Chapter 4 Leo
LEO
The look of pure shock on Sora’s face makes me laugh as she topples backward into the fountain.
Whatever outcome she thought would come of our briefly intimate conversation, this was not it.
I know it was mean, an immature prank, but it was entirely worth it for the moment of satisfaction at seeing her perfect mask so completely obliterated.
And when she surfaces a moment later, her dark hair plastered to her head and water dripping from her, she’s the utter look of ruin I promised her.
What I didn’t consider before I chose to dunk her, however, was the way her white satin dress would turn nearly transparent.
It clings wetly to every inch of her curves, showing off her perfect body—and the flimsy white lace of her bra that does nothing to hide the sharp points of her hard nipples.
Blood rushes to my cock at the tantalizing sight, and my laughter dies as I can’t seem to tear my eyes from her heaving breasts as she pants from the shock.
Sora’s shoulders tense, a look of utter mortification making her pale beneath the perfect makeup that’s starting to track down her face.
Long, dark smudges form rivers down her cheeks, and somehow, even now, when she stands completely wrecked before me, she’s the most beautiful woman I’ve ever seen.
Her eyes meet mine, and the fury in them sends a jolt of electricity through my body, followed by the intense need to fix what I’ve done.
To protect her from the humiliation—even though I caused it.
A shiver ripples through her body, goosebumps breaking out across her skin, and my gut clenches as I think about how frigid the water must be this early in the spring.
Before I have time to consider what I’m doing, my feet are carrying me forward, and I reach out to help her from the fountain.
“Sora!” Oyabun Tanaka brushes past me, his suit jacket already off to wrap around his daughter’s shoulders as soon as she reaches the edge of the fountain.
Her delicate fingertips are tinged blue with cold as she accepts his hand, and guilt burns in my stomach as Sora’s father helps her over the fountain’s edge, keeping his arm firmly wrapped around her shoulders as he does.
“What is the meaning of this?” he demands, his cold gaze furious as he looks between me and my father, who reached us at the same time as Sora’s mother and brother.
“Leo, you will apologize at once—”
“It was an accident.” The quavering voice is the last I expected to say that.
Silence settles over the gathering crowd as all eyes turn to Sora. I must have heard her wrong.
Then again, I doubt my ears that I heard her interrupt my father at all. But even as her lips tremble, her chin lifts in that unquestioning look of authority that knocks me off balance.
The Tanaka girl has far more fire in her than I ever would have expected, and it makes my hands itch to touch her once more.
“An accident?” Kenji asks incredulously.
“Yes, an accident,” Sora insists. “It’s my fault, really. Just being clumsy. I lost track of how close I was to the fountain and tripped.”
My father lifts his eyebrows and glances toward the Tanakas as if to gauge their response.
Kenji looks ready to argue, and Sora’s mother keeps her emotions hidden as she glances toward Tatsuo, who eyes me speculatively.
“Is that what happened?” he asks, his voice measured, but the glint in his eye gives me the feeling that even if it was my plan from the start, I somehow played right into his hand.
Glancing toward Sora, I assess where she stands, and the look she gives me catches me entirely off guard.
She’s given me an easy out, a way to get out of any resulting consequences. So, why does she look… afraid?
“Uh, yeah, that’s basically it.” Dragging my eyes back to the oyabun, I catch the hint of a smirk at the corner of his lips before he shakes his head.
“Well, then, I think it’s best if I get my daughter home and into something dry,” Tatsuo states, his stiff tone warning me that he believes the lie just as much as Kenji.
But he’s willing to go along with it—which means I played right into their trap.
My momentary concern for Sora left me vulnerable, and I responded to her fear without thinking, agreeing because I stopped thinking about the bigger picture.
Now she has no reason to call off the wedding—because no one is accusing me of bullying her.
Clenching my jaw, I keep my frustration in check as I force a smile.
“Of course,” I agree. But I’m not giving up. I will find a way to break her down before we’re married.
“Perhaps it would be best if we limit the happy couple’s interactions before the wedding,” Tatsuo suggests, as if he can hear what I’m thinking.
“I think that’s a great idea,” my father confirms, and even though he has to reach up to do it, he grips the back of my neck like he used to when I was growing up, his fingers pressing into my muscles with enough force to ensure I keep my mouth shut.
“It will make the big day all the more special. Right, Son?”
Grinding my teeth, I give a curt nod.
“Good. Then, if you’ll excuse us.” Tatsuo Tanaka inclines his head before ushering Sora back down the path toward the house, his wife and son following closely.
As soon as their backs are turned, I shove my father’s hand away and watch them depart.
Any feelings of remorse are long gone in the wake of how things ended.
Sora might seem delicate and naive, but she just played me like a fiddle, twisting the situation to her advantage.
Dunking her in ice water hardly feels like an adequate punishment in comparison, and now my clock’s run out on convincing her to back out of the engagement.
“What the hell were you thinking?” my father snarls under his breath, turning to me as soon as the Tanakas are out of sight.
Well, as long as I’ve dug my grave, I might as well use it. “What?” I ask with false innocence. “She slipped.”
“You and I both know that’s not true. I might not have seen what happened, but I know you, Leo. And I know where you stand on this alliance. That girl didn’t end up in the fountain all on her own.”
“She seems to think she did,” I point out.
My father snarls as he shoves a finger in my face. “You need to grow up and take responsibility. This wedding is happening whether you want it to or not, so I suggest you stop trying to make your wife hate you before you’ve even made it to the altar.”
“She already hates me. The whole family does. How could you possibly think otherwise?” I demand. “I don’t understand how you can believe that one wedding is going to solve the fighting that’s been going on for all this time.”
“They came to us. That means the Tanaka-kai numbers are suffering just like ours. We have them on the ropes right now, which gives us a narrow window of opportunity. This alliance is important, Leo. Believe it or not, I’m doing this for you.”
Snorting skeptically, I start to pace. “How could any of this possibly be for me? You expect me to marry a woman whose father has probably told her to slit my throat in my sleep.”
“Don’t be absurd. If you let that woman kill you, then it would be your own damn fault.
From the looks of her, you’d have to help her lift the knife,” my father sneers.
“You need to start looking at the bigger picture, Leonardo. If we don’t get the Tanakas under control now, we’re going to be in trouble.
We’re facing enemies on multiple fronts—aside from the Yakuza, the Irish have been growing increasingly hostile, and the Russians’ greed makes them more dangerous by the year.
We might run Chicago now, but you’re going to run our business into the ground before you even take control at the rate you’re going.
We need allies, and the Tanakas are the only ones willing to make a deal. ”
“And whose fault is that?” I demand, stopping to glare at my father. “You haven’t seemed to have a concern about stepping on people’s toes before, while you were expanding our territory and encroaching on those around us. Now you want to pretend that I’m the one failing to see the bigger picture?”
“You can’t grow an empire without stepping on a few toes, Son.
We’re Chiaroscuros. We take what we want, and I have managed to hold our borders for well over a decade now.
People fear our name. They have learned to respect us above all, but you can’t keep fucking your way through the sex clubs of Chicago and expect this empire to run itself. ”
“And if I don’t want to run your empire?” I challenge, dropping my voice as I get in my father’s face.
“Then our blood will be on your hands. Our enemies will come for their revenge. Unless we have the means to crush their resistance. Moves and countermoves, Leo. That’s what it takes to survive our world.
Right now, it’s your job to protect this family by ensuring our alliance with the Tanakas.
” His tone is calm and cold, his dark eyes commanding as he shifts from irate father to calculating Don.
“You might not care for me, Leonardo, but would you condemn your brothers to prove your point?”
Ice trickles into my veins as my father stalks away, his words ringing in my ears.
I have no doubt the Tanakas will be our enemies regardless of this marriage.
But he’s right.
I don’t want to be their excuse for starting a war.