Page 53 of Ruthless Savior
But what happens when the family is wrong? What happens when the greater good requires sacrificing someone who doesn't deserve it?
I can’t hand Leila over.
I won’t.
No matter the cost to myself or to everything I’ve spent my life working toward.
I won’t let another woman die because of my mistakes.
14
LEILA
Ididn’t mean to eavesdrop on anything. I was walking past Ronan’s office, heading to the library upstairs, when I heard his and his father’s voices cutting through the air inside, loud enough for me to hear them. And when I heard my name, I couldn’t help but stop.
Couldn’t help but lean against the door, my ear pressed to it as I tried to figure out how their conversation involvedme.
"—give the girl back to De Luca?—"
My heart leaps, my throat tightening.Give me back? I can’t imagine Ronan agreeing to that. I can’t imagine him even considering it.
"—absolutely not—" Ronan's voice is tight with controlled anger.
"—make a show of it. Apologize for the misunderstanding?—"
My hands start to tremble as the full horror of what I'm hearing washes over me. Ronan's father wants to give me back to the Italian don. The man who was going to sell me, who was going to give me to someone who would hurt me in ways I don’t even want to begin to imagine. Although I have. My nightmares are full of it now.
"—she doesn't belong to anyone?—"
"—in his world, she does?—"
The conversation continues, but the words start to blur together as panic takes over. Ronan’s father is discussing me like I'm a piece of property, like Rocco has some right to me. I can’t imagine Ronan would give in, but it’s hisfather—the man who raised him, who presumably has more influence over him than anyone else in the world. And he wants me gone.
"—What matters is that you are seen as strong?—"
"—revenge for your wife?—"
I jerk back from the door, realizing that I’ve heard something that I was definitely not supposed to hear or know. My heart races, my pulse thudding in my ears, drowning anything else out.
Ronan was married.
Something happened to her.
I think back to the clothes that were too big for me, the ones that Ronan didn’t want to explain. He changed the subject when I asked. He wanted Rocco dead before he found me—he was at the warehouse that night to kill Rocco, before I became a distraction.
I can put the pieces together. But I’m not supposed to know any of this. There’s a reason Ronan hasn’t told me—it’s too painful to talk about, or he just doesn’t want me to know.
But it also casts his refusal of my offer and his clear guilt over wanting me in a different light.
"—she's a liability?—"
I press my hand to my mouth to stifle the sob that wants to escape. A liability. That's what I am to Ronan’s father. A problem to be solved, a complication in their criminal empire.
But Ronan is fighting for me. Even against his own father, he's refusing to give me up.
The argument escalates, voices rising until I can hear every word clearly.
"— I’ll give you two days to think about it, Ronan?—"
