Page 59 of Love Without Control

“Leo is dead.”

Well, that wasn’t what I expected him to say. “He… how?”

“It was an apparent heart attack.”

“Apparent?” Dane’s eyes met mine with a heavy and significant stare. “You think your father had something to do with it?”

A gust of air rushed from his mouth, making his lips purse. “Fuck, I don’t know. Fiero said Luca and Leo had a meeting two days ago, and then Leo’s maid found him dead in his bed yesterday morning. The timing may be coincidental, but I wouldn’t put it past my father to have… facilitated his death.”

“Shit, what does that mean?”

“It means Luca is now the head of the family. He’s the new Don.”

My heart dropped to the floor, even as my stomach tried to rise up into my throat. “And what does that mean for us?” I asked in a voice so faint it was practically inaudible. Because I already knew.

Dane walked toward me, slowly, as if approaching a wounded animal, which was exactly how I felt. He kneeled in front of me, his own words spoken as softly as mine. “It means we can’t go back, Eden. My father is now one of the most powerful men in New York City, and there’s no one who can stop him.”

“I don’t care,” I said, shaking my head from side to side. “I don’t care. I want to go home.”

“Are you willing to take the risk? To you and your family?” His eyes snagged mine and held, like an embedded fishhook. “Because if you are, I will send you back to New York.”

I didn’t even get to experience a second of elation before the images Robert had planted in my brain began to bloom. I squeezed my eyes shut to block them out, but that didn’t help because they were ingrained there, seared into my soul.

Bile rose in my throat as, one by one, my family’s smiling faces flashed in my mind but those pretty pictures were wiped away by the gruesome and brutal visions of their deaths. Dad. Mother. Auburn. Monty. Blood and unstaring eyes.

No!

“Damn you for making me choose,” I whispered as the tears began to fall. “Why can’t you just… just… force me to stay here?”

Dane’s next words were delivered quietly but with so much underlying force, they almost knocked me backward. “Because. I. Am. Not. My. Fucking. Father.” His tone was fierce and vehement, but his eyes held the slightest scrap of vulnerability, like maybe he needed reassurance that he wasn’t evil to his core.

How can I want to scratch his eyes out and give him a hug at the same time?I opted for neither option and merely said, “I know you’re not, Dane.”

He grunted his appreciation and rolled his lips inward until the pink was no longer visible before averting his eyes toward my knees. “I’m sorry I can’t take you to your family, E.” His watery gaze slowly rose to mine. “I know this sucks, and I can’t promise to fix your pain, but what I can promise is that you won’t have to go through it by yourself.”

Fuck.

That was really… kind. And entirely heartfelt based on the sincerity shining from his eyes. My hand lifted of its own free will and rested on the side of Dane’s face, the soft beard comforting against my palm.

“Thank you for saying that.”

He leaned into my touch and closed his eyes. “Do you want me to go to New York and… handle things?”

“Handle what—” My voice faltered when I caught his meaning. He was offering to kill his own father. A crack formed at the bottom of my heart and worked its way to the top as I shook my head. “No. Don’t. I don’t want you to kill anyone else for me.”

His eyelids lifted, and his stare was so intense I found it impossible to look away. “Are you sure? Because I will.”

I felt like my body was being ripped in half, dividing me into two equal parts, each of them fighting for what they wanted. The side of decency won by a slight margin.

“I’m sure.”

Dane tilted his head slightly, and he kissed my palm before pushing up from his knees. “There’s something else,” he said as he sat beside me on the couch.

“More good news?” I asked with more than a little bitterness.

“Afraid so,” he said, and I could hear the weariness in his tone. Resting his elbows on his knees, he stared at the floor before swiveling his head a little so I could see his face. “You remember when we borrowed Jamie’s sedan and went for an evening drive?”

My head bobbed up and down. “Yes. We wanted to get out of the house for a little bit.”

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