Page 49 of Gangster's Empire: Leeza & Havel

“Water,” she murmured as she handed it back. She wasn’t surprised. Havel didn’t drink often and never before a job. “Do you have a contract lined up?”

“In a few days.”

“Can you tell me?” she asked, curious about what him and his team of mercenaries got up to. Their work had always been shrouded in mystery and Leeza was curious what a regular job looked like.

He rubbed his chin as he considered her request, then nodded briefly. “We’re dropping off an arms shipment.”

“Where?”

He told her.

She frowned. “Are you worried about going into an active warzone?”

He chuckled. “Sweetheart, I may as well have been born in one. Life is at its best when I’m dodging bullets and unleashing hell on anyone who gets between me and my target.”

She smiled at his bloodthirsty comment. She got it. She took martial arts and weapons training so she could unleash a little hell of her own, but as a woman and a mafia princess, the opportunity rarely arose.

“Sometimes I envy you,” she murmured.

“I know.”

They watched the winking lights below in companionable silence. Leeza felt soothed by the soft in and out of Havel’s breathing, the warmth of his body next to hers, the sparkling wine making her feel deliciously fuzzy.

She could’ve happily fallen asleep next to him, his arm curved against the back of the couch, almost cradling her, but his deep voice punctured the moment.

“Want to talk about it?”

Confused, she looked at him.

“Adam, your marriage, the reason you’re taking sex off the table for us.”

She sighed deeply and curled further into the couch cushion in an attempt to make herself smaller. “No, I really don’t want to talk about it, but since you don’t seem to be letting the marriage idea go, I guess we better.”

“It’ll be good for you to talk it through.”

“I have a therapist already, and she’s definitely not you.”

He raised his eyebrows. “I didn’t know that.”

She smirked. “Something the great and mighty Havel doesn’t know? I’m truly shocked.” She pretended to look shocked, then smothered a shriek as he slid his hand under her bare bottom and pinched her.

She jumped and the wine sloshed in her glass. “Stop! I’ll spill the wine and Hilda will kill us both when she sees what we did to the couch.”

Havel sat back with a smirk. “Okay, stopping. But you haven’t answered my question.”

She tapped her fingers on her knee, thinking about it. Why not tell him? Why not let him share the burden? “My therapist is American. She specializes in grief counselling, but she’s helped me with all kinds of things.”

“How long have you been seeing her?”

“About four years,” she admitted.

“I need to know who she is and what you’ve told her,” Havel demanded. “How did no one know about her? We know about everything. This is a security breach and I need to know how it happened so I can fix the leak.”

Leeza narrowed her eyes. “I’m not saying another word until you promise not to murder my therapist.”

“For fuck’s sake, Leeza, I’m not gonna to kill the woman, but I need to know who she is and how you were able to contact her without me finding out. I have a bead on everything that happens on the Koba property. You shouldn’t have been able to sneeze without me knowing.”

“You promise you won’t touch her and I’ll tell you everything.”

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