Page 72 of Violent Attraction

I watch as Leo finishes getting dressed in his office, all because he’s been avoiding Serena.

Want to know why he’s avoiding the brunette beauty he married one drunken night in Vegas?

For the same reason that I’ve been avoiding Isabella for almost five months. To protect her, to leave her out of this world as much as possible.

I, at least, haven’t been sharing a bed with the woman I love. This bastard goes to sleep with his wife in his arm every single night and doesn’t spend an ounce of time with her during the day. He even has me taking the woman to work because he can’t deal with it.

What kind of bullshit is that?

You should be asking yourself the same question.

I do. I ask that very same question every single day.

Maybe Leo and I aren’t meant to be in serious committed relationships, since we keep finding reasons to hurt the person we love. And yeah, the snarly bastard that is supposed to enlist fear into people is in love with his wife, who would have thought.

“It’s the best option right now. She’ll realize soon enough what this life really is and when she does, she’ll want to walk away, and I will let her.”

He would. Leo would rather break watching Serena walk away than letting her stay here and being in constant danger.

Why do you think I went along with Isabella to keep our relationship a secret for so long? Because even if she was the kingpin’s daughter, she’s still in constant danger. Her father is one of the most hated men in the drug business, anyone would go after her for that alone. Add in being with someone that is a part of her father’s cartel, she would have a bigger target on her back.

“And if the opposite happens?” I raise an eyebrow to my best friend. Surely, he thought all of this through.

He stops tying his tie midway and looks at me like I have three heads. “I don’t fucking know. I’ve been trying to get this woman to divorce me for months now, all for her own good, and nothing makes her sign the papers. I’ve killed men in front of her for fuck sakes and she still wants to stay married to me. Who in their right mind thinks that’s sane?”

Seems to me like Serena and Leo are cut from the same cloth. They are both fucking stubborn, no wonder they got married on a whim. They are made for each other.

“Serena apparently.” I give him a small snort and the man gives me a look like he wants to murder me.

I want to see him try; he would be lost without me.

“I hope one day you find a woman that’s a pain in your ass, then you will know the shit I go through.” He rolls his eyes at me before pulling his tie out of its place before throwing it on the ground.

That woman is already in my life.

Isabella.

And my situation is a lot more complicated than his.

I don’t voice it though, as much as I want to, I continue to keep my relationship with his sister to myself.

After a few seconds, Leo’s little temper tantrum is all but forgotten when he picks up his tie from the floor and goes back to trying to tie.

It takes him a good five minutes to get it but hey, he gets it done.

You would think that a man that wears suits on occasion, would know how to tie a tie a little quicker.

“Are you going down to the square?” He asks as he pulls his jacket on.

I nod. “Was planning on it. My mom wanted me to go place a few flowers for her on my dad’s grave.”

It’s the dia de los muertos celebration tonight. Growing up, this tradition wasn’t something that particularly grabbed my attention. Then my father died and that first year, Isabella showed me what partaking in the celebration can do to help you cope with the death of a loved one.

I’m going to be honest here, I didn’t think that it would help but that first year after his death, I set up a small altar with my mother. She surrounded it with his favorite food and drinks and placed pictures of him everywhere she could.

It was a nice way to honor him, and we’ve been doing it ever since. It has changed a bit since my mother has been in Canada, but we make it work in any way we can.

This is the first year that I will be placing flowers on my father’s headstone without Isabella at my side.