36. Leona
LEONA
I never thought I’d walk back into this fucking house without intending to destroy it. I’d pictured it before. After I’d killed Max and retaken control of our Family’s assets, I’d waltz in here and take all of his father’s best liquor. Ryuji would adore the scotch collection.
Then, I’d save all the pictures of Max’s mom and my mom together. They’d been as close as sisters, and it had always comforted me—even delusionally—that they had died together.
After that, I’d take all the weapons. One could never have too many, and who the fuck cared which weapons belonged to whom. They’d be functional enough in our weapons closet at the penthouse.
Once I’d reclaimed every piece of value from this house, I would douse it in gasoline and toss a match inside. It could burn, along with every painful memory that existed here.
But when I walked inside the doors, Cas at my side and the rest of my men following close, all I felt was a sad sorrow.
It was such a big, empty house. Lonely and cold.
“I’ve asked the men to stay away for an hour,” Max said as he led us inside. He wore his regular suit trousers but sans jacket, instead favoring the crisp white shirt with the sleeves rolled past his forearms. “We won’t be bothered.”
No, I’m sure he didn’t want his men bothering us. I wonder what they thought of this secret, clandestine meeting? I could just picture Daniele sneering at me, and defensiveness pitted in my stomach.
“I’m sure we’ll be watched, though, won’t we?”
He glanced over his shoulder at me. “No. There are no cameras in my house.”
Ciel pulled out a signal jammer from his pocket. “I’m scrambling any electronics within a hundred yards. Just to be safe.”
“I wouldn’t expect anything different.” Max led us into the dining room.
He gestured for us to sit around the sixteen-seat table, where plenty of Family discussions had happened over the years.
He took the head seat. Cas took the seat closest to Max, always keeping himself between the two of us.
I sat down next to him, with Ryu on my other side.
Then Obi, Wynn, and Ciel bracketed us all in by standing behind us.
“Why are we here, Max?”
“Cut to the chase or we’re leaving,” Ryu deadpanned. He pulled two knives from his sleeves and jammed both of their blades into the wood of Max’s dining room table so they stuck straight up. Then he pulled two more free and held him in each hand.
My eyes went wide. This table cost thousands of dollars. His mother used to shriek at us to keep our elbows off it. I snapped my attention to Max, and he stared at the blades, blinking, before clenching his jaw.
“Thank you for coming.”
Okay. We were ignoring the table. Great.
He stood from the table and grabbed a bottle of alcohol from his father’s liquor cabinet. It was unopened, and he handed it to Cas to inspect. Cas nodded, returning it before Max uncapped it and poured a glass for each of us .
“Thanks for the flowers,” I responded when he handed me a glass first. “They were beautiful when I put them down the garbage disposal.”
He smiled tightly. “I thought you liked my flowers.”
“That was before you gave one to me the night you tried to murder me,” I answered sweetly. Obi placed a hand on my shoulder and squeezed while Cas tensed. Ryu dug a knife point into the table and gouged an even bigger hole. Darkness oozed from him, and I grabbed his thigh under the table.
“Water under the bridge.”
“Is it?” My tone was biting, yet masked by my smile.
An awkward silence filled the room where our mothers used to sing and dance and eat. The last time I saw his father alive, he was standing in the same spot Max stood now. This room was filled with years of memories. Memories that he had trampled on. My mood soured even further.
He cleared his throat. “Despite what you may think, I didn’t invite you here to harm you.”
“I’ll believe it when we walk out of here unscathed.”
“Let us discuss business,” Obi asked. His deep voice sent ripples of calm through my already taut body.
“I realize we share a common goal,” he said. “For the time being.”
“The Vokshi Clan,” I said.
“Yes. It appears they’re presenting a problem for both of us. As such, I would like to propose a temporary truce.”
A temporary truce. We’d escaped their clutches with a truce, but it almost devolved into bullets. Still, it was what we had expected him to say when we came.
An offered truce meant Max was hurting, and he needed our help. That put the power dynamic in our favor. We could get the upper hand so that when this truce inevitably fell apart, we’d have every tool we needed to end him .
If we played our cards right, New York could be ours by the end of this.
“What do we get out of it?” I asked.
He sat back. “You get the Vokshi out of our city.”
“So it’s our city now.”
“You know what I mean.”
I drummed my fingers on the table. Next to me, Ryuji still dug holes in the surface—forming a little smiley face—and Max was doing his goddamn best to ignore it. “We can take out the Albanians by ourselves. So why would we need you?”
“If you could have, you would have. That night with Orik Vokshi, I heard how you wanted to torture him for information. I’m guessing the Vokshi keep slipping through your fingers.”
Behind me, Wynn’s voice was strained. “If you would have just let us handle it, things would have ended differently.”
“How are you going to stop them from slipping through our fingers?” I asked.
“I have information you don’t.”
“Like what?”
“We can discuss that after we agree to a truce.”
I shifted in my seat, crossing one leg over the other. “So if we agree, you get us off your backs. We both get the Vokshi eliminated. Sounds like this deal is more favorable to you.”
Max kept his face blank. “What do you want, then?”
“First things first, I want to talk with Chiara.” I needed to know how my best friend was doing.
I owed Rossi the message, but my heart ached to hear her voice.
Even though I’d seen her at the VCI board meeting, and her note promised she was fine, I would never believe it until she was standing right in front of me.
It took every ounce of control I had not to go sprinting through the rooms of Max’s house to find her.
He took a slow drink. “She is perfectly safe.”
Yeah, right. “Where is she?”
“Safe. ”
My teeth ground together. “I don’t fucking believe you.”
“I’m sure you’ve realized by now that I need her to retain my control over the Tommaso men. All I’ve done is keep her out of reach of the Vokshi Clan.”
“I want to see her.” My voice was firm. “In person. I won’t help you otherwise.”
He rubbed his chin. The passive mask slipped for a moment to show a sliver of frustration. Was that a flash of exhaustion, too?
“The best I can do is let you talk to her on the phone,” he said. “It’s not safe to bring her back to the city until we’ve neutralized the threat. If you want her safely returned, help me with this.”
“And then you’ll marry her?” I asked, barely keeping the bitterness from twisting my tone. Even to me, I sounded like a little bitch. I took a deep breath, trying to rein in the sass.
“Sure. I’ll marry her the same day you marry Cas.”
Cas grabbed my hand, interlinking our fingers on top of the table and drawing Max’s eyes. “I forgot; we need to send you a save the date.”
Max’s voice was icy. “I’ll hang it on my fridge.”
Cas’s touch was the only thing keeping my blood pressure from exploding.
“We’re getting off-topic,” Obi said from behind me. “We were discussing Chiara.”
I nodded in agreement, bringing us back on track. “I want frequent updates on her safety, and I want to speak with her in-person when this is done.”
Max tilted his head to the side. “In exchange, you’ll stop assaulting my businesses and territories on the streets.”
“Nope.” I shook my head. “You’re not in charge. I am. You need my help, not the other way around.”
His jaw clenched. “I cannot effectively fight the Albanians with you putting strain on my men. We need every strength we have. Their numbers are large, and we can’t stop them if we’re fighting each other at the same time.”
“You owe me, then.” I lifted my chin. “This is a temporary alliance, and it’ll be in my favor, not yours.
The Vokshi are putting the greatest stress on you.
While we both want them gone, and we’ll do everything we can to eliminate them, you have the most at stake here.
I’ll call off my men and the Russians for now—let us all regroup and rebuild—while we join forces to push the Albanians out of the city.
But do not forget: you’ll owe me for this. ”
“Fine, Leona.” He sagged in his chair before he righted himself and sat bone straight. The action did something to my chest. I rubbed my sternum to banish the feeling.
I stretched out my free right hand—Cas still held to my left.
Max stared at it before slowly clasping it.
I’d expected him to squeeze, to assert dominance with a stupid manly handshake, but his grip was careful. Warm. I pulled back first before Ryuji somehow decided that Max’s hand deserved to be removed from his arm.
“Tell us what you know about the Vokshi that we seem to be missing,” Obi said. “We can coordinate our efforts and pool our resources.”
Max stood. “Wait here.”
I raised an eyebrow as he left. A few minutes later, he returned carrying a file organization box. It looked like the same ones he’d left for me to find when he lured me back to the Vero estate.
He dropped the box onto the table. “Paperwork.”
Ciel groaned. “Paper paperwork. Ugh.”
Max smirked. “Luciano preferred physical copies instead of digital. He kept records of everything. I’ve come to believe he thought it was his way of protecting himself from the Camorra’s and the government’s hackers.”
“Is this the only box?” I asked .
Max shook his head. “Dozens.”
I looked back at Ciel, and both of our eyes were wide. “Data.”