Page 55 of Legacy

I deadpanned at her. “What, strategizing to take down our enemies and seeking revenge is just some small minor endeavor for you?”

Exasperated, she said, “No. You know it’s not. But I want to think that Mama and Papa would have wanted at least one of us to pursue our dreams. Somethingnotrelated to business, politics, and the family.”

“I was kidding. I want this for Cali.”

Cali’s smile lit up the room, making me realize how different she was from Laya and me. At that moment, I made a vow to find her someone who saw her softer side, someone who could protect her but understood she needed gentleness and understanding.

Fifteen

Elias

After meeting with my lieutenants, I headed to my father’s house. Avra had left earlier for lunch with her sisters. Something made me suspect that she wanted to make herself scarce, thinking I desired privacy while speaking with my men.

If she only understood those thoughts were the furthest thing from my mind. She was my wife. She belonged with me. The Xenos and Vitalis families were tied together. Sooner or later, they had to join forces, whether she liked it or not. However, it wouldn’t happen until Ozias was out of the picture.

Until that day, she would remind me that she conductedher business separately from mine. There was no mingling of anything, whether information-sharing or discussing problems.

Even if I wanted her by my side every minute of every day, I wouldn’t force it upon her. Caging someone like her was as stupid as building a box made of wood to contain a fire. She had lived a life of restraint for fifteen years, and nothing would keep her prisoner now. The fact that I wanted to watch her burn things to the ground simultaneously amused and concerned me.

Avra’s hard shell hid a vulnerability I only glimpsed when I’d pushed her that one time. For a woman like her, love and loyalty came hand in hand.

Her sisters had it without question. Watching their simple banter on moving day made it clear they shared a bond I would never have known as an only child. With Laya and Cali, Avra allowed her guard to drop.

Would she ever feel that level of comfort with me?

I gritted my teeth, pushing down that petulant train of thought, and shifted the gear on my sports car.

Calm, cool focus was the only way to deal with Ozias.

Whatever he summoned me for would require all my patience. The last time we met like this, he told me I was marrying Avra. I could hardly wait to find out what today’s demand involved.

Fucker.

He likely planned to give me orders on the best way to manage the Italians. But then again, my spies in his ranks saidhe wasn’t acting like his usual self. He was more secretive, even with his own men.

It was odd that, until today, he hadn’t called or communicated with me on any issue since the wedding a month earlier.

He was up to something. And I planned to find out what it was.

If it involved Avra, he would have another thought coming.

My wife was off-limits.

My wife. I fucking loved the sound of that.

Comparing our first days together with how we seamlessly seemed to have transitioned into this tolerance for the other’s extreme personalities made no damn sense. We still argued like we despised each other, but I enjoyed those verbal spars.

She was the first woman who wasn’t scared of me or cowed by my temper. I wouldn’t lie and say I didn’t care for her.

She was my fucking wife. It was my duty to care for and protect her. Maybe my obsessive protectiveness went a little overboard. Still, the damn woman burrowed under my skin and drove me insane with her attitude about her safety.

Remembering the way she’d jumped into that situation with the little girl on our walk without thinking twice still made me want to throttle her and kiss her senselessly. She had intervened and pulled the child out of danger. Her ferocity made it obvious she’d protect our children as viciously.

Fucking hell, a woman I never wanted to marry fit my lifeperfectly. This woman who’d seemed so difficult to embrace and allow near, shefit. Avra belonged with me despite the antagonism we insisted on.

Her frosty exterior hid passion and fire that only I experienced. It was in the heat of intimacy that her true spirit revealed itself.

To say that what I felt for her went beyond caring was unsettling. I came from Ozias Xenos, and the blood in my veins held no capacity for great emotions.

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