Page 75 of The Fixer

“Of course not. But I’m perfectly capable of walking.”

A shadow passes over his face. “I’ve done a terrible job of taking care of you so far, Rosa,” he says quietly. Seriously. “Let me fix it.”

“There’s nothing to fix.” Leo hasn’t done a terrible job of taking care of me, quite the opposite. He takes care of me every single day. And I’m still amazed at how quickly he found me. Less than two hours after Romeo made his ransom call. There are thousands of apartments in Venice—how did he even manage it?

And I’m at least partly to blame for this situation. Leo told me to stay inside the club, and instead of heeding his warning, I went outside. No matter what happens next, my kidnapping is going to have an aftermath on Leo. He’s going to have more nightmares,and it’ll be my fault.If carrying me through the streets of Venice is going to make him feel a little better, then I’m going to put my embarrassment on hold and let him do it.

When we get home,Leo takes me straight upstairs to our bedroom. “You want to shower?”

A hot shower soundsamazing. “Yes, please,” I reply. “Join me?”

“Absolutely.” He carries me into the bathroom, sets me down, and helps me out of my clothes. I adjust the taps until the water is at the perfecttemperature, watching him surreptitiously and greedily as he strips naked.

Then we tumble into the shower. We stay there for a long time. Leo washes my hair and soaps my back, and I cling to him, hot water raining down on us. “You must have been terrified,” he says, stroking me, his voice promising murder.

“I was,” I admit. “Even worse, I kept thinking I should be able to fight him off. All the classes I’ve been taking, all my time in the gym, but when it came to the moment of truth, I was frozen. So embarrassing.”

“You have no reason to feel embarrassed, tesoro. He had aknife. If you’d been hurt. . .” He clenches his eyes shut. “It’s selfish of me to be thankful you didn’t try to fight him, because then he didn’t have the opportunity to hurt you. If that had happened, I don’t know what I would have done.”

I stand up on tiptoe and kiss him. “He didn’t hurt me,” I say firmly. “You found me. I’m perfectly fine, as you can see.” A wicked thought occurs to me. “But just to be sure, you should check every inch of my body.”

Later—muchlater—the topic comes back to Romeo Santini. I’m wearing my favorite pair of pajamas, and Leo tucks a mountain of pillows around me. I feel like I’m in a pillow fort. He also insisted I needed a hot drink, which is why I’m cradling a mug of cocoa with a huge dollop of whipped cream in my hands.

His mother used to make him cocoa when he got caught in the rain.

“I should have told you about Romeo,” I say softly. “I shouldn’t have kept it a secret from you. I’m sorry I did.”

He kisses my shoulder. “I don’t blame you for not trusting me; why would you? I was an asshole to you.”

“No, you weren’t,” I contradict immediately. That’s a bullshit narrative, and I’m not going to let it slide. “You were never mean to me.Never.And I always trusted you. I didn’t know what to do. Romeo said that if I warned you, he’d kill my family.”

“I know. Hugh told me.” His expression turns grim. “And I’m going to kill Santini for that. Among other things.” He takes the cocoa from me and sets it down on the bedside table before lifting me on his lap. “I didn’t do a very good job of protecting you, principessa.”

“That’s nonsense. You told me to stay inside theclub. I’m the one who went outside so I could get a phone signal. And besides, you found me.” I trace the scar on his cheek. “He’s just a kid, Leo. He was going to let me go.”

He grunts. His expression doesn’t exactly invite me to continue, but I don’t let it stop me. “I feel sorry for him.”

“Typical Rosa,” he says wryly, shaking his head. “You get kidnapped at knifepoint, and instead of being angry with the person who did it, you feel sorry for him. Why do you care what happens to that bastard?”

I tell him everything Santini told me. “Think about it, Leo,” I whisper. “Think about being a child in that home. No mother, no love. A father who demands that you kill your only friend when you’re fourteen to prove you’re a man. What a childhood. That poor boy. All he had was his sister. Tell me you don’t feel a little sorry for him.”

He makes a face. “Damn it, fine. I do. I didn’t have much growing up, but my mother loved me. I knew that as surely as I knew the sun rose in the east. She would do anything to protect me. But as shitty as his childhood was, Romeo is an adult. One who tried to kill your brother.”

He’s not wrong. “I’m not going to pretend Iforgive him for that. But you know something, Leo? I don’t think he’ll ever forgive himself either.” I stare at the diamond on my finger. “I offered Romeo my engagement ring and my pendant if he’d let me go. I didn’t want to, but?—”

“You did the right thing,” he cuts in. “You think I care about the diamonds? You are worth more than some damn stone. Jewelry can be replaced. People can’t.”

I squeeze his hand. “He was going to take me up on it—I’m absolutely sure he was. He didn’t want to hurt me anymore than I wanted to be hurt.” I lean on Leo’s shoulder. “I understand why Romeo did what he did. Tell me, if it was your sister sold off to an abusive alcoholic, what would you do?”

“I would burn the world down to protect what’s mine,” he says flatly. “That’s never going to change.” He lifts my hand and presses a kiss into my palm. “And that’s exactly why I’m going to kill Romeo Santini.”

I take a deep breath. Leo is ready to kill Romeo, but I know he’ll regret it if he does. This is the same man who couldn’t bring himself to kill the wife and child of the assassin who murdered his wife. Leo lives by a code. Romeo isn’t an innocent—far from it—but he’s a victim. His father is the true villain here.

But I’m not going to ask Leo to spare him. In the end, this is Leo’s world, and his decision to make. “I love you, Leo, and I trust you. I haven’t done the best job showing it, but I really do. Whatever you decide to do, I’m okay with it.”

I kiss him and feel his cock stirring against my ass. “Want to search me again?” I ask hopefully.

He laughs softly. “Are you sure you’re not tired? It’s really late.”