Page 229 of Sweet Dominion

“Aww.” Leo slowly rose. “You are quite correct. I did go on a detour. It is time for us to depart.”

Lei tried to take a step forward.

I got in his way. “Dima. Rose. TT.”

Lei sighed.

Song headed my way. “Do not worry, Lei. It will just be one night away from her, nephew.”

"I don't care if it's just an hour away from her," Lei shot back and then grabbed my arm. "I don't like this. Not one bit. Not after everything that's happened."

I had to admit, I shared his sentiment, but I knew that Leo would easily kill Dima and Rose without any regret. “Leo, let me say goodbye to Lei and then TT, please.”

“Of course.” Leo crossed his arms over his chest. “I have a few things to say to TT, so you and Lei can go out in the hallway and say your goodbyes.”

My nerves flared. “What are you going to say to my sister?”

TT rose to stand. “It will be fine, Moni.”

That told me that Leo had probably been hanging with TT probably the whole cookout. It took a minute for her to be cool around strangers, but he had made quite an impression, possibly helping her solve the dagger puzzle map too.

Song gestured at me. “We need to hurry, Monique. If you’re going to say goodbye to Lei, then do it now.”

Damn it. This motherfucker really is going to kidnap me again. . .

Lei took my hand in his and led me out of the room.

And I could see from his expression that he had a plan to not let me go. It was all in his eyes. There was no way he would be okay with this.

However, I couldn’t get Barbara Whisker’s dead body out of my head and the way Dima continued to stroke her fur.

No. We better not play around with Leo tonight.

No matter what Lei said out in this hallway, I had to get him to understand all the things that were at stake.

The only problem was. . .would he listen?

Chapter forty-three

Tears

Moni

As soon as the door closed behind us, Lei pulled me into his arms.

Oh, baby.

His grip was tight and I could feel the tension radiating off him. “Moni, I can’t let you go—”

“You have to Lei—”

“Fuck no. We have to figure out a—”

“It’s one night. I’ll be fine—”

“You don’t know that.” Lei shivered. “You don’t fucking know that at all.”

Lei pulled back and I saw this haunting, heartbreaking despair in his eyes.

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