Chapter 6 - The Unspoken AccordBack at the Adirondack safehouse, the adrenaline of the raid had faded, leaving behind the heavy, quiet intimacy of the fireplace.
I sat on the sofa, nursing a cup of tea, watching Leo pace slowly across the rustic hardwood floor. He had removed his holster and his suit jacket, wearing only a black button-down shirt with the top two buttons undone, revealing the weathered skin of his throat and collarbone.
“It’s over,” Leo said, stopping by the mantel to stare into the flames. “Moretti is on a cargo ship heading east. The syndicate knows that anyone who crosses our path answers to me personally.”
“And what about me?” I asked quietly, setting my mug down on the coffee table.
Leo turned around, his dark eyes fixing on me with a heavy, unreadable weight. He crossed the room and sat down on the sofa beside me, close enough that our knees almost touched.
“You were never just a collateral damage, Myra,” he said, his voice dropping into a low, gravelly rasp. “From the moment you walked into my study holding your shoes... you rewrote every rule I lived by.”
“Leo...” I whispered, my heart hammering against my ribs like a trapped bird. “There’s twenty-five years between us. You’re... you’re Nico’s father.”
“Nico is thousands of miles away, eating dirt in Sicily, and he forfeited any claim to you the moment he treated your heart like a casino chip,” Leo said firmly, reaching out to gently cup my cheek with his warm, calloused palm. His thumb brushed my cheekbone, sending a shiver straight down my spine. “I’m not a good man, Myra. I’ve built my life on shadows, blood, and debt. But for the rest of my days... I swear to you, nobody will ever make you feel small again. Nobody will ever make you pay for a debt you didn't owe.”
I leaned into his palm, closing my eyes as the warmth of his touch washed away the last lingering ghosts of Nico’s betrayal.
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“You already paid the debt,” I murmured, opening my eyes to look directly into his fierce, devoted gaze. “When you saved my father.”
“No,” Leo whispered, leaning in slowly until his lips brushed mine with a tender, devastating reverence that defied every rule of the underworld. “We’re just getting started.”
