Chapter 6
L EILANI
Present Moment
Undeterred, I walk toward him.
I came here to talk to him, and no one will stop me. Not his men. Not the woman he’s dining with.
Or the people staring at us, sensing that something is about to go down.
We meet midway, his men following his orders, staying back, the woman at the table watching us with curiosity, the occasional onlooker taking another sip of their drink or chewing on their food.
“What are you doing here, Leilani?” he asks gruffly, under his voice, his hand swiftly locked around my arm like a metal cuff, just as fast restraining me.
I gather it’s not a good place to fight him. I don’t want more eyes on us.
“I need to talk to you.”
His eyes move through the layers of my soul as he reads my stare.
I can’t take my eyes away from him.
He must’ve spent the day at the beach, or maybe he fell asleep on a quiet terrace in an old building.
His skin looks like roses dipped in warm toffee.
A pinch of red, a little caramel.
It enlivens his eyes even more. As if I needed the edge of his heated ice on me.
His eyelashes look darker, and the dip between his eyebrows only enhances his charm, in my view.
No ferocious warning or stern look on this man’s face can make me retract what I have said to myself so many times.
I’m not scared of him.
I’m even more attracted to him.
“We talked last night,” he says, his eyes moving back and forth. “I thought I made things clear. You can’t just show up and look for me. It’s not wise. It’s stupid, if you ask me. Plus, there’s nothing to talk about.”
“Yes, there is.”
He searches my eyes, willing to consider, perhaps, talking to me for a change.
His eyes soften as if an entirely different thought takes over his mind.
“There isn’t, Leilani. Don’t make this more difficult than it already is.”
And for the first time ever, his eyes slide like a melting cube of ice from my cheeks to my lips, the column of my neck, the soft dip between my clavicles, the valley separating my breasts.
He pushes his stare all the way down, taking in my dress, my bare shoulders, the swell of my chest, and the highlighted waist.
Looking at me like a man checking his lover. His wife. His girlfriend. Staring at me like a man.
A real man with needs and wants.
And then, just like that, his eyes move up and meet my gaze.
“Please,” I say softly.
“Does anyone other than Nona know that you’re here?”
“Yes. My best friend.”
“And your best friend is…?” I think he rolls his eyes.“Who is your best friend, Leilani?”
“You’ve probably seen her. Aurora Kensington.”
He frees me from his grip and folds his arms over his chest.
“Does she know who I am?”
“She has no idea we’re criminals,” I say softly, and a small smile seems to be blooming at the corner of his lips.
His eyes move swiftly to the table where I sat a few moments ago. He signals to the waiter to wait for us, and grabs my arm.
“Let’s sit for a moment,” he says.
We walk back in silence, and both claim seats at the small table.
This is more than I’ve ever imagined happening between us.
“Would you like something to drink?” he asks.
“You can get me whatever you’re having.”
“I’m not drinking.”
Without waiting for me to make up my mind, he orders coffee and mineral water for both.
Before long, the waiter walks outside with a tray of drinks.
We’re waiting for him to set everything down and leave before Callum speaks as he picks up his coffee.
“I’m listening.”
I wrap my hand around my glass of water, the cold soothing my nerves as he takes a sip of coffee.
“Why is she here?” I ask quietly, my eyes pinned on his face.
He’s about to roll his eyes again and laugh me off, maybe, which would be a record-breaking moment, but that quickly gets replaced by a stern look.
He’s good.
He is so damn good at controlling his reaction that I can’t tell he is the same man who was about to be entertained by my question just by looking at his harsh expression.
“You’re not here, so you can question me about Vittoria.”
“No, I’m not. But my question stands. Why is she here?”
He sets his elbows on the table, tilts his chin down a little, and drinks me in.
I’m not mistaken.
The way he looks at me feels like he dips his mind into my soul in search of an answer.
“What do you want from me, Leilani?”
His voice is soft like a feather and has the effect of one moving slowly down my spine.
“I don’t want her to be here,” I say like a spoiled child who wishes for things that can never happen in real life.
He purses his lips as he looks down, pondering.
“I spent time with you last night, raising all kinds of questions in your grandmother’s mind. Do you think it would’ve looked better if I had invited you to dinner?” he asks.
His stare floats up from the table like a magic sword of sorts.
“That is not an answer,” I retort.
“It absolutely is. It’s the only one I have. I’m getting questions about you, Leilani. Your family is watching us. And I assume you’re here because of them. Am I wrong?”
I shake my head.
“No.”
“Good. Now that we’ve got this out of the way, tell me why you’re really here.”
A few moments pass.
“Please tell her to go,” I say, not a muscle moving on my face.
He’s weighing my request with a scolding expression on his face.
“She and I are having dinner.”
“I understand. But I don’t want to see her.”
“She’s not––”
He stops and looks over his shoulder.
His men stand by the building. In the background, Vittoria Petri is tasting an appetizer.
There is nothing distasteful about that.
I can’t even tell why I’m so consumed with her presence here or why I’m making this request.
He brings his eyes back to me.
“Tell me why you’re here. I’m sure our conversation will be over soon, and you can go back and not be bothered by her anymore,” he says, unrelenting.
I let it slide.
“Two weeks from now, there’s a party in Taormina.”
“So I’ve heard,” he says, slightly amused as he picks up his coffee to take another sip.
“The man they’re marrying me to will be there.”
His hand freezes midair before he brings his coffee to his lips and takes a small sip.
“How do you know?”
Mesmerized by the way he runs the edge of his teeth over his lip, I stay quiet.
“Leilani?”
“Huh?”
“How do you know that?”
“My aunt spoke to someone’s Consigliere . They confirmed it. Secretly, of course. It’s not public knowledge. Apparently, my aunt has become some sort of intermediary. Who knew she had it in her?” I snap. “At any rate,” I gesture with frustration. “It’s someone big.”
He studies me in silence.
“And that’s the reason you have risked another scolding from your family? Why are you really here, Leilani?”
A ball of angst sets in my chest.
Gingerly setting my water to the side, I lean closer to him over the table.
“Listen to me, Callum. You might think I’m stupid.
You might think I’m young. God knows what my own mother might’ve told you about me.
But you can’t deny that my instinct is just as sharp as yours.
You’re not in this family because you love them.
You didn’t marry Bianca because you wanted her.
They set you up as much as they’re setting me up now.
They wanted you to take over their empire, and now that she’s gone, they’re looking for someone bigger than you to marry me, so they can finish you.
Do you think it will serve you in any way? ”
He narrows his eyes at me, a muscle pulsing in his jaw as he ponders my words.
“Go on.”
“Whether we like it or not, you and I are in the same boat. You may be their king now, but they’re about to make you into a pawn like me and knock you off the chessboard without a smidgen of regret.”
He stays quiet, his eyes more interested in how my lips move than what they’re saying.
“Maybe it’s all for the better,” he murmurs.
That’s not what I wanted to hear from him.
“How can you say that?”
He finally relaxes, sets his elbows on the table, and slightly leans forward while I sag back in my seat.
“Yes. You get a husband. You will become just as big as he is, and then you ask him to spare my life.”
He seems serious, his words bearing the clarity a man like him would put in them, yet a faint light flickers in his eyes.
“Are you fucking with me?” I ask, angry. “You still think I’m some silly girl who’s talking nonsense to you?”
“I think that what you do is silly. You left a trail of crumbs for your grandparents so they can find out exactly where you went. They’ll know you’ve talked to me.
They’ll also know you’ve warned me. And what would that do for us?
Absolutely nothing. They’ll lock you up, send you to this new man of yours, let him handle you, and then come after me.
I’m not afraid of them, Leilani. I’ve been waiting for them to show their true colors since I walked into the dining room that night when your grandfather offered me his daughter’s hand in marriage.
You’re doing both of us a disservice. I told you I can’t help you.
And please don’t come to me with this ‘bigger than you’ story.
No one is bigger than me as long as I can pull out my gun and act faster than they do. Never forget that.”
He pushes his chair back and rises from his seat, at the same time, leaving cash on the table.
“Do you need a man to escort you back?”
“I don’t need any of your men,” I say, tears pooling in my eyes, threading through my voice. “You’re such an insufferable man.”
I rise just as fast and smoothly.
“Excuse me?” he tosses at me.
In one step, I close the space between us.
“You heard me right.”
Tears blur my vision as I finger his chest.