Page 49

49

LEONA

“ D arling.” Wynn walked up behind me. Anxiety had pooled low in my stomach when I thought about facing them, talking to the boys. Willow, Fallon, and Zoya had helped immensely. Talking with Obi had helped.

Still, a sliver of me wanted to run away and hide until everything blew over. Or I wanted to pretend nothing had happened at all.

But that was impossible. We had to get past this if the six of us were going to be a team.

“Yeah?”

He stepped closer. “Can I…can I touch you?”

Without turning, I gave a curt nod. His arms wrapped around my waist, and he pulled me flush against his chest. I relaxed into his embrace as some of the tension bled from my body. He’d always felt like home.

“I’m sorry,” he murmured in my ear. “I should have told you.”

“Yeah, you should have,” I replied, but my fingers folded over his.

“I was scared.” He sighed. “I was afraid it would change things between the rest of us. I didn’t want to lose you.”

“I’m scared, too, Wynn,” I admitted. “I’ve been terrified you’re all going to see me as a fraud—a worthless little girl playing a dangerous game she has no business being part of. When everything came out…I guess it just confirmed what I’d been afraid of the whole time.”

That’s how I’d been treated my entire life. For a while, I thought not letting me into the bad parts of our world was protection . But now I could see that my father and Max and every other man in this criminal world had never believed I was worth anything other than a marriage.

That was why our syndicate needed to be different. To change things, make a better future for women like Zoya.

“The guys want to talk,” he said after a brief pause. His arms tightened around me as he rested his chin on my shoulder. “Will you come listen?”

I turned my head so our cheeks brushed. “Yes.”

His eyes flicked to my lips, but instead of kissing me, he pulled away, and grabbed my hand. “Come.”

I let him pull me to the living room, where all the guys sat together on the massive couch, looking as nervous as I felt. Wynn urged me to sit in between him and Ciel.

Awkward silence stretched until Ciel cleared his throat. “Cas. Go.”

I crossed my arms over my chest and waited. It reminded me of that night when I’d stood in front of all of them, in the same spot, wringing my hands as he did, and asked them to form an alliance with me. Now, the five of them were trying to save it while I watched from the couch.

Cas stood. “Leona, last night, the five of us talked, and we all agreed on what we wanted to say to you.”

I raised an eyebrow. “I want to hear what you have to say, Cas.”

“I’m so fucking sorry.” He ran a hand through his hair. “I never should have hidden that Giulio and the men were expecting us to get engaged. He told me the first time we met, and I brushed it off. But the more I talked to him, the more it became clear the men wouldn’t even see us unless they thought it was a possibility.”

I clenched my hands at my sides. “That’s awesome.”

“I should have told you so we could have faced it together.”

Heat clawed up my neck. “Why didn’t you?”

“I was afraid you’d say yes only to secure the men. That you didn’t want to marry me, but you’d feel forced.” He cleared his throat. “I thought I was protecting you, but I was just protecting myself. I never should have doubted that I would be included in whatever your choice would be.”

I pressed my lips together as I struggled to hold in my emotion. If I was presented with that choice beforehand, what would I have said? Would I have felt pressured?

Definitely. At least a little.

Maybe I would have said yes for the wrong reasons. Maybe he was right. But it didn’t matter now. What’s done was done.

“I might have felt that way, Cas, but I never would have let you go,” I said. “I can’t believe you thought it would have changed us. What we are together.”

“I know. I’m sorry,” he said, kneeling before me, and placing his hands on my thighs. “My head was messed up with all sorts of fears about you, and Max, and your future with the other guys. That was wrong. All of it was wrong.”

I looked at my hands, tightly woven together in my lap. “Thank you for apologizing.”

He held his hand out to me. I let him pull me to my feet. “I know you feel like you don’t have a choice but, princess, you do.”

I looked back at the guys and all of them watched us, with seemingly supportive looks on their faces. Cas said they’d all talked, and all agreed. Had they accepted his apology, too?

I turned back around, only to suck in a breath. Cas was on his knee, with a velvet box in his hand.

“The five of us talked, and we agreed that if you said no to this, we’d deal with whatever the consequences would be. It doesn’t matter if we don’t get the men on our side. The six of us are together, and that’s all that matters. We’ll figure it out.”

A lump choked my throat. Was he saying what I thought he was saying? Was this happening?

His fingers pulled back the lid of the box, and inside sat a ring. It was a beautiful yellow gold setting, peppered with diamonds on both sides, and a massive central stone that glittered in the natural light.

Tears pricked my eyes. “Are you proposing? Like for real?”

He nodded. “For real. I want to marry you, Leona. I always have. But you can say no. You aren’t trapped in this decision.” He nodded toward the guys. “We’re all on the same page.”

Ryuji snorted behind me. “For once.”

I looked around at each of them. “You guys talked about this?”

“Yes,” Obi responded. “Whatever your decision, it changes nothing about our team. We’re still the same. We all want the same thing. You.”

“Ciel? Wynn?”

“It’s up to you,” Wynn reassured. “Nothing else changes.”

“I belong to you,” Ciel said. “It doesn’t matter what you wear on your finger.”

“Ryuji?”

He cocked his head. “Just remember that he might have bought you a ring, but I bought you a nightclub.”

I laughed, a tear spilling onto my cheek. “You bought that for you, you dummy.”

“I named it Lioness,” he said with a shrug, then looked out the window. My name . He named it after me. He looked back at me, his gaze smoldering, containing the words he wouldn’t say. I smiled, and he met it with his signature sexy smirk.

Cas grabbed my hand, and I looked back at him, with his pink-tinted cheeks, and shining blue eyes. “Princess…Leona, will you marry me?”

Tears spilled onto my cheeks.

All of them had talked . Had decided on this together. They weren’t running for the hills. They weren’t trying to use me to gain something. They just wanted me . With all my flaws, failures, and hopes for the future.

“You can think about it. We just want you to know we’re serious.”

I didn’t need to think. I knew. I cupped Cas’s cheeks and pulled his face to mine. He stood, wrapping his arms around my body as his lips set my whole body on fire.

“Is that a yes?” he asked.

“Yes!”

He pulled the ring from the box and slipped it on my finger. The rock was heavy, but the band fit perfectly. It was so beautiful.

It meant so much.

He pulled me into another hug. “I love you. Always and forever. With my every breath.”

“I love you.” I choked back a sob. The rest of the guys watched on with happiness.

And I’d never say anything to his face, but I swear to God, I saw Ryu swipe a finger under his eye to catch a bead of moisture.

“There’s one more thing about the ring, ángel ,” Ciel said, looking at Cas.

“I asked Ciel to put a tracker in it,” Cas added. “Just in case.”

I stared down at the sparkling stone. “A tracker?”

“I installed it this morning and linked it to all my systems. When you wear it, we’ll know exactly where you are,” Ciel said. “But we wanted you to choose whether you wanted it or not. I can take it out if you don’t like the idea.”

Trackers were not uncommon in our world. Was it weird knowing my guys would have my location at all times?

No. I trusted them.

I’d have to get them all trackers, too.

“I love it,” I said, a grin splitting my face. “Thank you.”

Obi held out his hand. “Leona. Come.”

I looked up at Cas, and he nudged me toward Obi. I grabbed his outstretched hand, and he pulled me into his lap. I straddled it exactly the way I had the night before.

He grabbed my left hand and pressed a kiss to my palm before placing it against his cheek. He told me last night he didn’t want me to marry Cas. How did he feel this morning?

“ Ifunanya’m, ” he murmured, lips against my ear. I shivered. These words were only for me. “You marry him, but you belong to us.”

“You’re okay with this?” I whispered back, winding my arms around his neck. The guys behind us faded. There was only Obi and his hands on my body.

Those dark eyes bored into mine. “Give me your soul and I shall give you mine.”

“Deal,” I murmured, planting a soft kiss.

I nipped his bottom lip, and his hands tightened. When he broke the kiss, he nodded back to Cas. I slowly detangled myself from his lap, immediately feeling the lack of him between my legs.

“Darling,” Wynn said, “you said earlier that you were afraid we’d think of you as a failure, as a fraud. I want you to hear it, here and now, that none of us think that’s true.”

“Yeah, that’s not fucking true at all,” Ryuji said, tweaking my nose. “Queenie, you’re the most badass woman I’ve ever met.”

I rolled my eyes. “You’ve met Fallon.”

He shook his head. “Doesn’t hold a candle, sweetheart.”

“You guys don’t think I failed?” My cheeks flushed. “I haven’t lost your respect?”

“No, not at all,” Ciel said. “You’re not a failure any more than I am.”

“You’re the farthest thing from a failure, Ciel.”

“Exactly,” he said with a small smile.

I grinned, hearing the message between his words. He’d changed. My shy hacker had confidence . He believed in himself just as much as I did, and that was saying a lot when I thought the world of him.

“What those men think is bullshit,” Cas said. “It’s their mistake to assume you aren’t the most badass out of all of us. We believe in each other, and that’s what matters.”

“I never should have let my actions lead you to believe that,” Obi added. “I am sorry. I will be more open in the future. With all of you.”

My heart warmed. They had talked about this. Maybe we could actually make this work.

I thought this before, but it laced through my brain once more.

We were inevitable. All of us.

We just needed to figure out how to work together. And once we did, we’d be unstoppable.