Chapter 45 Alex
Alex
Persephone and I hang around on the couch, waiting for Leon to come home. Both of our ears perk up when we hear the door open, our heads snapping toward it.
“You’re back,” I squeal, letting out a relieved sigh. I pace myself as I approach him, trying not to seem so eager. Still, I practically throw my arms around his neck, pulling him in for a kiss. He returns the kiss with a smile on his lips, and my heart rate speeds up.
“Someone’s glad to see me,” he murmurs into my mouth.
“Yeah, I was scared.”
He brushes a strand of hair off my face, slipping it behind my ear. “I told you I wasn’t doing anything dangerous.”
“I know, but I still don’t know the full extent of what you do. Or if I’m allowed to know it.”
“Anything I know, you can know too. Anything you want to learn, just let me know.”
“Well, I don’t even know what being in the mafia means, except what I saw in the movies.”
He releases a soft chuckle. “Yeah, the movies don’t quite do it justice. Most of the time, it’s boring paperwork and business stuff. These days, the majority of our work is legal. Like my casinos, or Luka’s club.”
I wet my bottom lip. “And the rest?”
“The rest means protecting our own, by any means necessary.” His expression turns serious. “Come on, there’s something I want to show you.”
He heads to the door, and I follow. “Do I need shoes?”
He turns back as if he forgot. “Yes.”
I slip on a pair of sneakers, wondering what got him so distraught.
In the elevator, he doesn’t press the button leading to the garage.
Instead, he presses a button for one of the lower floors.
We ride it in silence before it pings, letting us out.
The hallway looks just like the one outside of Leon’s apartment, except for a smell that scrunches my nose.
Leon stops next to a door, turning toward me. “Do you remember when I promised to keep you safe?”
I bow my chin. How could I forget? He presses his finger onto the reader and the door opens.
The smell intensifies, but I step after him.
The inside is darker, with the windows bolted shut.
He leads me through two rooms until he reaches a door where he puts in a pin number.
My heart rate accelerates, not knowing what awaits me on the other side.
He glances at me quickly before opening the door.
I reach the room and let out a loud gasp, my hand flying to my mouth. There’s a man tied to a chair, beaten halfway to death. He’s also the obvious source of the horrible smell, which has now definitely seeped into every article of clothing I have on me. Why would he bring me here?
“We can leave if you want to. But I wanted you to know there’s no need to be afraid. Not anymore.”
My face scrunches with confusion before the image in front of me actually registers in my brain.
Even though he’s beaten, the facial features of the man in the chair remind me of someone.
I dare look into his eyes, and my breath catches in my throat.
The gaze of pure contempt is one I could never get out of my mind. “Robbie,” I gasp.
Leon reaches me, wrapping his arm around my shoulders.
“When? How?” I ask, my chest now heaving.
“After I found you.” He turns me to look at him.
“B-but you told me I had to stay with you so you could keep me safe.”
Regret flashes in his eyes. “There was a chance he hired more men to go after you. But I was also afraid of losing you again.”
“You hated me then.” I shake my head.
“I could never hate you, Alex. Even when I thought I had to.”
A sob slips out, his words burying themselves deep into my chest.
“I’m sorry to have upset you.” His finger brushes over my cheek.
“But this is my apology to you.” He drops his hand from my face, and I mourn the loss of his touch.
Grabbing an item from a shelf on one wall, he approaches Robbie, still thrashing in the chair.
“I’m not a violent man, sweetheart. I know it may sound weird, with my line of work, yet violence isn’t something I enjoy.
Still, I’m going to enjoy this very much.
” He lifts a gun in the line of Robbie’s head.
“Wait!” I yell, and his head snaps back toward me.
There’s an apologetic look in his eyes. “You can leave if you want to, but I can’t let him live. Not after what he did to you.”
“I don’t want him to live.” The words escape me on their own. “I told you once that if you catch him, I want a go at him. I meant that.”
“You deserve it, baby. You deserve to see the life drain from his eyes.”
He lowers the gun, reaching it out to me.
I wrap my shaky fingers around it, my heartbeat thudding in my ears.
Leon shows me what to do, but I barely listen.
My stomach is in knots from seeing Robbie again, but knowing Leon is beside me — protecting me — makes me feel invincible.
I dreamed of this moment before. I was imagining taking a baseball bat to his face, his balls.
I was imagining him begging me for mercy, just like he forced me to do.
But as I look at him in front of me, a shell of the man he pretended to be, I don’t have a need for all that.
He’s sitting in his own filth, waiting for a stupid girl to end his life.
The girl he thought so little of. He’s pathetic.
I know it, Leon knows it, and a small part of him sure knows it, too.
Still, there’s something I want to say to him.
“I’m going to play professional poker and you won’t be able to do anything to stop me.” A wide smile overtakes my face.
I raise the hand holding the gun, my chest filling with air. I let the calm wash over me, quieting my thoughts.
At the last second, I turn my head to Leon. “Apology accepted,” I tell him, the gun firing.
The sound buzzes in my ears, and I know it should be uncomfortable.
Probably even painful. But as wetness drips from my eyes, relief is the only thing I feel.
After all the years of running away, I’m free.
There’s no more looking over my shoulder, no more fake names, or keeping to myself. I can finally be whoever I want to be.
Leon takes the gun from my hand and wraps his arms around me. “You’re incredible, Alex. I love you so fucking much.”
I let out another sob. “I love you too, Leon.” The soothing circles his hand draws on my back settle my heart and the noise in my head.
“Let’s go home, baby.”
I dip my head and let him lead me out of the room, sending a parting glance to my past. My chest flutters, knowing my future is going to be so much better.