Page 30 of The Heart

“Hey, high school was a memorable time. I was the kid who got bad grades on purpose, but was friends with fucking everyone. I went to every school event, hung out at skateparks and went to parties every weekend. I just wanted to stay out of the fucking house,” I tell her.

“Because of your dad?” she assumes, because we’ve talked a little about this before.

“Yeah. That was actually the last year I let him hit me. One day, I just had enough of it. I packed a bag, stayed with friends and never came home. He didn’t stop me. I think he was too afraid I would tell someone what he did and he couldn’t risk losing his fancy lawyer gig. Someone had to defend all the low-lifes.” I take a sip of my coffee.

“I’m sorry, Colt. No one should treat another person that way, let alone a father to his son. And I get it. I was sixteen,” she says, fidgeting with the heat sleeve on her cup.

“Sixteen?” I ask, confused. Her eyes meet mine.

“When I left home. My father didn’t hit me, he was just never around. There was always something more important going on with the Deck. I resented him for that, sure, but then I started dating a guy from the King of Hearts, because well, he was around. I heard stories from him about what my father was doing. About the people he’d killed… tortured. I think I always just assumed my father was the good guy in all of it, because he kept me and my sister, Kat, away from the worst of it. He even gave us my mother’s maiden name, Hart, when we were born to protect us. But once I started getting kidnapped, I just got so… angry. My captors were never nice people. Even though my father always paid the ransom, by the time he got around to coming for me, they had already chipped away at another piece of who I wanted to be. I couldn’t ignore what those experiences taught me about the world I was born into. I didn’t want any part of it and he wasn’t protecting me, neither was mom. So, I left. I didn’t take a penny from that man, and I never will. So I understand. It’s not easy being on your own at that age.”

I stare at her, shocked.

She was kidnappedmore than once?

She left home at sixteen, only a year older than I was.

All these months of knowing this woman, of talking to her over our morning coffees, how did I not know about any of this?

“How many times were you taken?” I ask, because I have to. I suddenly feel this protective urge to fucking murder the entire Deck for this woman.

“Umm..” She thinks for a moment.

She has to think about that?I set my cup down on the table so I don’t crush it in my fucking hands.

“Five times before I was sixteen, but there were some unsuccessful attempts too. Most of the time, they just held me in a car, questioned me for hours, or put me in a room until my father paid up. But there was one time, the last time, that I could hear what they were doing to other prisoners. That was the final straw for me. Knowing what my father did was one thing, buthearing it? I was done. After that, it was just a lot of threats, vandalism… they even set fire to my apartment once when I was at work. Then I was shot at the coffee shop, you know that story,” she says, because I do.

My eyes flicker down to where she subconsciously touches the scar she probably has from it on her side, and I stare at this woman in disbelief. The way she carries herself, her joy, her confidence, you would never fucking know what she went through.

She’s an amazing person, an incredible boss and friend, and there’s no doubt she keeps the team together. But here I thought she was a spoiled daughter of the Deck who could afford to pay her way into my friend’s business, but she isn’t. She didn’t.

“Then I was taken again five months ago. They were a little rough, but it wasn’t bad. The guys found me before it got bad,” she says, looking up at me with so much adoration for the men who saved her. I might adore them too for that. I guess it makes sense why she would stick with them.

“You shouldn’t have had to go through all that. I’m sorry, Leena,” I say genuinely.

“We all have scars, Colton.” She smiles.

She fuckingsmiles.

And for some goddamn reason, I smile back.

“Yeah, we do.”

CHAPTER TWELVE

SEBASTIAN

When Luke and I step back into the suite, we’re immediately met with Leena’s laughter. Stepping around the corner, we find her curled up cross-legged on one side of the couch, hands cupped around her coffee. Colton is facing her, his own cup casually resting on the back of the couch as they talk.

We all know Leena hates the hotel coffee and Colton doesn’t seem to mind the chore. It makes Leena happy, so do their morning chats, so Luke and I are fine with letting him be on coffee duty whenever we’re traveling for jobs.

I step up behind the couch and Leena’s big, adorable eyes look up at me in that way that tugs at my fucking heart. I lean down to kiss her forehead, then ruffle Colton’s hair in an obnoxious way as I walk past him.

“Hey, hey, hey! Not the hair!” he says, brushing it back with one hand before taking another sip of his coffee.

“You guys better get ready, Jace said they’ll be up here in thirty to help us load up,” she says, eyeing how we’re both covered in sweat and knowing that Luke and I taking a shower together isn’t an option with Colton in the room.

“Oh, speaking of which… Seb, catch!” Colton says, reaching for something tucked behind him and tossing it at me. I reach out to catch whatever it is, then chuckle when I see it’s the handcuffs.

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