I go still. "My father?"
"Thirty-five years ago. Before you were born. He was my right hand, same as you. Best soldier I ever had, until you came along." He shakes his head. "He fell in love with a woman I told him to stay away from. Said she was a distraction, a liability. Same things I said to you. And he looked at me the same way you're looking at me now and told me to go to hell."
I've never heard this story. Never heard Aurelio mention my father outside of the bare facts. He died when I was thirteen. I barely remember him.Trauma,they say. Just impressions. Big hands. Deep voice. The smell of smoke and gasoline.
"What happened?" I ask.
"He married her anyway. Had a son and a beautiful daughter named Sofia. Built a life outside these walls, even while he worked inside them." Aurelio's eyes are distant, looking at something I can't see. "And when he died after Sofia, his wife fell apart. The boy ended up on the streets. Ended up in my office at seventeen with a body behind and nowhere else to go."
"Why are you telling me this?"
"Because I hated your father for choosing her. For making himself vulnerable. For loving something more than the work." He focuses on me again. "And I respected him more than any man I've ever known. Because he was willing to go against me for something that mattered."
The words settle into me. Rearranging things. Shifting foundations I didn't know could shift.
"You're not going to hand me over to Marco," I say.
"No. I'm going to tell Marco to go to hell. That the assault on the safehouse was a sanctioned operation in response to the kidnapping of a protected Bonaccorso asset." He holds up a hand before I can speak. "That's what she is now. Officially. Alexandra Clark is under family protection. Anyone who touches her answers to me, not just you."
"Aurelio..."
"I'm not doing this because I approve of your choices. I'm doing this because you were right." He leans forward. "They penetrated our compound. They used our own systems against us. They took something from inside our walls and expected us to negotiate for it back. If we had negotiated, we would have looked weak. What you did, going in there and burning them down, that sent a message. Touch what belongs to the Bonaccorso’s and die."
"She doesn't belong to the Bonaccorso’s. She belongs to me."
"Same thing. As long as you're my right hand, what's yours is ours." He stands. "Go back to your woman, Leone. Take a few days. Rest. But when you come back, we have work to do. Whoever is behind Apex Meridian, whoever engineered this entire war, they're still out there. And now they know we're looking."
I stand. There's more to say, questions about my father, about the past, about everything Aurelio just revealed. But thatconversation can wait. Right now, there's only one place I want to be.
"Thank you," I say.
Aurelio waves a dismissive hand. "Don't thank me. Don't make me regret this. And Leone?" He catches my eye as I reach the door. "Your father would have been proud of you. I hated him for what he did, but I never stopped wishing I had his courage."
I nod once and leave.
The drive back to the safehouse takes twenty minutes. I spend every second of it thinking about her. About the way she looked this morning, asleep in my bed. About the note I left on the pillow. About the words I wrote and meant with every fiber of my being.
Emilio drops me at the curb and pulls away without comment. He'll be back in a few hours to relieve the overnight guard. Until then, we're alone.
I unlock the door and step inside.
She's standing in the kitchen. My shirt hangs off her frame, falling to mid-thigh. Her hair is wet from a shower. She's holding a cup of coffee in both hands, and when she sees me, she sets it down on the counter.
"What did he say?" she asks.
"You're mine. Officially. Bonaccorso protection."
Her eyes widen. "He agreed?"
"He agreed."
She crosses to me. Stops an arm's length away. Her grey eyes search my face, looking for something, checking for damage, making sure I came back in one piece.
"Are you okay?" she asks.
"I'm better now."
"Leone."
