Chapter 7 - THE MAFIA BOSS LEARNS HOW TO ASK
Leo Santoro had negotiated with killers more easily than he asked Tessa Jenkins to dinner.
“Eat with me.”
She looked up from her book.
“That was an order.”
He frowned.
“Would you eat with me?”
“Still sounds painful.”
“Please.”
Tessa smiled.
“Better.”
Dinner happened in the kitchen instead of the formal dining room.
Leo cooked.
Technically.
He burned garlic, oversalted pasta, and somehow caused a smoke detector to activate.
Tessa stood beneath it waving a dish towel.
“You run a criminal empire.”
“Allegedly.”
“You cannot boil pasta.”
“Different organizational competencies.”
She laughed so hard she had to sit down.
Leo stared at her.
“What?”
“You laugh differently here.”
Her smile faded slightly.
“Different how?”
“Like you don’t expect someone to charge you for it.”
That was Leo.
Underneath the jealousy, arrogance, violence, and absurdly expensive watches, he noticed tiny things.
Tessa looked at him.
“Why me?”
He knew what she meant.
“I don’t know.”
“Terrible answer.”
“It’s true.”
He sat opposite her.
“At first, I noticed your mother’s eyes.”
“Still weird.”
“I know.”
“Continue.”
“Then I noticed you never took the expensive things.”
She frowned.
“What?”
“Staff steal.”
“You sound charming.”
“I’m realistic.”
“You have cameras?”
“Yes.”
“Leo.”
“Common areas only.”
“Still creepy.”
“Noted.”
He continued.
“You found a diamond cuff link under my bed once. You put it on the dresser.”
“Congratulations. I didn’t rob you.”
“You also argued with my chef because he threw away food.”
“He was wasting enough salmon to feed twelve people.”
“You packed it and gave it to the night guards.”
“They were hungry.”
“You remembered everyone’s birthdays.”
Tessa looked down.
“And when one of my men was shot, you sat outside his room because his wife couldn’t reach the estate until morning.”
“I remember.”
“You thought nobody saw.”
Leo’s voice softened.
“I saw.”
Tessa’s chest tightened.
“I didn’t fall for the dress.”
His gaze dropped briefly toward her.
“Though I have several complicated feelings about the dress.”
She kicked him under the table.
He almost smiled.
“I fell for the woman who thought invisibility meant nobody could see her being kind.”
Silence.
Tessa suddenly found the ruined pasta fascinating.
“You don’t get to say things like that.”
“Why?”
“Because then I forget you’re irritating.”
“Temporary tactical advantage.”
She laughed again.
Then Leo became serious.
“I’m sorry.”
“For?”
“The foyer.”
She knew immediately.
“I had no right to block the door.”
“No.”
“No right to grab you.”
“No.”
“No right to treat jealousy like permission.”
Tessa studied him.
“I wanted to hit Davis.”
“I suspected.”
“I still do.”
“He has done literally nothing.”
“I find that aggravating.”
She smiled despite herself.
Leo reached across the table.
Stopped halfway.
“May I?”
Tessa looked at his hand.
Then placed hers inside it.
“Yes.”
Later, on the terrace, Leo asked another question.
“Can I kiss you?”
Tessa’s heart stumbled.
The feared Leo Santoro.
Asking.
She stepped closer.
“Yes.”
The kiss was nothing like his jealousy.
It was careful.
Almost reverent.
Tessa touched his jaw.
Leo’s hands stayed at her waist.
When she pulled away, he did not chase her mouth.
He simply rested his forehead against hers.
“That was annoyingly good,” she whispered.
“I practice.”
“With whom?”
His expression changed.
Tessa narrowed her eyes.
“Leo.”
“I regret the joke.”
“With whom?”
“No one recently.”
“How recently?”
“Tessa.”
She stepped away.
“Interesting.”
“Are you jealous?”
“No.”
“You’re jealous.”
“I am considering murder.”
His grin appeared slowly.
It transformed him.
Tessa stared.
“What?”
“You’re very handsome when you smile.”
The grin vanished.
“That’s unfortunate.”
“Why?”
“Because now I’ll have to do it again.”
She kissed him first.
The following morning, they left for Vermont.
The farmhouse was empty.
But recently occupied.
Warm coffee sat on a table.
A fireplace still burned.
Someone had left minutes earlier.
Tessa searched desperately.
“Mom?”
Nothing.
Upstairs, she found a bedroom.
On the nightstand stood photographs.
Dozens of Tessa.
School pictures.
Graduation.
Her first apartment.
Her father.
Her mother had been watching her entire life.
Tessa sank onto the bed.
Leo stood at the doorway.
“She knew.”
“Yes.”
“She knew everything.”
A floorboard creaked downstairs.
Leo drew his gun.
Tessa followed him.
A woman stood in the kitchen.
Gray hair.
Green eyes.
Older.
Alive.
Tessa forgot every speech she had rehearsed.
The woman whispered:
“My baby.”
Tessa slapped her.
Then hugged her.
Both women collapsed into tears.
Leo quietly lowered his weapon.
Evelyn looked over Tessa’s shoulder.
Her eyes found him.
“Leo.”
He became fourteen again.
Tessa saw it happen.
Evelyn crossed the room.
She touched his face.
“You grew up.”
Leo’s voice broke.
“You disappeared.”
“I had to.”
“No.”
His eyes filled.
“You didn’t.”
Evelyn looked ashamed.
Then she said the sentence that changed everything.
“I stayed away because Antonio wasn’t the person hunting me.”
Leo froze.
“Who was?”
May you like
Evelyn looked at Tessa.
“Your father.”
