I no longer felt like part of a sexy dangerous couple, meeting a sexy dangerous couple for drinks. I felt like a rabbit putting its head in a trap.
* * *
Ronan
There was an ornate and imposing door. It swung open before we knock, revealing an older gentleman in a suit. A butler? A security guard? Probably both. Leo Morelli would need that.
With a low murmur, he led us deep into the castle.
A large library with white shelves that reached to the ceiling. Plush chairs formed reading nooks around the parquet floor. Windows overlooked a forest. It would have been a welcoming room if not for the occasion. Leo stood beside a tall armchair, where Haley sat.
The last time I saw her she’d been fighting for Leo’s life. Right before I put a bullet in his chest. I shook off the memory, but the deep tension in my gut went nowhere. I was unarmed and Poppy was wearing that fucking dress and I’d never been more scared.
“Poppy,” I wanted to stop her. To try and keep her here, so whatever revenge scheme Leo had planned it would just involve me. And that I could spare her what I’d been unable to spare Haley—watching her lover get shot.
“It will be all right,” the butler / security guard murmured.
It wasn’t in me to trust this person. To trust this house. To trust anyone, outside of Poppy. But I didn’t have a choice. Poppy and I crossed the library.
“Ronan,” Leo said.
“Listen, if this is some kind of revenge, let Poppy go—”
“It’s not,” he said.
“I put a bullet in you.”
“But you didn’t kill me.” Leo smiled at me, a dangerous man. “And I think you could have, if you wanted to. Caroline gave you orders to kill me.”
“You’re letting this go on a technicality?” I asked.
Haley narrowed her eyes. “I’m not letting anything go. If it were up to me, you could rot in hell for shooting Leo. But he has a soft spot for family.”
Family. That was what the couple in front of me could have been, in another world. There was a sense of loss in my chest. Loss for something I’ve never had. “If it means anything, I’m sorry.”
Leo put a hand on Haley’s shoulder, as if to reassure her.
“Come on,” he said. “Let’s have a drink.” I followed him across the room to a small drinks cart. “Irish whiskey?” he asked, lifting a decanter. I nodded and he walked back over to me with two fingers in a crystal glass. I glanced back to see Poppy saying something to Haley. At least Haley doesn’t look ready to pounce on her.
“I just did this same thing with your father,” I said, gesturing toward the drinks.
“He offered you a job.”
“I wouldn’t call it offered.”
The corner of his lip rose in answer. He seemed…lighter than he had before. Back in the days of his war with Caroline. When he was hungry for revenge. I looked over at the women. Haley pointed at something on a shelf. Poppy looked awestruck. Bonding over a library. Two sources of light in a dark room.
“You’re not going to take it?” he asked.
I bit back the answer, unwilling to give him anything to use against me.
“Why am I here, Leo? If you’re not going to get revenge?” I asked. “For shooting you. For putting Haley through everything?”
Leo shook his head and sat down in front of an empty fireplace. He was careful sitting back. I wondered if he still felt pain from the gunshot wound all these months later. “Sit,” Leo said. “I swear you’re safe.”
I sat, sipping my whiskey which was excellent and waited for Leo to get to the point.
“I should probably beat the shit out of you. Not so much for shooting me, but Haley had nightmares.”
“I’m sorry,” I said. And I was. That life… those things I did. The comfort I gave myself by believing in monsters and then putting them down. It didn’t hold up in this room. With the pretty women talking about books and Leo Morelli having a drink with me.
Leo waved his hand, washing away the past, just like that.
I could feel Poppy’s attention from across the room.
“I wouldn’t wish being a Morelli bastard on anyone, but there are upsides.”
“I don’t need your fucking money.”
“I’m not giving you a dime. I’m offering you a job. A place.”
“What?”
“You think you’re the first person to be in this situation? A Morelli in blood, but not name? Alone in the world?”
“Yes.” Because I had felt alone for so long.
“You’re not. And we take care of our own.”
“You mean you take care of them.” I’d heard the rumors about Leo taking care of Bryant’s bastards, but I never thought I’d be one of them.
“You won’t be working for my father or even for Lucian. I have my own business. My own interests. I have my own things I need done.” His eyes flickered over to Haley and Poppy who were picking books out of shelves. “The Morelli family name can be a curse. But you can make it worth something.”