Page 51 of Rosetti Family New York
It sounds like an accusation, but there’s relief in his voice.
I look back at the house, as if I might see Juliet from here. I don’t. I think of the way she looked at me, the way she cut through my lies with a simple question.Do you like him?
“Did you ever have the feeling you might be wrong about everything?” I ask as Leonardo pulls me in for a kiss.
“Nope.”
I push on his chest. “Arrogant so-and-so.”
He laughs. “So we leaving now, or you planning to get us both shot first?”
“Do I get to say I told you so?”
He jerks his thumb toward the passenger side. “Nope.”
The mansion disappears behind a bend in the road as we pull away.
26
Leonardo
Twenty minutes earlier
I wait outside the mansion, my teeth grinding like gears. She should have come out by now. I check my watch, then my phone. Nothing. What if she doesn’t come back? I shouldn't have let her go in alone.
My fingers drum on the steering wheel. It's too quiet in here. I crack my knuckles to fill the silence. This is the Prices’ favorite game, making me wait until my nerves snap. I take a breath and try not to think about Eleanor’s father letting businessmen fondle her because they think she’s pretty. My fingers make dents in the steering wheel.
A text lights up my phone.
Come to the club. Now. Urgent.
It’s from Dad. The timing couldn’t be worse. He wouldn’t send that message unless he meant it, so I don’t doubt the urgency, but there’s zero chance I leave Eleanor inside and go.
I could go in and drag her out. At least then I'd be doing something. I let my mind wander too far, and now it’s in dangerous territory: picturing Eleanor as her father’s pawn,trapped forever in his mansion. Wondering what I’d do if she told me not to come back. This is why I don’t trust anyone outside of the family.
Another text:
Get here fast, Leo.
More of Dad’s insistence. I swear and slam the dash with my palm. They can fucking wait.
The other week, when I found her hovering over Marco, her hands all over him fixing his leg, she had the nerve to ask me if I trusted her.Don’t you trust me, Leonardo?That’s what she said, staring right through me with those ice-blue eyes. She repeated it this morning. I can still see her before she went into her father’s mansion, hair pulled back, lips pressed into a hard line.Don’t you trust me?
She’s got to know what my answer is by now. I don’t trust anyone outside the family. But her? She’s the only goddamn exception. I’d trust her with my fucking life, no doubt about that. But I also trust her to be reckless as hell and put herself in shitty situations because that’s what she does. It’s what she’s good at. I should have never, ever let her go in there alone.
My phone rings. Domenico.
“You haven’t replied to the texts. You’d better be on your way to the club, Leo.” His voice is tight. There’s a background murmur. I know he doesn’t make these calls himself unless he’s serious. “Dad’s losing his shit,” he adds. “We’re all waiting on you.”
“I can’t right now.”
He goes eerily quiet, which is how I know he’s really fucking pissed. “What did you just say?”
“Eleanor is at her dad’s place. I’m waiting outside, and I’m not leaving till she’s out here with me. End of story.”
There’s a pause. Then a sharp exhale. “Don’t you have men with you?”
I check my rearview mirror and note the two black SUVs filled with armed guards all here to protect my wife. “Not enough,” I grunt.
