her eyes. “It always has been.”
The sound of rain bouncing off the glass pane windows echoes in the room like a calming lullaby. It doesn’t take long for Scarlett’s breathing to even out and for her hand against my chest to fall slack.
I nestle my lips over the top of her head, inhaling her floral aroma, my hold on her strengthening. “I will kill the man responsible for haunting your dreams, Scarlett. But not until I break him as he tried, but failed, to do to you. That is my vow to you.”
My fingers strum along the edge of my desk as I lean back in my chair, waiting for the man of the hour to arrive.
The only thing keeping me calm is the memory of waking up with Scarlett wrapped around me, sound asleep. Her blonde strands were splayed around my chest. Her pink, sultry lips were slightly parted, looking more tempting than ever. Her long, smooth legs were encircling mine. And me? Well, I had to lie perfectly still with a fucking hard-on, not wanting to scare her away by risking her finding out the effect she had on me.
The effect she’s always had on me.
And I decided at that moment that she’s never sleeping anywhere else but in my bed. Our bed .
It’s settled.
The door to my office creaks open, and my mother walks in with furrowed brows. “What’s with the emergency meeting?” she asks, taking one of the seats across from me.
“All in due time,” I respond, checking my Rolex on my wrist. I have a meeting with the family contractor in an hour, so the son of a bitch better have his ass in my office right the fuck—”
“Good morning.” Dr. Hayes enters my office with a broad smile. One that I can’t wait to wipe off his smug face.
I return the smile with a terse one of my own. “Please, take a seat.” I motion toward the only free chair left in my office.
“Well, what a pleasant surprise, Harold,” my mother says, glancing between us. “I didn’t know you’d be joining us.”
“I got a text that I was needed urgently.” He straightens his tie, looking at me. “Is everything okay, sir?”
I sit up, steepling my fingers under my chin. “You’ve been the family’s doctor for a long time now, wouldn’t you say?”
He mulls it over. “Yes, I believe almost twenty years.”
I drop my hands before me. “And all those years, you’ve been loyal to my family. Some might even say, you’ve become a part of this family.”
He nervously pulls on the sleeve of his jacket. “Yes, I would like to think that.”
I nod. “That would be why I’m terminating you instead of killing you.”
The doctor’s face blanches. “I beg your pardon.”
My mother gasps. “Leo, what is this about?”
I reach inside my jacket pocket, pulling out the bottle of sleeping pills. “Did you, or did you not, prescribe these to my wife, knowing they would put her in a sleep paralysis?”
The doctor’s mouth opens and closes like a fish out of water. I’d find it amusing if I weren’t on the verge of murdering him. “Well, yes, but—”
“And did you, or did you not, tell my wife to take these so she wouldn’t disturb me?”
“Oh, Harold.” My mother rubs her temple. “Please tell me you didn’t.”
He clears his throat. “I was doing this with you in mind, sir. I just thought her nightmares may become too much for you to have to endure.”
A deep laugh rings out in the room. “You thought it would be too much for me to endure?” My fist slams on my desk as I stand, towering over him. “What about my wife, who has to live through her trauma in her dreams every fucking night? Did you stop to think that maybe that would be too much for her to endure?” I clench my jaw, rolling my neck. “Every night, she dreams of what that man did to her over and over again. But when she takes one of these pills, she can’t move. She can’t even make a fucking sound. So I have no idea that she needs me to save her from her nightmares!”
A bead of sweat rolls down the doctor’s brow. “I’m sorry. I was just trying to find a way to silence the screams she—”
“No one silences my wife!” The severity of my words thunders around us.
“I…a-apologize, sir.” Dr. Hayes smooths out his tie with a trembling hand. “It won’t happen again.”
“No, it won’t because you’re done working for my family. Dr. Rose will be your replacement. I’ll have a severance package sent your way for all the years you’ve worked for us, but that’s as far as my kindness extends. I expect you moved out and off our property within the day.”
“But—”
“Out!” I roar.
Dr. Hayes rears back, almost falling out of his chair as he abruptly stands, tipping his head down. “Yes, sir.”
Once the door closes behind him, I feel an immense satisfaction flow through my veins.
My mother lets out a whoosh of air. “So, I assume that’s why you needed me here.”
I sit, running my fingers through my hair, pushing it back. “I knew you’d need to hear it for yourself.”
She nods, leaning forward. “So, your wife, is it?” An elated grin erupts from ear to ear on her face.
I roll my eyes. “Don’t you have somewhere to be? Another sibling to bother?”
“As a matter of fact, I do.” She stands and steps toward the door.
“Wait. There’s one last thing I want to discuss with you.”
She turns, gripping the top of the chair, giving me her attention.
“Anthony Balcom’s grave.”
She arches a brow. “What about it?”
“I’m having him moved off the property,” I state with certainty. “I don’t care where he goes, but he’s not welcome on Alarie soil. Vin is making other arrangements for him, but I just wanted you to be aware.”
“He’s dead,” she drawls, confused. “What could he have possibly done to piss you off while six feet under?”
“Apparently, he was a cruel father. I didn’t push Scarlett for details, but I could see all the pain he caused her in her eyes. She admitted that he would threaten one of us if she ever spoke out against him, so she never said anything. She was more worried for our safety than hers. And I won’t allow him the privilege of being buried here. This is Scarlett’s home now. Not his.”
She shakes her head in disbelief. “I had no idea. He always seemed kind enough. Maybe a little rough around the edges, but what man in our world isn’t?” Her eyes pool with tears. “Your father would have done something about it. He would have handled this if he had known.”
“I’m handling it now.”
“That poor girl has been through so much. Too much.” She dabs her eyes, looking out the closest window. “I wish I had known.”
“None of us did.” I lean back, tapping a finger on the arm of my chair. “But I suppose sometimes you never truly know someone until it’s too late, no matter how close to the person you think you are.”