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“I should’ve known something like this was going to happen,” Alaric notes. “It makes sense Mrs. Astor would do this. The Astors are vulnerable right now. What would happen to any family if the patriarch died and there wasn’t a son to take over? Franklin probably gave her a deal she couldn’t pass up. Protection. Favorable business proposals. I think it’s disgusting, but Eden’s family is currently prey, and her mother used her as a means to an end.”
The front door slams, and the three of us stand straighter until we all bolt for the door.
I reach it first, throwing it open to find Eden running toward the line of cars parked in the driveway. Rain pelts me in the face, growing steadily until a lightning bolt arcs across the sky, thunder cracking above us. “Eden!”
Leo flies past me. In true caveman fashion, he catches up to her, hanging on to her wrist as she struggles against him. Rain sluices off his tattooed arms, and when another bolt of lightning lights up the sky, it flashes over his inked skin.
“Let me go!” she shouts.
“No.”
She keeps attempting to dislodge his hold but they’re feeble with how much bigger he is than her. Her cheeks heat. Even with the winter rainstorm, I can tell she’s fiery inside.
“I’m not letting you go. Not ever.”
This twat…
Alaric and I stop before them just as Leonardo Jarvis descends to one knee.
My jaw snaps shut. I can’t believe this oaf is about to propose to the woman I’m in love with.
17
Eden
I’ve never thought about hitting my mother until today. What kind of woman pimps out her own daughter like she’s a two-bit whore? She just sold her soul to the devil.
Actually, strike that.
She soldmysoul to the devil, and I am not talking about Leo.
After pacing my room, I decide I can’t wait. I run down the stairs, swiping Leo’s keys from his dresser first, and head toward the door. I try to be as quiet as possible but the huge front door slams behind me.
My mom’s going to listen to me. I don’t care if she’s distraught after losing Father, she’s going to take all this back. I don’t care if she has to marry the old man herself. I won’t be her calling card to freedom.
The rush of cold air and freezing rain immediately soaks my clothes, and I blink, raindrops getting stuck on my lashes. If I’d known it was raining outside, I would’ve grabbed my coat, but I was too busy thinking about how I’m going to tie my mother down and make her see reason.
A hand slides around my wrist, and the force of its grip makes me whirl until I’m standing face to face with Leo. His eyes are ablaze, the rain trickling from his hair. It’s stupid, and I’m very aware I’m being crazy about this, but if he says one more time that he can’t marry me, I’m going to combust into little pissed-off minions with axes that want to chop his balls off.
Who knew having three boyfriends would make me get stabby? Or, in this case, axey?
“Let me go!”
He only tightens his hold. Rain drips down his face until he looks slightly more deranged than normal. His skin breaks out in goosebumps, and the lightning crack through the sky throws him in shadows and light that suits him perfectly.
He’s the angel and the devil.
“No.”
He loosens his hold a moment, and I almost tear my wrist from him to run away again, but the look in his eyes stops me. It’s complete adoration. “I’m not letting you go. Not ever.”
While I watch, he starts lowering to the ground, and I blink through the rain soaking me to find him on one knee.
This crazy fucker. What is he—
“I don’t have a ring,” he says. “I don’t have anything to give you except something you already have. My love, however twisted and reckless, is one hundred percent real.”
My heart lodges in my throat. I strain to hear him over the rain, but the words filling my heart are perfect.