Page 25 of His to Break

There’s no point in asking him what his family supplies. Men like Leo keep their business and personal lives separate. I think I prefer it that way. There’s a lot to be said for living a life of blissful ignorance. I’d feel differently if I thought they were into seriously dark stuff like human trafficking, but all my research suggests they’re not involved in that. The women who work in the strip clubs they own all seem to be there voluntarily.

“What about you?” Leo asks after swallowing a mouthful of steak. “Did you get an education?”

Something about the way he poses the question offends me. “Do I seem uneducated?”

“No, but your father’s an asshole and I wouldn’t have thought he’d care if his daughter went to school.”

“Actually, he was quite strict about it.” It’s something that’s always surprised me. “I had private tutors, and they arranged for me to sit my A-levels at a local comprehensive. Uh, that’s a high school.”

Leo nods. “And your grades were good?”

My grades were excellent, even in subjects like science, which I hated. He’d have punished me harshly for anything less than an A. I’m not going to share that with Leo, however. I don’t want him to think I’m fishing for sympathy.

“I could have got into any university I wanted with my grades. Sadly, it wasn’t an option.”

My father had feared the influence the professors, and other students, would have on me and so I wasn’t allowed to go, even when I reached an age where most parents would have relinquished control.

“What would you want to study?”

I shrug. Because I knew it would never happen, I never explored the possibilities.

“Criminology would be good. I’d have access to some fascinating inside information, after all.”

Leo shakes his head as he slices off a piece of his steak and drags it through the sauce his plate is flooded with. “That can’t happen. Pick something less closely related to our…” He waves his hand around, searching for the right word. “Situation.”

I don’t let myself get too excited in case I’m reading him wrong, but it doesn’t seem as if he’s talking hypothetically.

“Art history, maybe.”

“Look into it.” He downs half his glass of the Barolo in a single gulp. “There are online courses you could do.”

“Really?”

“Yah. I like the thought of having a wife who can tell me what I’m looking at when we’re at a gallery.”

“Will we be visiting a lot of galleries?”

Leo takes another bite of steak. “You’d be surprised how many fancy parties are held in galleries and museums.”

“Okay, I’ll see if I can find a course.” I bite my lip, nervous to ask this next question. “But what about kids? Don’t you want them soon?”

“Sure, but we can work to your timetable.”

“You’ve already fucked me several times without a condom.”

Leo lifts his shoulder in a lazy shrug. “And that’s not going to change. Get on birth control if you want.”

Narrowing my eyes, I stare at Leo as I try to work him out. He’s not like I expected him to be. He’s willing to wait before we have children to let me study, and he doesn’t want me to act like he’s my lord and master in public. It doesn’t fit with what I’ve heard about him.

“Your attitudes are surprisingly enlightened for someone in your line of work,” I tell him.

“Only where my wife is concerned. You’re my partner, Vinnie, not my property.”

Tears prick at the back of my eyes, and I blink to prevent them from falling. If Leo means what he says then I’ve been luckier than I ever thought I could be. I just hope he’s not playing me, for whatever reason, because if he betrays me, I’m not sure I’ll ever recover.

CHAPTER 11

Leo

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