69. Leona
LEONA
I sat down on the couch in the living room, nursing a glass of wine after a lovely dinner with all my men. Cas was right. We needed this night off.
In the kitchen, Cas and Ciel were doing dishes while Ryuji and Wynn put away leftovers. They’d kicked me over here to pick a movie while they cleaned, and I was just flipping through the streaming apps when Obi got a call from Samuel Achebe, our lawyer.
“Your interview with the FBI is tomorrow,” he said when they hung up.
“Of course it is,” I said with a laugh while I took a drink. I picked something easy to watch because we’d likely be up discussing this new development. It never fucking ended. “Can you go with me?”
“Yes,” he answered, brushing his fingers through my hair. “Samuel said it would be best if only one of us came with you, but we should still expect resistance from the agency. He believes they’ll try to corner you to speak alone.”
“I can set up my .50 caliber somewhere,” Ryu offered from the kitchen .
“Please do not snipe any federal agents,” I said.
“Boo.”
I exhaled through my nose. “They said my father was acting as a confidential information, but for what, I still have no idea. Did Samuel say anything?”
Obi shook his head. “No, but he suggested we let him do the talking.”
I frowned down at my wine. “I have this feeling they’re going to ask me to start doing the informing.”
“That’s what I was thinking, too.”
My mind immediately flipped to Max. If my father was tattling, he had to be tattling on someone. Maybe he was trying to get Max in trouble? To take Max out before Max could take him out?
Maybe the feds would want me to do the same.
As soon as the thought went through my head, I knew I’d never do that. The mafia operated on omertà, the code of silence. It was one of our most strict rules and beliefs. We did not snitch to law enforcement. I would never sell Max out, even if it meant eliminating him as one of our enemies.
I’d just have to wait and see what they said. Whatever it was, Obi and I could handle it.
“Well, should we make a plan?” I asked.
A sly smile overtook his face. “Actually, why don’t we deal with that in the morning? I’d rather talk about something else. A surprise.”
“A surprise?” Ciel asked from the kitchen.
“What kind of surprise?” Wynn wiped his hands on a towel, and the rest of the guys came closer.
“In light of our home’s location becoming known to our enemy, I made a purchase with which I think we will all be pleased.”
The grin stretched across my face. “Did you buy a new house? ”
He nodded.
“When!” I practically shouted, jumping to my feet and launching myself into his arms. “Where?”
He laughed while spinning me around. “Somewhere safe. Somewhere we can be secure.”
“State-of-the-art security,” Ciel said, mouth stretching into a smile. His eyes went wide as he took a faraway gaze. “A brand new overhaul of our systems. I can finally make the upgrades I’ve been wanting. Oh, this is going to be so fun. What about guard dogs?”
“Guard dogs?” Cas perked up.
Ryu almost squeaked. “Fuck yeah.”
I pressed a kiss onto Obi’s lips. “Thank you. I can’t wait to see it.”
“We can go look at it tomorrow after the interview,” he said. “Our treat for dealing with them successfully.”
Now, that sounded like a plan. Suddenly, I was excited about tomorrow instead of anxious. A new home. For our family . My throat was getting choked up just thinking about it.
“Does it have?—”
Something pounded on the front door.
The sound reverberated through the hallway. All our heads whipped toward it. Obi immediately held his arm out to shield me like someone was about to burst into our home.
But nothing.
Then, another knock. Weaker this time.
“I’ll get it,” Cas said, pulling his guns from the holster around his shoulders. We all followed him, arming ourselves along the way.
Ciel typed away on his phone, tapping into the security feeds. His head snapped up.
“What is it?” I asked, my heart racing.
“It’s Max,” Ciel said quickly .
“No fucking alarm?” Ryu demanded. “Where’s the perimeter breach?”
“I added him to our safe list earlier—” Ciel said just as Cas whipped open the door. His guns pointed directly at Max’s chest. We all froze.
“Max,” I breathed. What was he doing here?
Then I took in the state of him. A fury began building inside my chest.
“I need—” he choked out. He coughed violently, eyes squeezing shut while he swayed on his feet. “I need help. Please.”
His face was bloodied and beaten; one eye was completely swollen shut.
He pressed a hand against a wound on his ribs that oozed blood, staining his white shirt.
Another matching wound dripped from the shoulder of his opposite arm.
He wheezed, stumbling. Cas immediately reached out to grab hold of him, but it was too late.
He collapsed against the doorframe and slid to the ground.
I thought I might be sick. This had to be another one of my nightmares.
“Leona…” he murmured.
It wasn’t a nightmare. Max was on my doorstep, beaten and bruised, asking for help. I sank to my knees beside him, and Cas followed right behind me. Cas, too, was struggling to process this—to understand how this had happened. His face betrayed his concern and anger, as I knew mine did, too.
Max was the strongest person I knew outside of my men. Someone had done this to him. Someone had almost killed him. And it wasn’t us.
“I’ll call Willow,” Wynn said.
My men moved into action behind us, but the fury growing within me hollowed out the sound. It was hot as molten lava, heavy as metal. It was choking and blinding, like pyroclastic ash burning me up from the inside out .
“Who did this to you?” I curled my hands around his. His pulse was weak, his breaths shallow.
Nothing else mattered except the answer to that question.
His hand gripped mine weakly. Cas reached out to steady him, but he’d looked like he would pass out any second.
A sudden, deafening blare of the perimeter breach alarm sounded all around us.
“They’re coming.”
To be continued…