Page 69 of Gangster's Empire: Leeza & Havel

Havel and Babi looked at her in surprise.

“I’m standing right here, child,” Babi said, her tone annoyed. “If you have something to say that involves me then you should speak to me about it first.”

Anne tried to smile at her grandmother and failed. “I’m sorry, Babi. I meant I need to talk to him about the house.”

Leeza stepped past the two women and reached for her son. “I’ll take Kris out to the car while you talk.”

She suspected Anne wanted an excuse to be alone with Havel. Perhaps it would be good for him if he woke up to his cousin’s crush and talked to her about it.

After transferring Kris to Leeza, Havel took her arm. “Don’t leave the house without me.”

She frowned. “But we have a dozen bodyguards. I’ll just go ahead and settle Kris is the – ”

“I said no.” He turned away from her and nodded at his cousin to follow him to the back of the house.

Leeza waited on the couch while Kris squirmed out of her grip. She reached for a quarter sandwich from the tray on the coffee table, taking a bite.

“She’s going to cause problems, you know,” Babi said, taking a sandwich too. “I love the girl, but she has some strange ideas.”

Leeza swallowed her bite of cucumber sandwich before asking, “Like what?”

Babi sighed and shook her head. “She was always an odd child, with some rather unattainable ideas of what she wanted her future to look like and who she wanted to spend it with. She spent so much time with her head in the clouds, she didn’t learn how to live in the real world. Now she’s stuck here with me with nothing to look forward to.”

“I’m sure she has plenty to look forward to.” Leeza didn’t know what else to say. She didn’t know Anne well enough to comment.

Finally, Havel emerged.

Leeza stood and he took her arm, saying goodnight to his grandmother before they left.

“What did she want?” Leeza asked on the way to the car.

“She wanted me to postpone the wedding until Babi’s blood pressure comes down. Thinks Babi won’t be able to handle the excitement.”

“Babi is so excited, it would probably be worse for her blood pressure if we postpone,” Leeza frowned. “What did you tell Anne?”

“To mind her own fucking business.”

A smile curved Leeza’s lips and she tightened her grip on his arm as their bodyguards surrounded them.

CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE

Rolling onto her stomach, Leeza buried her face in her pillow and yawned widely, then peeked at Havel’s side of the bed. She was surprised to see him still there, sleeping peacefully. He was usually at the gym by the time Leeza woke up, honing his body into a lethal machine.

She watched as the sunbeams made their way through the huge bedroom window, playing across Havel’s sculpted muscles and tattoos. Giving into the urge to touch the ridged skin, she delicately trailed her fingers down his neck, following the path of a dagger stabbing a heart, then the inked blood drops that marked his neck.

Continuing her path, she traced the tip of her finger around the intricately designed curves of her name, which was written in cursive and wrapped in a thorny vine. Beneath her name was her son’s, each letter blunt but beautiful and wrapped lovingly in the same vines as hers.

“Do you like it?” Havel’s voice, gravelly from sleep, startled her.

She lifted her eyes to meet his, which were regarding her with a heavy-lidded warmth that made her heart thump in anticipation.

“Yes, very much,” she replied. “When did you get it done?”

“Six years.” Capturing her fingers, he sat up in the bed.

“When Kris was born.” She sat up too.

He nodded.

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