Chapter Twenty Leo
After Drea ushered Audrianna out the door, I like to say I handled our interruption and subsequent separation with maturity. That somehow I saw it as a blessing. I’d already taken things way too far tonight by telling Drea how I felt about her. Not to mention our makeout session.
But I didn’t.
The Caruso’s gardener was going to lose their shit at the sight of my rage.
Those fucking plants were the only things within reach for me to take my emotions out on.
They bore the brunt of not just tonight’s disappointment, but the past year’s.
I ripped apart trellises and squashed them between my shoes. I’d smashed pots and hurled shovels.
The only thing that stopped me was when a trowel cracked a back window. I realized then what a fucking nutjob I was acting like and got the hell out of there. I decided there were more mature ways of handling my pain.
So I went to the bar.
But that was a fucking mistake, not just because I didn’t need to get plastered. Everything went south when Drea’s brother, Antonio, eased down on the stool beside me. While I’d never really spent any time with him, my entire dislike of him was based on comments Drea had made about him.
After nodding a hello, I went back to my whiskey. “Great party, huh?” he remarked.
“Fucking A,” I muttered around the rim of my glass.
“You disappeared for a bit.”
“Nice of you to notice.”
Ignoring my sarcasm, Antonio said, “It’s just that I wanted to talk to you about some future business ventures.”
When I cocked a brow at him, he said, “In gambling.”
Yeah, fuck that. I didn’t want anyone’s fingers in my casino plans, least of all him. “I think you mistake me for my brother.”
Antonio laughed. “We’re all going to be one big happy family after tomorrow.”
“If you say so.”
Glancing over his shoulder, Antonio jerked a chin at Rafe. Caruso must’ve said something to him about his sullen face because Rafe appeared as an animated puppet as he talked with some men.
“I hope he knows what he’s getting himself into.”
Frowning, I asked, “What do you mean?”
Antonio chuckled. “Drea is nothing like Father sold her. She’s got a mouth on her that seriously needs checking. Like backhand checking.”
My knuckles tightened so hard around my glass that they turned white. “Is that right?” I gritted out.
“But I’m sure Rafe has a good backhand.”
“You might be surprised,” I grumbled.
“What was that?” Antonio asked.
Cocking my head at him, I asked, “What else does Rafe need to know?”
Leaning in, he lowered his voice, “Father would probably kill me, but Drea is totally used goods. Considering she lost it to some lowly soldier a few years back, God only knows who else she’s spread her legs for.”
As white-hot anger coursed through me, I smiled at Antonio. “Are you drunk?”
He laughed. “No. Why?”
Rising off my stool, I replied, “That’s too bad. This is going to hurt way worse than if you were drunk.”
As he stared at me in confusion, I landed a harsh right hook to his chin. With him staggering and off balance, I delivered an undercut to his abdomen. People came running as Antonio collapsed to the ground.
I’d started kicking him when Rafe and Gianni each grabbed a shoulder and started dragging me away.
“Leo, what the fuck are you doing?” Rafe demanded.
“Defending your bride’s honor from her piece of shit brother,” I spat.
As someone pulled Antonio to his feet, he swiped the blood from his nose. “It’s the fucking truth.”
This time the punch to Antonio’s face didn’t come from me. Although it certainly belonged to Rafe, it was actually Edoardo who delivered it. “Coglione, how dare you defile your sister’s name under our roof!” he snarled.
Sneering at Edoardo, I spat at his feet. “Your fucking heir should be called worse than a dumbass, and he shouldn’t defile Drea’s name anywhere, not just under your roof.”
To my shock, Edoardo didn’t come back at me. Instead, he nodded. “You’re right. It’s disrespectful to your family.”
My family? Jesus, the gall of this asshole. Standing toe to toe with him, I growled, “Fuck my family! It’s disrespectful to your daughter. For once, would you actually give a shit about your daughter as a person and not as a piece of cattle you’re selling off?”
My reprieve with Edoardo was over almost as quickly as it started. His eyes darkened. “You always seem to run your mouth when you shouldn’t, especially when it comes to my daughter who is nothing to you,” he said in a lethal tone.
Just as I was about to blare that she was everything to me, Gianni leaned over to hiss into my ear. “Let it go, man. Rafe’s about to snap as it is. This isn’t a fight we’re going to win.”
“Vaffanculo a tutti,” I snarled before storming away.
Furious with the entirety of the situation, I couldn’t help saying to fuck them all. After a few moments, Gianni caught up to me. “What the fuck was that about?”
As I sped up my pace, I replied, “Exactly what I said it was.”
He eyed me suspiciously. “You don’t know Drea well enough to throw hands for her.”
“Are you serious right now? I don’t have to know her. It’s about that figilio de puttana insulting Rafe’s bride, which insults our family.”
“Yeah, well, I think it’s about the fact you have some sorta crush on Drea.”
At him referencing my feelings for Drea, I skidded to a stop on the path. Fuck, fuck, fuck! If that thought had crossed Gianni’s mind, what if it had Rafe’s as well?
Trying to throw him off the trail, I scoffed, “I’m a grown-ass man. I don’t have fucking crushes.”
“Infatuations?”
Grunting, I started stalking away. Unfortunately for me, Gianni was as stubborn as Rafe and me. “It’s not like I blame you. With that face and that body, she’s a real stunner.”
“She’s more than just her looks,” I shot back.
“Aha!”
Whirling around, I shot him a withering look. “Did you seriously shout aha like some lame ass TV detective?”
He rolled his eyes. “You’re just deflecting because you know I caught your ass.”
“Because I said that Drea was more than her looks?”
“Exactly.”
“That doesn’t mean shit.”
“Oh yeah, it does. Unlike you, I don’t know enough about Drea to make that declaration.”
Pinching the bridge between my eyes, I huffed, “That’s because you were in Sicily the day I accompanied Rafe to meet her.”
“I’m aware of that. But you couldn’t have possibly had any time alone with her to make that assumption.
As blood pounded irrationally loud in my ears, I fought to keep from losing my shit. First, it was Antonio running his mouth, and now Gianni was riding my ass. Normally, I could control myself, but at the moment, I was a man on the fucking edge.
“G–”
Wagging his brows, he said, “Let me guess. You’ve jerked off to her?”
And then I exploded.
“You want the truth, G? Okay, you got it. You think I’ve got a crush on Drea or I’m infatuated with her? Well, you couldn’t be more fucking wrong.”
“Leo–”
I smacked my palms against my chest. “I’m not infatuated with her–I fucking love her. I’ve loved her for months. Maybe from the first time I saw her when she slammed into me right here in this garden.”
My words had such an effect on Gianni that he staggered back. “Wait, what?”
“Just trust me on this one since I don’t have the time or patience tonight to explain everything.”
Over the years, I’d seen Gianni shocked many times. But I’d never seen him so completely floored as he was at the moment. Like he was gobsmacked.
“Fucking hell, Leo,” he finally muttered.
“Tell me about it.”
“Does Rafe know?”
Sweeping my hands to my hips, I counted, “What do you think?”
He nodded. “With his head where it is, there’s no way in hell he picked up anything like I did.”
“Lucky me,” I grumbled.
Gianni’s expression sobered. “Yeah, you should consider yourself lucky. Rafe would lose his fucking mind if he found out there was something going on behind his back.”
A screech echoed through my mind like a needle on a vinyl record. “You’re joking.”
“No man, I’m not.”
For a moment, it was difficult processing what he was saying, least of all respond to it.
I felt like I’d been dumped into the Twilight Zone.
It wasn’t like I’d expected Gianni to be happy about my feelings for Drea.
But I expected his anger would come from a place of disappointment that Drea and I couldn’t be together.
“How the fuck is this possibly a betrayal when not only does Rafe not give two shits about Drea, but he’s risked everything personally and professionally for Maeve?”
“You’re his brother, Leo. You’re always supposed to have his back.”
Getting up in Gianni’s face, I snarled, “Don’t you dare make this a betrayal!”
Gianni shoved me back. “Then what the fuck is it?”
“Just like Rafe, it’s denying myself the woman I love for our fucking Famiglia.”
“With your brother’s fiancée.”
“Since when are you the fucking moral police?”
“It’s not about morality, Leo. It’s about our family being on the edge of ruin, and instead of falling in line to pick up the pieces, you’ve been scattering them even harder.”
Shaking my head, I countered, “You are such a fucking hypocrite. When did you ever pull this guilt trip on Rafe when he was burning down his alliance with Edoardo, not to mention alienating Callum? The last time I checked, we both just wanted him to be happy.”
“You don’t know the conversations I had with him in private after the bombing at Inferno.”
“Yeah, well, your little chats didn’t do shit. He only changed his mind when Maeve didn’t give him a choice.”
“Drea could’ve been more than just a distraction for his heartbreak. She could’ve been his salvation.”
“Drea is her own person. It’s not fair for her to be just a means to an end for Rafe.”
“For this alliance to work, she is. Think about it. If she didn’t have feelings for you, she could focus on her marriage.”
“See, that’s exactly where you don’t know shit about Drea or the situation. She and Rafe have an understanding.”
“Yeah, I know what he said. But you and I both know how feelings and emotions change.”
“So what the fuck do you want from me?”
“If you truly love her as much as you claim you do, there’s no way in hell you can stay around here.”
“You want me to leave?”
He nodded. “To give them a chance, I think you have to.”
“Where the fuck am I supposed ot go?”
“I don’t know. We’ll have to work it out while they’re on their honeymoon.”
At the thought of Drea alone in an exotic location with Rafe, my chest tightened with agony. “If you say so.”
“Maybe I could get the Kavanaughs to help?”
I swallowed hard. It was one thing to be sent off maybe to Sicily, but to Ireland? Fuck that was grim. “How will you possibly explain it to Rafe?”
“We’ll make it about business so he won’t have any suspicions.”
Even though I despised Gianni at that moment, I knew he was right. There was no way I could survive being close to Drea and not being able to have her. “How long will I have to be gone?”
He shrugged. “However long it takes. Maybe we can send you somewhere with a marriageable woman. Then you could kill two birds with one stone.”
“Jesus, why don’t you just shoot me instead? It’d sure as hell be less painful.”
“You need someone to focus on besides Drea.”
“I can pay many women to do that.”
“You and I both know that fucking strangers isn’t the same.”
Once again, he was right. “Fine. Send me to Siberia if you have to. We need a good Bratva alliance.”
“I don’t think that’ll be necessary.”
Turning around, I started back in the direction of the party. “Do you really think that’s a good idea?”
“If I’m going to make it through the next twenty-four hours, I’m going to do it drunk.”