Chapter 4
FOUR
LEON
The smell of cigars wafting from the study threw him back in time, the all too fleeting years when it was all his father’s responsibility, and he was nothing more than the eldest born being readied to take the throne someday.
A day so far off into the infinite Leon could barely grasp the concept. Not so far off after all in the end.
Shaking his head against memories of stalling before these very doors, Leon entered his father’s study, narrowed eyes taking in the room. Lounging in the oversized wingback by the fireplace, his brother Anthony puffed at the thick cigar and sent up a plume of fragrant smoke.
“He doesn’t allow smoking in here anymore,” Leon said, willing his fists to unclench as he ambled towards the desk.
Noted the scattered papers, the pages of his calendar splayed over the leather blotter.
There was nothing of importance in any of it.
The general bills of the household, a few other properties, functions his mother wanted him to attend.
Nothing pertaining to Leon’s business, of course.
All of that was safeguarded against the prying eyes of his vicious family.
“You going to tattle, golden boy?”
“I won’t have to. He’ll smell it, you idiot.”
“Ghosts, then.” Anthony smiled, the gleam of white teeth eerie through a heavy cloud of tobacco.
“I thought we agreed you’d remain overseas until the end of the year.” Leon turned his back on the disarray of the desk, leaning a hip against the edge. Watching his younger brother’s lazy smirk for the razored edge that would forewarn him of the trouble to come.
“Things came up, I had to leave.”
“Gods damn it, Anthony, again? Father had to practically order them to let you in, and you just shit all over it.”
Shoulders jerking in an abbreviated shrug, Anthony puffed on the forbidden cigar.
He didn’t care what their father had to do, or how the consequences of his actions would affect others.
Why should this be different than any other time?
Anthony did as he pleased, and their father cleaned up the mess.
He’d been trouble since day one, and it wasn’t some petty sibling rivalry that made Leon growl low in his throat.
First it had been small things, the random crimes of a young boy.
Shoplifting, stealing cars, once breaking into the high school and setting it on fire.
All of it swept under the rug, Anthony given yet another chance.
Realizing their father would never hold him more accountable than a sound beating, the real violence began.
Women caught his attention. Betas, then lower Omegas.
After Anthony had ruined a connected Omega in more ways than one, Oscar Marchetti had sent his second eldest son as far away as possible.
No one would ever know their secret, and the Omega’s family was paid well for their silence.
“Don’t worry, golden boy. I didn’t do anything to sully the family name,” Anthony said on a dark chuckle as he picked up a glass and swirled the amber contents. “Not really, anyways. The fuckers were stealing from dear old Dad. I caught them at it and took what was owed us.”
“I don’t believe you.”
“I have the books here with me.”
“Where?”
“In my room.” Anthony pointed with the hand holding the glass. “Go look if you want.”
“You can bring them down when Father returns.” Leon shoved away from the desk, heading for the door.
“Ah, but shouldn’t you be here for that? I mean, that is the point, right? All of this will be yours someday.” Anthony snorted, his glass slamming to the small table beside the chair.
“Maybe so,” Leon threw over his shoulder, fingers curling over the jamb as he turned towards the staircase. “But it’s not my business just yet. I’m sure you can explain your actions to his satisfaction without my help, brother.”
Pushing away from the entry, Leon took the stairs two at a time. Not rushing, but eager to be upstairs and then gone. He had one piece of business in this house today, and it had nothing to do with his brother or father.
Knocking on the third door down the hall, Leon smiled at the soft, feminine voice bidding him to enter.
“Leon!” His mother rose from her rocking chair by the window, sailing through the room to wrap her only son in a tight hug. Grumbling as her hands felt his back and waist, she pulled away with warm brown eyes narrowed. “You’re too thin! A boy your size needs to eat, Leon.”
“Hello to you, too, Mom.”
“To what do I owe this rare pleasure?”
“Don’t act like I wasn’t just here Tuesday.” Leon grinned, taking his mother’s arm for the few steps back to her seat. Arranging his bulk in a far too small slipper chair nearby, he patted her hands.
Regina Marchetti was still beautiful, and not just the image colored by a son’s love.
Thick brown hair brushed back from her face, there was only a light sprinkling of silvered hairs fanning from the temples.
The ever present laughter around her eyes was just well worn and comfortable now, no matter how many expensive creams and tinctures she used to make the fine lines disappear.
Even now her figure was stunning, and Leon wagered there were far younger women who envied that.
Only he and his father really knew that she tortured herself to keep it.
“But you’re not here to see me this time, either, are you?” Regina’s prim red lips tightened, the elegant arches of her brows crashing down before she remembered herself. Fixing a far more neutral facade on her soft features, she sighed and tipped her head to one side.
“Mom, please—”
“Marjory was perfectly acceptable. Her name was worth more than some crude talk about her, and from that wretched girl no less! I cannot believe you called the whole thing off because of that.”
“I understand, but—”
“Your claim over that territory is nothing if you have no one to leave it to, Leon. It is your children’s birthright, but you have to have them first. You’re running out of time.”
“I’m not that old, Mom.”
“No, but children die. People take them away and you never see them again. There are forces against you, my son, and you do not have an endless supply of time. Don’t pretend that you don’t know that.”
“Just tell me about her, Mom.”
Regina sniffed, casting a baleful glare at Leon before she picked up her knitting. Concentrating on the snicking-click of the needles for the remainder of the row to the long shawl, Leon thought she might have finally reached her limits.
“Delilah Crawford, you know her, she’s mated to that ridiculous Ferro boy.
At any rate, she told Bridget that that girl is traipsing around the city with just a single Beta guard.
That Irish man that’s always with her. Doing Gods knows what, but she was seen going in and out of consignment shops, and even waiting in the car while her guard went into an actual pawnshop! Can you believe that?”
“Why would she—”
“Well because whoever it was that did it is throwing her out into the streets, Leon. Why on earth would they let her stay?”
“But she’s a Costanzo.”
“Are we talking about Elena?” Anthony bumped the door the rest of the way open with his shoulder but remained in the entryway. Even he didn’t dare disregard their father’s rules about entering an Omega’s rooms. Invited or not, only their mothers were allowed to see them in private.
“Anthony,” Regina murmured by way of greeting, turning her eyes back to the working needles.
“What’s it to you?” Leon stood, instincts demanding he protect his mother with a step toward Anthony.
“Nothing at all, big brother.” Anthony rolled his shoulders, easing his weight from the jamb and starting down the long hall. “I just saw her. She looked a mess. Guess Valente didn’t die soon enough, eh?”
“What?”
“You didn’t know?” Anthony’s brows bounced, dark gaze sliding to Regina and onward to Leon. “I’m sure there’s a reason for that. Not my place. Second son and all that.”
“Mom, what is he talking about?”
“It doesn’t matter,” Regina whispered, tugging on Leon’s sleeve when he took a step forward.
“What have you been keeping from me,” he snapped, jerking his arm away as he followed Anthony into the hall.
The windows from downstairs didn’t reach this part of the house, setting it in a gloomy cast year-round.
Catching Anthony’s shoulder to turn him around, Leon stepped into his space. “Tell me.”
“What’s it to you?” Anthony laughed outright, waving away Leon’s growl. “He beat her, you dolt. Apparently she had to go to the hospital and everything. Had a cast on, most of her bruised.”
“Where the hell did you see her? You just—”
“Got into town a couple of days ago. I was with… a friend. He told me what happened between you two. Shocking really. Golden boy ruining a poor Omega. Guess I’m not quite the rotten apple you think I am, hm?”
“I didn’t savage her!” Leon fisted the front of Anthony’s shirt, jerking him off balance.
“No, but you might as well have put a gun to her head and done her the favor of a swift end,” Anthony said with a cold calm that irritated Leon all the more.
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“Well, after Valente got done with her, he went and got killed, didn’t he? She has no family, Leon. Costanzo is the only name she has.”
“So? She can find another mate. Someone suitable.” Shoving Anthony away, Leon’s lip curled in disgust.
“Ah, but who would take her on, golden boy?” Straightening his shirt, Anthony looked up through a fall of his dark hair to meet Leon’s eyes.
“Why wouldn’t they?” Leon gave a terse shake of his head. “She’s a blooded Omega, wealthy enough, young.”
“One dead Alpha. Another wiped his hands clean of her after you were finished with her, and might I remind you how very public that display was. And now no family,” Anthony said, counting them out on his fingers.
“I have nothing to do with her.” Leon’s brows crashed into a hard line as he advanced on Anthony. “What are they saying about her?”