Chapter Five
“I was the one who suggested using Angelo’s obsession with me against him.”
Tony tensed at her words but never ceased the gentle slide of his fingers down the arm she’d thrown over his chest. They’d left a small lamp on over in the far corner of the room, and it cast a pale, muted light over the room. Not a lot, just enough to see each other.
With Leona nestled as she was against his body, her head resting on his shoulder, he had never known such peace. Her words shattered that for a moment, but he knew she needed to tell him what happened as much as he wanted to help her shoulder that burden.
“What made you offer to do it?” he asked quietly in the quiet room.
“The Battaglias were coming at the Carlisis hard and fast,” she whispered. “I overheard you and Gavriil talking one night at the club, and you both sounded tired and frustrated that they were gaining ground in Carlisi territory.”
Tony knew the night she was talking about. Gino had uncovered a transportation link for the Battaglias’ drugs through Carlisi territory and it fucked them all off that they’d not only brought that shit into their neighborhood, but that they had done it right under their noses.
“I wanted to help,” Leona continued. “It seemed like such a small thing. Hang out with Angelo, get a little closer to him, and report back to Gavriil anything I might hear. I realize now that most of what that prick told me was bullshit, but at the time, I thought I was doing something good. Something right.”
“You were, baby,” Tony said, not liking the doubt and sadness that had crept into her tone. “You were helping your family, and that is what it means to befamilia.”
He felt Leona take a deep breath beside him and steeled himself for the next part of her story. “He was crazed that afternoon. He called for me, and I went to him. I was going to find out where he had been hiding and then let you know so you could fill your blood vendetta against him. I am so sorry about your dad.” Swallowing the emotion before he could be drowned by it, Tony nodded, hugging her tighter, waiting until she resumed talking.
“He was high as a kite when I got there, pacing the house and acting like the big man in front of his men. He walked over to me, smiling as if nothing was amiss, and he leaned in to kiss me, but before his lips met mine, I shuddered. I didn’t mean to, but God, he revolted me. I kept telling myself I only had to get through this one time. But he saw it and backhanded me before I knew what was coming.”
Tony bit back the growl of anger that threatened to burst from him and wished, not for the first time, that it could be possible to kill the son of a bitch a second time.
“He and his men took turns hitting me. Then c-cutting me. I have never known anything like that in my life. I was so scared, and there was all this blood, and the pain! God, Tony, I wake up screaming in the night remembering that pain. The slices he made in my face hurt the most because I couldn’t stop crying.”
Tony felt her tears against his chest and rolled so he could hold her tight and press kisses all over her face. “Shh, my love, shhh. It’s okay. I’m here.”
Her arms came around his neck and she held on to him as if drawing strength from him to continue. “They dragged me out to the car, laughing and celebrating that this would be the night they could finally take out the Russian Mafioso. The next thing I remember is being dragged into Gavriil’s house, and Angelo pressing that gun to my temple. Tony, I … I prayed for him to pull that trigger. I wanted to die. Not just so that the pain would end, but because then Gavriil would live.”
Tony felt his own tears falling at her admission, and he let them. He pulled himself more completely on top of Leona and sheltered her with his body. They stayed like that until Leona quietened, and he moved back, pulling her up and over him so he could stroke her back as she settled, her breaths coming in little hiccups.
“I’m not sure I’ll ever be okay with Gavriil’s decision to agree to you going in to spy on Angelo,” Tony admitted. “But you have to know that he cares for you like he does every member of the family. I’ve seen the tapes of that night, my love. Gavriil was safe upstairs, out of the line of fire. He could have stayed there and waited for the backup he knew was coming, but he didn’t. As soon as he realized that Angelo had you, he left that safety and put himself firmly in harm’s way. Hell, he even took a bullet for you, so I guess I’ll have to keep him as one of my best friends.”
Leona huffed a quiet laugh and snuggled against him. He loved how affectionate she was.
“When I saw you that night,” Tony murmured, “scared, in pain, and covered in blood, the need to kill Angelo, the very thing that had been driving me since I lost my dad, fell to the wayside. The most important thing to me at that moment was getting to you. I caught you before you could fall. As soon as I saw what that bastard had done to you, I wanted him dead quick because you needed medical help. My one regret is that I killed him too fast, and he never suffered for what he did to you.”
Leona pressed a kiss to his chest. “Maybe he did. His family betrayed him, threw him to the wolves, and he died knowing the people who should have been there for him above all others weren’t. That had to have been devastating for him. My one regret is not saying yes to you a long time ago. We could have been together, and I would’ve never put myself in front of Angelo Battaglia, and I might have even been able to win your dad over if I’d had more time.”
Tony inhaled sharply. Now was the perfect time to tell her about the phone call he got to share with his dad in the moments before he died, but the memories were going to hurt. He’d do it though, because she had just faced her own fears and told him about her most painful memory, and he could do nothing more than honor her with the same.
“The night Dad died, I was on the phone with him in his final moments.”
Leona gasped, lifting up to stare at him in the muted light. “Tony.”
He smiled, sweeping the fall of her silky hair back and behind her ear. “It’s okay. I was just so happy I could be there for him, and in a weird way, hand him over to my mother who I know was standing right there in that alley with him, waiting to take him into her arms.”
Leona leaned down and kissed him gently. “Then I’m glad, too.”
“We said our goodbyes and told each other we loved each other, and the last thing he said to me was about you.”
Leona jolted upright, her eyes wide. “Me?”
Tony nodded, giving her a small smile. “Yeah, you. He said, ‘Son, Leona is the perfect woman for you. Don’t let an old man’s stupid prejudice keep you from what you deserve, and don’t let another day go by without telling that girl you love her.’”
Leona tensed above him. “He said that? About me?”
Tony smiled. “Yes,bellezza mia. He was talking about you.” He rolled so that he had her under him again, where he planned to keep here for many years to come. “Now, let me show you how a man like me worships his woman with his body.”
And then he proceeded to do exactly that.
