Page 83 of King of Temptation

Leo slowly lowers me to the floor. “All right. You go to Minneapolis. Talk to your mom. But just so you know, I’m calling every day. And I reserve the right to just show up on her doorstep.”

This is the Leo I know. Kind even in his strength.

Something in me unwinds and I nod.

“And you’re wearing my rings.”

I stiffen. “I don’t know if that’s a good idea?—”

“Please,” he whispers as Mason appears in the doorway.

I don’t answer as I turn away and Leo lets me go…

CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE

Kim

I don’t cry in the car as Mason drives me to the airport. I don’t cry even when Luke appears at my side at my gate.

“What are you doing here?” I whisper, my eyes darting from him to the flight attendant behind the desk.

“Anthony attacked you, or have you forgotten?” he says with a frown. “You think we’d leave you vulnerable in the airport?”

I frown too. Because he has a point, but it also feels a little like I’m a prisoner. Am I really walking away from Leo when his cousin accompanies me? “And if I decide not to marry Leo?”

Luke shrugs. “Not sure I’d blame you. Leo can be a real prick.”

The fact that I want to defend Leo is telling.

But I don’t. Because I’m about to get on a plane to Minneapolis where I have to tell my mom that I’ve been knocked up, and the guy who did it killed my dream to be a ballerina.

But the words fall flat.

Is that even still my dream? Was it ever mine or was it actually my mother’s? I didn’t feel that much disappointment that I couldn’t go. Just that Leo had betrayed me.

Not that Leo’s behavior is excused on a technicality. He didn’t have knowledge of any of this, nor did he know that I’d become pregnant.

How can I trust a man to be a good father and potential husband when he acted so selfishly?

Luke is in the seat next to me, his eyes closed. “I swear, I can hear the gears grinding in your head.”

“What am I going to tell my mom about you?”

“Don’t tell her anything. I’ll stay nearby where I can keep an eye out without being seen.”

“How long are you staying?”

“Until you go back to Vegas, or the Italians are neutralized and not a threat to you.”

I cock my head as I look at his profile. I can see the family resemblance. “What was Leo like before his father died?”

“Before he got killed, you mean?” Luke frowns. “He always had a temper. Runs in the family, but he was happy, you know? Sure of himself. But after his dad’s death…he fell into real darkness.”

When Charlotte lost her dad, she developed OCD that had only just lessoned since she’d met Mason. It was the security he provided that had finally allowed Charlotte to relax and let go.

“Is that why Charlotte’s afraid of Leo? I know they went out a few times. Did she see that darkness?”

Luke looks at me. “Charlotte didn’t tell you?”

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