Chapter 23
TWENTY-THREE
Hades
Threatening me wouldn’t end well for Leo.
I had protected him for as long as I could, but now that Capri figured out who he really was, there was no reason for me to hide his secret. I had found the perfect revenge.
I didn’t enjoy seeing the pain in Capri’s eyes, but Leo had no one to blame but himself for this one. Even if she had never realized Leo was the one who murdered Emilio and I took the fall, she did know what her father had planned for her.
“Hades, because of our history…” Leo glanced at my tattoo. “I’m giving you and your entourage an hour to clear out of here. You will not contact my daughter once you’re gone. Her life will go back to the way it was before she met you.”
“I don’t recall Christopher being in her life before she met me.” I swiped my fingers over my forearm. “If you think this tattoo represents who we were to one another, you’re delusional. It was a drunken mistake made a long time ago by two men who thought they were brothers.”
“You must have kept it for a reason,” Leo said.
“Oh, I did.” I had debated having it removed, but each time I did, I remembered why I needed to keep it.
“It doesn’t remind me of the bond we once shared.
It was proof of the bond you broke when you stabbed Emilio in the heart.
You fucked up the job so bad that he struggled to breathe and pleaded to die for several long, agonizing minutes. ”
“That’s not what happened,” Maria sobbed. “Leo?”
“Leo is using you!” I shouted. “Just like he does everyone else. He brought you here to convince Capri that I’m the bad guy in this scenario.
But it was her father who killed Emilio in a fit of rage.
It wasn’t thought out and it wasn’t a clean job.
That’s how you should know that I wasn’t the one who executed it. I would never be so sloppy.”
“His blood was all over your hands and clothes.” She wiped the tears that slipped down her face. “I saw you at Leo’s house that night before I found out what had happened. Right before you fled.”
“I administered CPR.” Emilio was too far gone for help, but I tried, because we were on the altar and he had pleaded with me through frightened eyes to help him. “It was too late.”
“I don’t believe you,” Maria said.
“Oh, for God’s sake, Maria,” Capri said. “What is wrong with you?”
“You have no say in any of this, little girl. You were fucking two years old when this went down. You have no idea who you’re dealing with when it comes to your latest obsession.
” Maria spat all of her anger in my direction.
“He’ll fuck you until he has no use for you, and then he’ll leave you broken and alone. ”
“That’s enough.” When I moved toward Maria, Leo blocked me. “Stop with the theatrics for the benefit of your daughter. I want Maria out. I’m not looking at her lying face for another second, and I will not have her insult Capri.”
“I can take care of my own.” Leo lingered close to me, rage bubbling from his entire being. “Capri doesn’t need you.”
“You don’t know anything about her, much less who she needs.” I pushed his chest away from me, because if he got any closer, all my own fury, which I had spent years containing, would burst free. “You need to leave.”
“Not without Capri,” Leo said.
“She’s staying with me, because that’s where she belongs.”
“She’s not yours.” He got in my face. “I’ll kill you before I let you have her.”
When Leo shoved me, he knocked me into Capri, causing her to hit the wall. As I turned my attention to her, Leo tugged my shoulder and raised his arm. Before he could make contact, I blocked his impending strike and slammed my fist into his jaw.
Capri gasped when Leo stumbled and fell into the table.
“I told you I wouldn’t let you hit me again.” I gritted my teeth. “I’m not doing this in front of her unless you force me to.”
“Because you don’t want her to see the man you really are?” Leo charged me and gripped my throat. “A killer with no conscience.”
“I have a conscience when it matters.” I yanked him off me, hitting him again.
“You’re the one who killed an innocent priest. You slit his throat, fucking it up so bad that I couldn’t even save you.
” I ducked when he swung at me. “The irony of this whole situation is that I had your back even when I took the blame, because I trusted we would find a way out together like we always did.”
“Stop!” Capri shouted. “Please! I’m going with you, Sebastian. Let that be enough revenge.”
Her words fell on deaf ears as Leo and I continued to fight with one another. He hit my jaw hard enough to knock me to the ground. Fuck!
When Capri got in between us to block him from coming for me again, he shoved her out of the way to get to me. She lost her footing and fell.
That was all the motivation I needed to unleash almost twenty years of hate and rage. I could forget what he had done to me, but I would never allow him to hurt her. Touch what’s mine and die.
I sprung to my feet and grabbed Leo by the throat, ramming him against the wall and pounding my fist into his face. I didn’t know how many strikes I got in before he hit the floor.
“Sebastian!” Capri cried. “Please, no more.”
Her distraught voice should have been enough, but I couldn’t do what she asked. Not after everything that was taken from me over the years. Even after all this time and all that he had done to me, he still provoked me by asking Maria to lie for him in order to take Capri from me.
I dropped down and raised my arm to finish what I had started. I had to protect Capri from her father before he put her in any more danger.
“That’s enough!” she screamed. “If you do this, we can’t come back from it.”
As Leo gazed into my eyes, I realized he had the only ammunition he would ever need to use against me. He had the protection of his daughter. I forced my fist down, crashing it into the floor instead of my intended target.
Maria crouched down and assessed Leo’s bleeding face as Capri sobbed. When I faced her, she backed away from me.
“Don’t.” She held out her trembling hand. “I can’t.” Covering her mouth with her palm, she tried to suppress a strained sob. “I can’t watch the two of you hurt one another.”
Nothing ever broke my concentration. I didn’t crack under pressure. That wasn’t me. I couldn’t allow feelings to get in the way of business. But watching her shake and knowing I was the cause of her fear and uncertainty broke me.
My heart had no purpose when it came to getting a job done. I had waited an eternity to clear my name and make Leo suffer.
“I stopped for you,” I whispered. “You’re my weakness.”
“I never wanted to be that.” She wiped her face. “I should have listened when you told me to run.”
A bullet would have been better. I had never given anyone the power to hurt me until now.
“I need air,” she said.
“Don’t go. Please.” When I reached for her hand, she turned away and opened the door.
I had no choice but to let her go. The decision to stay had to be hers and hers alone.
She hurried out of the suite and toward the elevator just as Atticus and Zeus came into the room and took in the situation.
“Let her go.” Leo managed to get himself into a standing position. “Don’t you understand she’ll be better off without you?”
“Without me, she’ll be subjected to you and your demented wedding plans.” I swiped my gun off the table and shoved it into the back of my pants. “Whatever you’ve gotten yourself into, you need to get out of it without Capri.”
“Hades,” Maria said.
“Why are you still here?” I asked.
“You didn’t kill Emilio?” She ran her fingers through her hair, looking as if she didn’t know who to believe.
“I would never have botched a job that way.” I glared at Leo. “But after all this time, I don’t need you to believe me. Get out.” I pointed to the door. “Leo and I have business to discuss.”
Zeus nodded toward Maria. “I’ll escort you out.”
“Zeus,” I said. “Capri ran off without her phone. Can you go after her and make sure she’s safe?”
“Sure thing.” He opened the door and waited for Maria to exit. “I’ll call you once I find her. She’s probably in the lobby.” He closed the door behind him.
I shook my hand when the blood dripped off my swollen knuckles. Punching the floor harder than I thought I had caused some damage. But the satisfaction of knowing I had bruised Leo’s face was worth it.
“I’ll get something for that.” Atticus motioned toward my hand, quickly leaving me alone with Leo.
“Call the diamond thief off my kid.” Leo adjusted his rumbled jacket as he checked himself in the mirror. “She doesn’t need your security.”
“I disagree.” I leaned against the back of the sofa. “Are you happy with how this display of nonsense turned out?”
“I accomplished what I needed to.” He rubbed his jaw. “Capri isn’t here anymore, is she?”
She’ll be back. I had to believe that if I wanted to keep going.
“Getting Maria to lie for you when you’re the one who killed her brother was low even for you.”
“A father will do whatever he has to do to protect his children,” he said. “But you couldn’t possibly know that.”
“Tell me what it is that I did to you that makes you hate me so much.” It wasn’t as if I cared, but I was curious. “You’re the one who fucked me over. Was it easier to make everyone believe I was the enemy because you knew the truth?”
“I didn’t hate you,” he said. “I had all but erased you from my mind, but then you resurfaced at the worst possible time and used my daughter to get back at me.”
“Meeting Capri was exactly what I needed to put the past behind me. I didn’t use her, but she was necessary.”
“Would you say that in front of her?”
“I don’t lie to her, and I would never sell her to the highest bidder.
” I clenched my fists, fighting the urge to shoot him.
“I could have let this vendetta go for Capri’s sake.
I saw the pain in her eyes when you and I fought.
I never want to hurt her, but I’m not going to let you hurt her either. ”
“She’s not your responsibility.”
“I don’t see her as a responsibility.” I saw her as mine to protect because she managed to break down all of my defenses in a matter of weeks. I dropped my guard for her and opened up and let her in.
“What is it that you want with her? If not to get back at me?” Leo asked. “Am I supposed to believe that my daughter happens to be the one for you?”
“I’m not going to discuss my relationship with you.”
“You don’t have a relationship.” He went to the door. “I need you to stay out of my daughter’s life and out of my business.”
“As long as your business concerns her, I won’t back down.
You’ve gotten mixed up with the wrong people, and I won’t stand by and let you ruin Capri.
You should be thanking me for removing her from this mess.
Tell your associates it’s my fault. We both know it won’t be the first time you’ve done that to me. ”
“You have no idea what you’ve stepped in the middle of.” He flung open the door. “Do yourself a favor and disappear. That’s how you can protect Capri.”
“What the fuck does that mean?” I shouted as he stormed out of the suite and toward the elevator. “What have you done this time?”
“Hades.” Atticus came into the room.
“We need to find out what Leo has involved himself in,” I said. “See if you can call in another favor. I’ll do a job for free if I have to in order to learn why Leo is so embedded in the Lazaro family.”
“We can discuss that later.” He held up his phone. “I just got off the phone with Zeus.”
“Did he find Capri?”
“Yes.”
“Where is she?”
“You’re not going to like the answer to that question.”