Chapter 7
Leo had been waiting for this moment since he met Shandra. He had always known there was something about her past that she kept hidden away from everyone. Well, almost everyone. That she asked him to keep her secret from Tristan could only mean one thing. Camille had something to do with it.
Not wanting to get into a conversation about lies and deception while in the car with Amina, he promised to listen to everything she had to say, but only if they waited until they got to his house.
When she readily agreed and breathed a sigh of relief, he knew the secret had to be something serious. He almost wanted to tell her to forget the whole thing, but knew he couldn’t. He wanted to know everything about her. Nothing would prevent him from finding out the truth.
She was his future. He was all in. So, he needed to know the good, the bad, and the ugly. If there was something about her life and her past that she was finally willing to share, he would not pass up this opportunity.
So, now here they were, sitting in the family room across from each other. Both holding a glass of something strong. Leo braced himself for any possibility, but he also figured it couldn’t be as serious as some things he’d done. Even so, he was ready to listen.
“Thanks for putting Amina down to sleep,” Shandra said, breaking the heavy silence.
Leo knew she was stalling. His princess hadn’t moved an inch during the entire trip. Her soft snores and low mumbles made him smile, but he also realized she was a deep sleeper. Maybe that would come in handy another time, he thought with a slight smile.
“It wasn’t a problem at all. She slept through it.”
“Yeah, it takes a lot to wake her up once she’s down for the night.”
“Hmmmm. Yeah, I’ve noticed that,” he said noncommittally.
Taking another swallow of the brown liquor, she cringed at the harshness. The glass hit the table with a thud, and Shandra took a deep breath.
“Once I start, I need you to let me finish. Don’t interrupt me, even if you want to ask questions. I just have to get it all out first. Okay?”
Now he was getting worried. “Yes. Okay.” He nodded.
Her chest heaved as she took a few deep breaths. She shot up from the couch, then sat down again. Her hands rubbed against her pants before she stilled. Shandra glanced over at him with an emotionless look on her face.
“Almost six years ago, my life changed. Changed is almost too tame a word, but that’s all I got. I was dating someone I thought was the one. Or maybe it was wishful thinking. Anyway, he whisked me away for what was supposed to be a romantic weekend. Just the two of us spending time together, building on what I thought was an amazing start to a great relationship.” She stopped and sighed before taking a large swallow of the liquor in her glass. “What a fucking dummy I was.”
Leo frowned at her words and opened his mouth to say something, but quickly changed his mind when he remembered Shandra’s request. But the more she spoke, the more he knew this would not end the way he expected. It sounded much, much worse. To calm his anger, he took a swig of his drink. His teeth clenched as he waited for the bomb to explode.
“He had something very different in mind. What I didn’t know was that he had everything planned out. Some of his… friends… were waiting for us. That night, he must have put something in my drink. When I woke up…” Tears sprang to her eyes, and her bottom lip quivered for a few seconds before she seemed to calm. “It was five days. Chained like an animal. Tortured to the point I almost lost my mind. Raped repeatedly by him and his friends. It was horrifying. They must have thought I was no longer a threat or didn’t have the strength to leave, so they left me alone to go into town. But during those five days, the ropes had loosened, and the stupid motherfuckers hadn’t bothered to lock me in from the outside. I was finally able to get out of there and run for help.” This time, she stood and began pacing across the floor. “When I escaped that hellhole and made it back home, I later found out I was pregnant.”
Leo felt sick to his stomach. His heart clenched, and his gaze traveled in the direction where Amina was sleeping. Fuck. He swallowed his entire drink and got up to make another. She stayed silent, watching him closely until he sat down again.
“Leo, it took me a long time to heal. Not just the physical scars, but the hurt and trauma to my soul. It felt like years before I could move on, but in reality, it was much less. I had to get to a point where I could live again. But first, I needed vengeance. There was no way in hell I could live in a world where those monsters were alive. Couldn’t let it happen. Since I knew the area where the cabin was, we… I mean, I… I went back there. They had no idea what was in store for them. They never saw the end coming.”
Shandra breathed deeply, not knowing what to say after that. It was such a burden to get off her shoulders. Now that she’d voiced what happened, she was worried about how Leo would respond.
“How many were there?” Leo asked, boiling with rage.
The sound of his voice caused her to jump out of her skin. Judging by his eyes, she could see he was barely holding on. “Four total.”
He closed his eyes and counted to ten. “Where are they today?” Because if they weren’t dead, he would leave tonight and hunt every fucking one of them down. They wouldn’t be alive by the time the sun went down tomorrow.
She leaned against the side of the couch and crossed her arms over her chest. “Somewhere no one will find them. They were handled. No other woman will go through what I did. They will never hurt anyone else.”
Leo knew there was something that happened to her, but he never thought this was it. His woman had been hurt beyond anything he could fathom. There was a special place in hell for scumbags who hurt women and children. “Amina.”
“Will never know. My little girl is the only good thing to come out of that whole situation. I don’t care how she came to be born. She was the only reason I kept on living. It was only possible to wake up each morning because she needed me to keep going. She is my everything. No one knows the truth, except for a few people, and they will never share my secret.”
“And now I know.”
“Yes, but you love Amina as if she’s yours. You would do everything in your power to protect her. Hurting her with news like this is not something you would ever do. I may not know you as well as others do, but I know that.”
Leo was working something out in his brain, but didn’t know whether to voice his thoughts. He wanted to know. No, he needed to know if Tristan was aware of what happened. If he knew his wife was involved.
“Is that everything about that event? What else aren’t you telling me?” The way Shandra’s body froze told him exactly what he was trying to find out. There was more to this story. “We have all night if we need it. You’re not going anywhere, and neither am I. This is our moment to talk about the real reason you always push me away. Why you act as if having me around is something that you can’t stomach. I want to know the whole truth. Leave nothing out, because if you don’t tell me, I will look into things myself. And if I find out you were keeping things from me, I’m not going to be happy.”
She placed her head in her hands for a moment before looking at him with red-rimmed eyes. “I’d never killed anyone before that day. You have to understand Leo. They took my life away from me. Until then, I still felt there were good people in the world. Camille. Dwayne. My parents. They were the ones who protected me. Yes, I know the world we grew up in had its own troubles and issues. But for me and Camille, it didn’t exist the way you might think. After the… event, I wasn’t the same person. I wanted to kill myself. Getting over that hurt was not easy. And it wasn’t something I could do alone.”
And there it was. Leo knew when she started her story, she’d said “we” then quickly changed it to “I” after she caught herself. “Was it only Camille, or did your friend Dwayne help?”
Her eyes went flat. “You don’t need to know who helped me. I’m not saying they did, or they didn’t. That’s between me and them.”
Leo laughed, because she was really trying it tonight. She must have forgotten he was no ordinary man. He didn’t scare easily, and he sure as shit didn’t stop digging just because someone didn’t like it when he got too close to an issue. He was like a dog with a fucking bone.
“No, that’s where you’re wrong. Camille is the Donna of the Lucarelli family. Therefore, anything she does or has done in her past is my fucking business. And you,” he pointed at her, “whether or not you want to believe it, are the future Mrs. Mannetti. Yeah, sweetheart. Close your mouth. As I was saying, you and I both know the only ending for us is you with my last name and a baby brother or sister for Amina. Therefore, everything you do, or have done, is my fucking business.”
Standing, he walked over to Shandra and stood in front of her. “I know you have some shit to deal with. I’m not questioning that, and I’m not trying to push you too far. What I am telling you is that your darkness doesn’t scare me. But know what you’ve been through only confirms what I’ve known all along. You came into my life for a reason. No other woman has captured my attention like you have.”
“What about…”
“What did I say? No one, Shandra. And you and I both know it.” Lifting one hand, he grasped her chin, tilting her head up to stare down into her eyes. “If you hadn’t killed them, I would have done it my damn self. Never feel sorry for putting down vermin, which is what they were. Camille is Tristan’s to deal with, but I won’t mention it to him. I expect you to let Camille know that it’s time to let this secret out into the light. I don’t take kindly to being deceived or lied to, and Tristan is even worse. Don’t let us walk into a situation where we don’t have all the facts. That’s not how we roll. You and Camille should know that by now.”
Shandra’s heart was beating out of her chest. Camille said she had never told Tristan about what happened, but it wasn’t fair of Shandra to ask her friend to keep a secret like this. Not from her husband. The one man who would do anything to protect her friend and their new baby. Wetness pooled in her eyes. All these years of secrets, of keeping so much to themselves, had to come to an end.
“Sweetness, I am here to protect you. I’ve been doing it since the day you crossed my path. We may have taken a long road to get here, but this is us now. You, me, and Amina. Fighting what we have between us will only get you so far, and I’ll only allow it for so long. So, think long and hard about what you need to get your mind right so we can move this shit along.”
Her lips were dry, but her pussy was wet. Being this close to Leo was doing things to her. “What do you mean?”
“Have you spoken with anyone about your trauma and what you went through?”
She shook her head. “No. Well, just the… people… who know what I went through.” Although she would never say the words, Shandra was sure that Leo suspected Camille and Dwayne’s involvement.
He nodded. “You and I both know I’m not talking about your partners in crime. And to think, we actually thought you and Camille were the girls’ next door type.”
She tried to smile at his words, but knew it was a fa?ade. “Well, we are. In a way. We just have some secret layers.”
His other arm wrapped around her waist, pulling her closer. She wanted to lift her legs and pull him closer. The only reason she didn’t was because there was still too much to be said before they went there. Soon enough, there would be time for that.
“I see the look on your face. I know what you want. I want it too, baby. So much. But I need to make sure when I do take this pussy and tattoo my name all over your body, that you’re ready for me. You can’t be bringing the past into what we have going on. I need to make sure you’re good, because I’m a greedy motherfucker. I’m going to take what I need and have you screaming my name, but I need to know you can handle it. That you know when we come together, I will never hurt you. That my desire and need for you, while rough and unrelenting, will only ever be to bring you pleasure. So, before we take this any further, are you certain you’re ready for me, for us, in every way?” Releasing her body, he stepped back. “This was a lot of information, and I’m sure you’re drained. How about we pick this up in the morning? Go on upstairs. I need to check in with my men.”
Dazed, but unwilling to argue, Shandra nodded while staring at his face. He wasn’t reacting the way she expected, and for that, she was thankful. Taking a deep breath, she walked out of the room and upstairs. Tomorrow was another day, but the hard part was done for now.