by Amy Daws
Blake.
That God damn bastard!
I seethed when I laid eyes on him. I’d never experienced pure unadulterated rage until now. Watching him threaten Leo, to take away everything the Richards had ever worked for, to destroy people’s lives and act like it was just another messy business decision was my breaking point.
Blake could threaten me, make wild accusations, treat me like a piece of shit, but when he redirected that vengeful anger toward the man I loved, that broke something inside of me. Perhaps it was simple naive innocence, or maybe the merciless self-doubt that haunted me. Or even Blake’s deprecating comments that continued to resonate in my mind. I may have been standing still, pressing my lips together like I’d been trained to do, but inside was a seething woman.
I courteously weaved through the crowd of men—men who basically ruled America or soon would be. They argued over business practices and ethical principal, but their threats seemed to only drown each other out. All the same, I didn’t hear them. I couldn’t calm myself enough to hear over the distant ringing inside my head. My body hummed with vengeance. I zeroed in on Blake. I clenched and unclenched my hands as I stormed over to him, delicately, the way only a ballerina could.
Leo finally saw me and immediately stood to join me, but I waved him back. This was a battle I needed to fight. Not necessarily by myself, but it was my voice—me—that Blake needed to hear the simple truth from…and Leo needed to hear it from me as well. If he was too caught up in defending me, I feared that he wouldn’t hear my words. It was unprecedented that Leo knew how deeply I loved him through the shards of the cut-throat truths I was about to unleash.
Blake looked down at me with the disdain that I’d grown accustom to. However, I was done being helpless. I walked up to him so that we were only a single step away from each other. I stepped in front of him and stood on toe. The casual movement was as natural as breathing. It was who I was. I may not be strong enough to strike him down physically, but my words could cut. Deep.
Inside I was screaming obscenities. Inside I was burning with hatred. Inside I embraced the wrath that a person felt when their loved ones were threatened. However, when I opened my mouth, the words didn’t come screaming out. My defiance was not going to make my throat raw. No, that wasn’t how I fought. My words came out quiet, like rogue whispers promising to steal every morsel of happiness in his soul.
“You mean nothing to me.”
“You’re nothing, Adeline.” He laughed. With a smug expression, he lifted my chin, belittling me. “When will you get that you don’t belong in our world.”
I slapped his hand away. “You had the chance at my heart, my love.” I pressed my lips together. “Yet, it wasn’t enough for you. I can’t imagine what my kiss meant to you. It must have left a sour taste in your mouth. So you made a business decision and cut all emotional connections with me. You hid me from every person in your life. You shied away from me in public out of embarrassment. And then when someone of your world cared for me…someone who didn’t care about what it meant to take a chance on love, you couldn’t handle it, simply because you were so jealous and manipulative—”
“I’m so fucking glad I cut you loose,” Blake sneered, eyeing me over like I was still a piece trash.
“And for that I can’t thank you enough. Because you will never be the man Leo is!”
In a blink of an eye, Blake pulled his fist back just like he had in my dressing room. Time slowed. I remember blinking as the adrenaline rush burst through me. Yet, I held my ground. And I meant that I would do whatever necessary to protect the ones I loved. I wouldn’t shy away just because it hurt.
And sometimes love fucking hurt.
Blake’s fist collided with my cheek bone. It crushed. My ears rang. Stars filled my eyes. My nose stung. Both instantly watered. I hit the floor boards as I clutched my face. The pain was debilitating, but I couldn’t wallow in pain. Blake would enjoy seeing me sprawled out beneath him. Through my fingers, I saw Leo rushing Blake. He grabbed him and drove his fist into his face over and over and over. Several stepped in to intervene, pulling Leo off of Blake. Once separated, Leo skidded to his knees beside me. He cupped my face, holding my head on his lap.
Love wasn’t always gentle. Sometimes it was ugly. That was the beauty of it. Sometimes all it took was a gentle kiss, a loving caress of the hand, but other times, force was needed. There were many sides to the backstabbing bitch called Love. It had razor-sharp claws that could rip out your heart and leave you gutted. At the same time, those same claws could be used to protect the ones you loved the most.
CHAPTER 52 ~ Leo
My dad and Chase were talking to Sedric about the list of forty-eight names they’d petitioned for people who wanted to impeach the Rossis from the Gold. I didn’t hear most of the details because a pale blue wisp of fabric caught my eye, and my heart dropped at the sight of chestnut hair.
There she was striding in my direction with her feet turned permanently out from years of pliés. My Adeline. Fuck, she looked so perfect. Her clear blue eyes sparkled with determination as she held her hand up to me and turned to face Blake. A flicker of annoyance came over me when she denied my approach, but that flicker was snuffed out when I heard her quiet but mighty voice tell Blake everything she had been thinking for the past year. My chest swelled with pride as she stood up on her toes and basically told Blake to go to hell. Goddamn she was fierce.
I was mesmerized by her quiet strength, so I didn’t even see it coming. I didn’t see Blake’s fist pull back and just when I finally realized what the hell was happening, it was too late.
She dropped to the floor, hard. Her tiny frame barely shook the ground. I lurched forward and grabbed Blake by the collar with one hand and drove my fist into his face with the other. I reared back, connecting over and over again. The bloody crunch of bone beneath my knuckles was a satisfying salve to the ache I felt all over my body watching Adeline drop to the floor.
Adeline!
As several guys pounced on us, the roaring blood in my head stopped and my eyes shot wide. I turned and rushed to her, sliding to my knees and cradling her head on my lap. Her gaze was unfocused as she blinked slowly over and over.
“Adeline? God, baby. I’m sorry, I’m so sorry. I should have been there. Fuck!” I roared. My voice cracked as tears stung my eyes. Her cheekbone was an angry red and already swelling up, pushing into her eye.
She swallowed hard, trying to focus and placed her delicate hand on my face. She rubbed away a tear I didn’t even know was falling and uttered, “Why are you crying, I’m the one who just got punched.”
I sniffed back a laugh. “Baby, are you okay? We should get you to a hospital.”
“No I’m not okay, I just got punched!” she croaked, her lips turning down in pain. “But I don’t need a hospital. Unfortunately, this isn’t the first time I’ve been punched by a prick.”
I sighed, overcome with relief at hearing her sassy mouth. My relief didn’t last long as she flinched and tears trickled down her temples. “Damn, I can’t believe that fucker just…” I growled angrily wishing I could finish what I started and continue pummeling his face right now.
“I can’t believe I ever loved him,” she said quietly, touching her face and wincing.
“Love can be blind,” I replied.
“Love can be stupid,” she scoffed. “I hate him so much. Why would my sister ever put herself through this?”
“I don’t know,” I muttered. “But you know none of it is your fault, right?”
My eyes stung as she nodded. She looked so fragile and broken. I hated it. The guilt Adeline still felt for Zoey was written all over her face.
My dad suddenly interrupted. “Adeline, are you alright?” he asked squatting down beside us gently inspecting her reddening bruise.
She nodded briefly. “I’ll be fine. It hurts but I’m strong. I am a ballerina after all.” She shot him a wobbly smile and his anxious expression turned bemused.
“What’s going on there?” I asked as the group of guys retreated out of the yacht, shouting at each other.
“Well, I imagine Blake is getting an earful for basically furthering our case against the Rossis,” my dad replied. “He’s making this even easier than I already thought it was going to be.”
“So me getting punched helped?” Adeline’s voice pealed and she groaned in pain from attempting a smile. I scowled and bit down hard on my tongue to contain the fury I felt towards Blake.
His eyes crinkled with a smug grin. “I want to say no, because you seem to be gleaning too much satisfaction from this right now.”
She smirked and then quickly puzzled her brows. “I finally tell him off and the bastard punches me. God, he’s so pathetic.”
“That he is,” my dad replied. “And we’re going to make sure he’s never a problem for you ever again, Adeline. I promise you that.”
“What is Chase going over with Sedric?” I asked, glancing at them standing on the deck flipping through the paperwork that Chase had brought in with him.
“That’s a list of names in the Gold that are not guilty of using insider trading secrets and will turn in Sedric and his boys if they don’t step down as the leaders. Turns out, the ones conducting illegal activities are the minority in our society, so that gives us plenty of ammunition.”
“So who’s going to be in charge then?” I asked with a flurry of excitement at the confidence my father was emitting in this situation right now.
“Not sure. We might put it to a vote and let the Brotherhood decide. Regardless, we’re all in agreement that we want the Gold to go back to the way it used to be. Brothers helping brothers. That’s what it was all started for in the first place.”
He excused himself and rejoined the group. Blake was crouched into a ball using his tie to pinch his bloody nose to stop the bleeding. His entire eye was swelling shut. He looked like hell. I was grateful for the privacy because Adeline’s dress wasn’t exactly still in place. I pulled down her skirt and she rolled her eyes at me.
“So did you get in some good swings?” she asked.
I nodded, glancing down at my knuckles that were covered with blood. They hadn’t hurt until she reminded me of them and now the pain was intense. I clenched my fist in a feeble attempt to numb the ache. She tried to sit up so I helped her into an upright position, but stopped her from standing.
“Just sit here with me for a bit,” I said, pulling her close between my bent legs. I pushed her brown hair away from her face to inspect her again. “I want to make sure you’re really okay. You could have a concussion.”
I leaned us back against the wingback chair and she relaxed into my embrace. “I’m fine,” she said, “It hurts like a bitch but it’s manageable. This is nothing compared to a week in pointes.” She looked down and an angry expression flitted over her face.
“What is it, baby?” I asked, tilting her chin up to look at me.
She sighed. “I just hate this. I hate that I was involved with anyone remotely resembling my sister’s husband. And I hate that I couldn’t handle myself there! I wanted to say goodbye to that life, those mistakes…all of that on my own.” She pursed her lips off to the side and touched her face looking sad and despondent. “I hate that you had to step in.”
“Hey,” I said, interrupting her private reverie.
She looked up at me, her clear blue eyes swimming with angst. It hurt me to hear her say that she didn’t want my help. Still? After all we’d been through, she still didn’t want help from me? It didn’t make any sense.
“You trust me, don’t you?” I asked, searching her face for the answer I so desperately wanted to hear.
She nodded but her eyes clouded with anxiety. Somehow I had to make her see that trusting me didn’t make her weak.
“You know your voicemails?” I asked.
She looked at me in confusion and replied, “The ones I made you delete?”
I nodded and pulled her in tight to my chest. “I did delete them…all except the last one.”
“What?” Her eyes were wide and accusing. “Did you listen to it?”
“I did. I listened to it the day after we got back together.”
“Leo…”
“Baby,” I said, cutting her off. “That voicemail…it was…what you said…” I paused, thinking back to the message and how utterly broken I was after hearing it.
“Leo, it’s me...I...I know that you...” her voice choked, “I’m falling apart. I’m falling apart and I need you to know something.”
“I never wanted any of this. I never wanted Blake. I never wanted you. I never wanted anyone in my life. I wanted to dance. That’s it. I lost my sister and I couldn’t do anything about it. So I just wanted to put on my pointe shoes and live a life that someone else choreographed. I have fought for everything in my life. After Drew, my sister, Blake, I just wanted not to fight anymore.”
“And then you…” Her breath stuttered. “And then you come into it and you make me want to fight! You make me want to scream, to laugh, to dance, to love, to be more than just some choreographed dance that someone else has mapped out for me! Leo, you are a dance I want to perform my whole life. I want to fight for you. But please…please, don’t stop fighting for us.”
My eyes welled at the guttural pain I remembered on that message. “I still have that voicemail. I saved it.”
Her eyes were wide with shock as she took in the emotion on my face. She brought her hand to my cheeks, trying to calm my frenzied state as I took deep, slow breaths.
“Why keep it, Leo?” she asked. “I’m sure it’s awful. We don’t need to relive that.”
I swallowed hard and shook off a tremble. “It is awful, baby. It’s fucking tragic as hell. But it’s wonderful too. To hear you say you want to fight for me…for us…it’s everything. It’s everything to me. I love you, Adeline. I love you so fucking much that I can’t imagine a life without you and me together. I can’t see it and I don’t want to. I’m keeping that voicemail forever because I’m not going to stop fighting for you, baby. I’m never going to.”
I paused to gauge her reaction to my enormous confession. Her eyes cast downward and my heart leapt at the possibility of scaring her. Of pushing her too hard—too fast. Yes, her voicemail professed everything I’d just said, but she’s been resisting this all for so long. She still battled with that part of her that wanted that solitary. She shook her head dismissively.
“Baby, what?” I asked desperately.
She bit her lip, deep in thought and then sighed heavily, turning in my grasp to face me straight on. A renewed look of determination spread across her face and it made my heart pound a million beats a minute. Damn, everything about this girl affected me.
“I gotta tell you what I’m thinking right? Rule number one?” she said, her voice charged with strength. I nodded encouragingly, hanging on every flicker on her face. “I’m thinking that I’ve always wanted to be strong. I’ve always wanted to be fierce and independent. I’ve worked hard to be the best I can be. But then the one time I showed weakness…like with Blake, it turned into such a betrayal. It was such an utter mistake and scary as hell to ever want to do again.”
My eyes roved over her entire face, taking it all in like it was my lifeline and could make or break me. She reached up and smoothed the crease on my brow.
“But I’m thinking,” she continued brushing back the hair on my forehead. “That when it comes from someone you love, like truly love and trust with everything you have, it doesn’t seem so scary. It feels…kind of amazing. It feels like the perfect dance—”
She giggled softly as I covered her lips with mine, careful not to jostle her too much. I was too overwhelmed to stay away from her a second longer. Kissing her in this moment felt like I’d finally found her. All of her.
I pulled away and murmured against her mouth, “I’m going to dance with you for a long fucking time, baby.” I pressed my forehead to hers and dropped a soft kis
s on her nose. “A long fucking time.”
“Promise?” she breathed against my mouth.
“Hell yes.”
I cradled her beautiful face in my hands and kissed her. I thoroughly kissed her with everything I had left in me. It wasn’t much. I’d given it all to her already. But every last drop still in me belonged to her. Utterly and completely.
And I couldn’t be more fucking happy.
EPILOGUE ~ Adeline
The Edison bulbs that glowed around the frame hid nothing as I gazed into my full length dressing room mirror. Peacock feathers dusted the top of my derriere. They formed a slight waterfall shape around my hips and accentuated my legs, especially when I wore my pointes. Blue and green feathers flattered my waistline, twisting over a nude fabric up to my chest. Across my bust, the feathers faded to completely black and were woven tightly up around my neck. The tops of the feathers tickled my chin. My hair was pulled back tight like most ballerinas wore, but then flowed from a high pony tail, grazing my shoulders. It wasn’t until I stopped nitpicking at my outfit that I saw another person in the mirror’s reflection.
Leo.
He leaned against the doorframe, arms crossed. His sunglasses were lowered on his nose so he could take in my entire reflection. He took his sweet time, inching his way up to my eyes. I loved that he wasn’t afraid to show me just how much I affected him. Yet, it was me, clinging to the back of my vanity chair. Dressed head to toe in a black suit, he looked like he was about to walk on set for Vanity Fair. His hair fell sexily over his forehead, drawing my attention to the darkness in his gaze.
“God, I love ballet,” he muttered, eye-fucking me just like he had the first night we’d met.
Damn it! He made me forget every intellectual thought when he gave me that heated look—that look that said everything and nothing at the same time. The intensity of the desires he tried to contain. I loved it when he failed—and the desires ruled him—because they ruled me too.