Page 41 of Savage Empire

“All done?” Leon confirms, using his towel to start wiping the toddler’s fingers clean. “Are you ready to go home,bambino?”

Leo tilts his head in contemplation. “Mama, home?”

“Yes, Leo. Mama, home.”

“Okay,” he agrees, mouth clicking open with an unexpected yawn. “Go home now.”

Leon nods. Switching to Italian, he adds,“Will you say thank you and goodbye to Rayna?”

Hands now clean, Leo spins around in Rayna’s lap and offers her a shy smile. “Grazie,Rain-a. Bye bye.”

Her eyes sparkle as she observes him, face melting like she finds the child to be impossibly precious. “Bye bye, Leo. I hope to see you again.”

“I’m sure you will,” Leon tells her, scooping up his son.

“Let me grab him a snack and a juice for the ride back,” she offers, standing up from the counter to reach the fridge. “Gold fish, okay?”

“Perfect, thank you.”

“Since when are you two besties?” Elio asks, watching the seamless way that Rayna and Leon interact. His eyes dance between them, an alarming amount of amusement poorly hidden in his gaze.

Rayna blatantly ignores the question, continuing to rummage through her fridge and cabinets to retrieve a juice box and a bag of gold fish. I feel like I’ve just walked into the fucking twilight zone.

Leon clears his throat, uncomfortable with Elio’s stare—or mine, perhaps. “I’m going to take him to the bathroom real quick.”

As he walks toward the nearest half-bath, Leo looks over his shoulder and waves at us. “Bye bye E-yo, bye bye Pollo.”

Despite my sour mood, I muster up a forced smile, nodding my head at the child. He hasn’t been a member of the family for very long, but as soon as Leon and Cleo took him in, he became my nephew. It seemed like fate when Ana and Cassio found the boy. He’s Italian and his name isLeo, after all. He was meant to be my brother’s son, of that much I’m certain.

“Did you have fun today?” Rayna asks, greeting her brother with a short hug. “You didn’t get into any trouble, did you?”

“Looks like the baby got into more trouble than I did,” Yordan jokes. “The counter is a mess. Should we order takeout so you don’t have to clean upandcook?”

“We’ll see.” She sighs, suddenly moving close to embrace him again.

“Since when are you so huggy?” Yordan asks, sounding surprised.

Rayna shrugs, continuing to hold him close. “I missed you today. I didn’t think I’d become such a co-dependent mess but I was bored as soon as you left.”

Yordan chuckles. “You’re not a co-dependent mess. I’m easy to miss.”

Playfully smacking his chest, she releases him and huffs. “I miss when you were too young to sass me.”

“Didn’t get enough baby time with Leo?” Yordan teases. “You want me to age backwards real quick for you? Put on my footie pajamas and pester you for sweets?”

“Yes, actually,” she says, crossing her arms.

“Rude.”

“You offered.”

Leon returns, quietly approaching for a final farewell. Rayna doesn’t hesitate to forget about the rest of us, grabbing Leo’s treats and offering to walk them out. I watch with a tense gaze as they disappear into the hall, hands clenching into tight fists.

Something about them together disturbs me. And the fact that Rayna is continuously pulling unwelcome frustration from me only makes it worse. My life was easy, predictable, and perfectly satisfactory before she became a part of it.

“Think he’s got a thing for her?” Elio asks, voice teasing. “Or she’s got a thing for him?”

“No way,” Yordan answers, sounding appalled. “He’s married and Rayna isn’t that kind of girl.”