87. Leo
LEO
For weeks, I hadn’t had a minute of peace.
The house had been tight and angsty quarters for a while now.
When I wasn’t breaking up a fight between Spencer and Dom, I was comforting Kiera, and when I wasn’t comforting Kiera, I was trying to eek information out of Dom, and when I wasn’t eeking info out of Dom, I was keeping Lady entertained.
But now that we were finally on our way to claim Kiera’s shares, the weight of what we were doing set in. Which means for once in their lives, these motherfuckers were quiet.
Dom had crawled off into her own corner of the jet with her headphones in, while Spencer was taking a nap in one of the solo recliners. Even the dog was keeping herself busy.
Which left me to hold Kiera, while she gazed pensively out the window. Dark clouds over the Midwest obscuring our view of the night-covered farmland below.
As I sat in the searing silence, I could finally take a full breath. But it didn’t feel as good as I wanted it to, and I couldn’t help but wish for noise again.
In the quiet of my own thoughts, my mind kept drifting back to Kiera. Tough as she was, it was hard not to worry about her. Especially when I saw Maura’s name flash across her phone.
With Kiera nestled against my chest, it was hard not to look at the text message:
It’s not like you to be so absent. I know that something’s wrong. My blood pressure is through the roof. If I could see you in person, I would feel much better.
Mom
Kiera barely had a second to react to that text before another came through:
There are things I need to tell you in person, Kiera. Changes. At least give me a call so I know that you’re alive.
Mom
With a sigh, Kiera shut her phone down and tossed it across her leather seat. I squeezed her a bit tighter, rubbing her arm as she nestled into my chest. “Everything alright?”
“It’s fine,” she groaned. “Just the usual shit.”
I nodded, not wanting to push it. Maura’s texts had slowed ever since Kiera kicked her off of her bank account, but they hadn’t stopped entirely. And now, they were much more guilt-trippy than they were demanding.
I had to give her credit. Maura was smart enough to know when her tactics were going stale. And Kiera was smart enough to start seeing her manipulation for what it was.
She didn’t complain about the texts as much any more. They didn’t derail her day the way they had when she’d first moved in with us. But as she snuggled into me for comfort, it was clear to me that the matter was far from resolved.
Just another fucking pressure that she’s under.
I could see the weight crushing down on her from every angle, and all I wanted to do was to make it go away. But, as unfair as it was, these were Kiera’s battles. All I could do was stand by her and give her support as she fought her way through.
I bit my lip as I stared out the window, trying to think of something I could say to make her feel better. But to my surprise, while my worries were with Kiera, it seemed that her own concerns were aimed at me.
“How are you doing?” She pulled back slightly, melting my heart with those beautiful green eyes.
“I’m fine,” I murmured, smoothing out her hair. But she wasn’t buying it.
“Your heart is racing. I can hear it through all your meat.” She teased, pressing her palm to my pec.
“It’s nothing,” I forced a smile. “I’m all good, darlin’.”
I’d hoped it would soothe her mind, but my response only made her purse her lips.
“Why do you always say that? You’re always holding your shit together for the rest of us, and I’ve never seen you take a minute to just let yourself… feel.”
I stiffened slightly, blinking as I tried to come up with a response. Frankly, I didn’t realize that she had noticed — it didn’t feel like anyone noticed all of the work I put in to keep everything stable.
But Kiera had always been too observant.
She sighed. “You can only keep it up for so long before you’re going to blow a gasket.”
“You’d be surprised,” I teased back, but that only made her frown.
“Didn’t you make me promise to be honest with you about how I was feeling?”
“Well yeah, but that’s you,” I shrugged. “I never promised I’d do the same.”
“No, but you promised me no more secrets. And I feel like you’re keeping one.”
She’s fucking relentless.
I sighed, feeling my mask start to crack under her constant prodding. “You want the truth, Kiera? If I’m being totally honest, I feel… confused.”
“Why?” she traced her hand from my pec to my shoulder, rubbing comfort into the skin.
I looked out the window, struggling to find the words. The sun would be rising soon. “I’m trying to figure out The Oracle’s game. It’s become clear to me, especially since our trip to Delphi, that The Oracle brought you and Dom together for a reason, right?”
“Uh-huh,” Kiera nodded, furrowing her brow.
“And the same is true for Spencer and Dom. So it would follow…”
“That there was a connection between you and Dom?”
“Right.” I nodded.
“But we already knew that. You guys went to school together, your parents probably knew each other.”
“Sure, but as far as I know, that was a distant connection. And given how close the ties between you three are, I can’t help but wonder if there’s something else there. Something that I’m missing.”
Once I’d voiced it, that fear coiled up my spine like a snake, squeezing tighter each second that Kiera was silent.
“It’s nothing.” I shook my head, leaning back against the seat. “I don’t want you worrying about my paranoia. Not when you’ve got a whole corporate coup to deal with.”
But before I could retreat, Kiera placed a hand on my forearm, stilling my thoughts. “No, it’s good. I asked.”
I opened my mouth to push back, but she cut me off. “You know everything about me, Leo. But to feel close to you, I need this — I need to know what’s going on in your head.”
“I just don’t want to burden you with?—”
“You’re not a burden,” her eyes flashed with something like hurt as she shook her head. “You are not a burden. Would you ever say that about me?”
“Well, no, but?—”
“I care about you, Leo.” She squeezed my arm, searching my gaze with those shimmering emerald eyes. “And I appreciate you letting me in, okay?”
“Okay,” I nodded, trying to believe her.
With the conversation wrapped, Kiera rested her head back on my shoulder, intertwining our fingers in my lap. It wasn’t long before she drifted off to sleep, her soft snores providing a steady rhythm that calmed my racing thoughts.
My parents, my purpose, The Oracle’s secrets: those were all questions that could wait until we saw what lay on the other end of this plane ride. But the idea that Kiera wanted to know what I was going through, wanted to help me, was shifting my brain chemistry.
I knew what it was to belong, to be needed, to be valuable, and even to be loved: Spencer and Dom had provided that when my family refused to.
But I wasn’t sure I’d ever been seen quite like this. Not until the sweet angel sleeping on my shoulder arrived.
And for all of her care, she only asked one thing in return: that I let her in, that I let her see me. I’d always hated opening up. It made me feel weak, burdensome. But against all logic, Kiera saw being there for me as a privilege.
It was a hard truth to swallow. But for Kiera, I would try.