Heartless Prince by Brook Wilder
Epilogue
Lucas
I heard Leda’s words, but they barely registered. Let her fight? I couldn’t put her in danger like that. Whenever Leda was around, I couldn’t think straight because I was worried about her and her safety. I wanted her out of danger so that I wouldn’t have to worry about her, but it had no bearing on how strong she was.
She was the strongest person I knew.
“Having you out there fucking terrifies me,” I told her honestly, forcing myself to look at her. “You don’t know what it would do to me if something happened to you.”
She was the weakness that I couldn’t leave exposed. But she was also something I couldn’t lock away. “It’s not an option for me, Leda. I need you safe.”
“Then let me help!” she exploded, throwing up her hands. “You have to trust me that I can take care of myself, Lucas.”
Closing the distance between us, I grasped her upper arms lightly. “I do,” I said softly, my eyes searching hers. “I do, but I just got you back. I can’t risk losing you. Not now.”
“Lucas,” she breathed, tears glimmering in her eyes.
I couldn’t help it. I pressed my lips against hers, wanting desperately to show her how much she meant to me, as well as the concern threading through my veins.
She didn’t pull away from me, participating in the kiss like I had hoped she would, showing me that I hadn’t screwed this up after all.
When we broke free, I pressed my forehead to hers, catching my breath.
“Please,” I begged her. “Don’t make me worry about you, Leda. If you are out there, I won’t be able to focus.”
I couldn’t have her in the middle of the action and not seek her out. Besides, I wouldn’t put it past Adrian to try and take her, considering I just stole her from him. He would be out to prove a point to me and to everyone else, which would make him reckless.
Dangerous.
“Fine,” she finally said. “I will do what you say, but if you do anything like you did tonight, I will kill you myself.”
Smiling, I nuzzled her cheek with my nose. “Never again. I will never give you up.” And that was the truth. It fucking killed me to do it the first time. I never wanted to feel like that again.
Leda sighed, wrapping her arms around my waist and holding me against her. “We really have to work on this thing between us, Lucas. This isn’t how normal people act.”
I crushed her against me, burying my nose in her hair and drinking in her citrusy scent. “Darling, there’s nothing normal about us.”
She was a Mafia princess, one that was forever linked to an asshole hell-bent on making his comeback. I wasn’t even from Mafia blood—in a position of rapidly cooling power with a Mafia that was far from stable.
I was a bastard, both ruthless and rotten to the core.
Yet Leda had found a way to love me. If I had been a better man, I wouldn’t have pushed her away. But I did, and both of us suffered because of it.
Leda lifted her head, her beautiful eyes meeting mine. “Let’s just say we have some work to do.”
I smiled. This was why I loved her. This was why she was clearly the other half of my soul, the better part of me that I didn’t know I needed.
Leda was everything.
“Boss.”
I broke away from Leda and found Rocco standing behind me. “What?”
“He’s got jet-skis,” he said.
Adrian was coming for vengeance. And he brought an army with him.
“Find the guns,” I told him, all warmth fleeing from my body. “We are going to need them.”
Rocco nodded, and I turned back to Leda.
“They won’t take us,” I told her urgently, framing her face with my hands.
She trembled against my touch, and I wanted to soothe her worries, but there was nothing I could say to help her. This was reality.
“We will get through this.” I promised.
“I know,” she whispered, panic in her eyes now. “Please don’t die.”
I brushed off her concern. Hell, yeah, I was hurting, but it wasn’t anything I hadn’t felt before in my lifetime. Rocco had given me some pain meds to take the edge off, and luckily only the cut on my thigh had been deep enough for a few hasty stitches. I would be fine, and I had to ensure that she was going to be as well.
But die? Not yet.
“You are going into the hold.” I took her arm and led her toward the set of stairs that would put her in the bowels of the ship, away from the gunfire. It was the safest place, unless the ship was sinking.
Leda fell quiet as we walked down there, and I opened the door, turning on the light as I did so. “There are some things already in place,” I said. “Food, water, and some blankets.”
She turned to face me, and I saw the worry clearly written on her face. “Stay,” she urged. “You aren’t in any condition to fight.”
I wanted to stay with her, but that would be wrong. I was the Don. And it was time for me to law down the law for the mutinous members of my own Mafia.
“You’ll be safe here.” I drew out the gun I had tucked into my waistband after a change of clothes and handed it to her. “Here.”
Leda took the gun, turning it over in her hand with a practiced gaze. I had no doubts that she knew how to use it, but didn’t want to imagine a situation when she would need to.
“Lucas.” She started.
“I have to go,” I interrupted, brushing my lips over her forehead. There was so much I wanted to say to her, but there wasn’t any time. If we were lucky, we would have time later on for me to explain my actions.
“I love you,” she cried out as I turned to the door. “Promise me you’ll come back.”
I kept moving, emotion clogging my throat, and shut the door behind me. It felt good to know that she didn’t wish for my death, but I still didn’t deserve her love. I had fucked her over repeatedly, yet Leda still found it in her heart to love me.
It was something to sort out later, when we had a chance to.
Once I was up top again, I fished out my cell phone and dialed Emil’s number.
“A little busy, boss. Shit’s kind of fucked right now!” Emil said immediately.
I could hear gunfire in the background as Emil spoke.
This was a full-on fucking coup.
“Un-fuck it and do it fast!” I told him as I strode toward the back of the yacht. “Grab who you can and meet me upstate. We have a war on our hands.”
“Yes, Don,” he answered. “Working on it.”
I ended the call and tucked the phone back into my pocket, reaching the back of the yacht. In the distance I could see the bob of lights, still too far to fire at and hit a target.
Rocco joined me a moment later, handing me one of the AK-47s we had on the yacht. He held another in his hands. “Well,” he stated. “You did say the war was coming.”
“Yeah,” I bit out.
“And Leda?” he asked.
“In the hold,” I replied. “If something happens, you go get her and get the hell out of here.”
“My job is to protect you,” Rocco grumbled as he racked the rifle.
“And her,” I said. “She is to be protected at all costs.”
Rocco blew out a breath. “Fine, whatever. I will make sure that she’s safe.”
I nodded and turned back to the moment at hand, feeling the familiar warmth of anticipatory violence welling up in my belly. I had been here before. Hell, this was where I was most comfortable.
This was the first time, though, that I had had someone else to fight for. In the past, the Mafia had been what I fought for—the most important thing in my life.
Now it was Leda.
The Mafia had turned its back on me. Well, some of the Mafia. No more of this cloak and dagger bullshit. At least now, all the cards were on the table. Things were clearer now. Black and white instead of the different shades of gray.
“So what’s the plan?” Rocco asked, breaking me out of my thoughts.
I shrugged. “There’s not much to it. Shoot at anything that moves until we get to the house.”
Rocco scoffed. “You do realize we are on the back of a fucking yacht, and they are on jet-skis. This boat can only go so fast. They’re going to catch up.”
I clapped him on the shoulder. “Then shoot straight.”
“Remember what I said before?” Rocco asked, a smile playing on his lips.
“That I was going to be the death of you?” I grinned despite the tension in my body.
“Yeah, that.”
“Only one way to find out, right?”
He might be right. This might be the fight that neither of us could win.
I checked the magazine and clicked the safety off the AK.
But I would do it to keep Leda safe.
End of BOOK 1
Leda and Lucas’ story continues in Book 2 – Merciless King– Available September 24th.
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https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09BG2D5HX