Page 80 of Filthy Dirty Dom
“Then with the Russian mob?”
Slowly Alex nodded.
“But how? How can that be? Unless…” Suddenly, Leslie looked around them. She remembered how heavily fortified the compound was. The amount of wealth it would take to secure it and upkeep this luxurious paradise.
Renee. Nico. The girls. They were Italian.
And Alex seemed to speak that language fluently.
She stared at him, never believing in a million years that she’d ask Alex what she was about to ask him.
“Alex, are you part of the Italian mafia?”
At first, Alex looked offended. Then he looked amused. “I’m not a mafioso, Leslie.”
“But these people. Your friend….”
“I’m not in the mafia, but Luca is.”
And he said that so calmly. As if he wasn’t referring to being friends with someone in organized crime.
“How do you know him?”
A wary expression took over Alex’s face. “Our paths crossed when I was in the military.”
“Your paths crossed, but also yours and his family’s? Renee. Nico. The girls?”
Alex shook his head. “Marie wasn’t born. Bella was a toddler.”
Mia. What about Mia? she wanted to ask, remembering the gorgeous woman from the pictures in the photo album that Bella had been looking at. For some reason she couldn’t express, however, she held back.
“Listen, Leslie. I know it’s shocking, the idea of me being friends with the head of the New York mafia. And we’re not friends exactly. But due to our past together, he reached out to me. He’s the one that told me one of the men I killed was the son of an officer of the Bratva.”\
“Alex!” Leslie covered her mouth with her hand in horror. “Does that mean they’re after you?”
“They are. According to Luca, they’re asking about me. Fortunately, they haven’t approached your family, most likely because of the security we have around them. But Leslie, as soon as I’m able to and I know your safe, I’m going to have to stay away from you. I’ll—”
“No! No, Alex. You’re not leaving me!”
34
Panic had Leslie firmly in its grip. One second they were talking about the Russian mob, and the next Alex was saying he was going to stay away from her. And by the look on his face, she knew what he meant. He didn’t mean temporarily. He meant permanently.
“Baby, I’m not leaving yet,” he reassured her.
Leslie shook her head, and through her panic he saw her sudden resolve, a resolve that was tinged with anger.
“You are not leaving me ever, Alex, not if by leaving you mean you disappear from me and my family’s lives because you killed a man trying to protect me and are now in danger.”
“Not just in any danger, Leslie. In danger from the Russian mob. That’s nothing to play around with.”
“But you said your friend is talking to them. He’s trying to get them to back off, right?”
Alex clenched his jaw then nodded. “That’s right. But if he can’t—”
“We don’t need to worry about that right now.”
“Leslie, he doesn’t know if it will work. He said it’s hard going.”