“I love my city.”
He had to avert his gaze away from the woman who was becoming mesmerizing to him.
I do, too.
But even his soul knew that was a lie now.
Well, I used to.
Gripping the door handle, she could see her fingertips turning white, knowing that her escape plan would be happening soon.
It wasn’t her hand that opened the door, though, but Dante, who was now motioning for her to come on with his cold eyes alone.
She wondered why he was doing Amo’s job until she began walking slowly down the dock. The Caruso bodyguard was already on the yacht, seeming to be patting down the small staff, leaving Leo to take care of the bags.
Taking a quick glance over her shoulder as her cheap heels hit the wooden deck, she could see Dante only walking a few steps behind.
“Could you hand me that bag, please?” She heard the voice of the young man ask her.
She snapped her head forward to stare down at the black duffle bag at her feet. Bending her knees slightly, she quickly picked it up to hand it ov—
Oh my gosh. It took all of Nadia’s might to keep from jumping in shock upon seeing Leo’s face for the first time. The white gauze that covered his left eye sent a chill up her spine. She didn’t want to know what it was hiding underneath.
Her mind instantly went back to, “How many of your men has he taken out so far?”
“A few,” he admitted after a few passing moments. “And then some.”
It seemed Nadia had finally found out what that cryptic “and then some” meant after all.
Swallowing, she snapped herself out of it, hoping her face hadn’t given anything away. Nadia didn’t want Leo to know she found his face shocking. Working with damaged teens was literally her job. It was what she prided herself on, and even after seeing all the vile and horrible things that they went through … none of it prepared her to look upon him.
Nadia had what she called a gift. One look was all she needed to see beyond a child in pain in order to know their story. She had empathy for those who couldn’t protect themselves because no one had been there for her, either, as a child. Not until she found Anna …
Anna had had a gift like her, a gift that came as a blessing and a curse.
“Here you go.” She pasted a smile on her face while she held the duffle bag over the water for him to take as he stood on the yacht.
His single blue eye, which was much different in color than his father’s, dropped from her face sullenly to the bag she held out. “Thanks.”
The pang that ran in her gut told her what she thought of herself before her mind even did. Failure.
She had just failed this kid, and that was going to be the last time she was ever going to see him, as she was about to make her escape. Nadia didn’t know why, but she was sure that moment was going to be the one replaying in her mind until the day she died.
Leo Caruso was going to be the one that got away.
The disappointment in herself showed through as she watched him walk away. She couldn’t believe she had been so wrong about him. So used to working with teens who had nothing, she hadn’t gotten a chance to work with one who had every materialistic need.
She could feel the set of cold eyes on her now, and when Nadia looked over at Dante, she knew he had witnessed what had happened, and all her hopes of maybe playing off she hadn’t been shocked at all vanished. Expecting a disappointed look on his father’s face, much like herself, she didn’t expect the sympathetic presence that held his features.
“After you, Ms. Brooks,” he said with a wave toward the yacht.
“That’s okay. You go firs—”
“I insist.” Any hint of sympathy was now gone. His voice held that demanding grip that was usually present as he placed a light hand on her shoulder before giving her a push forward.
Prick. It was, in fact, the father who was the rich asshole.
Being last to get on the boat wasn’t in her escape plan. While she shakily got onto the boat, she also failed at trying not to seem like she struggled doing so.
The nerves in her belly began to stir as they started to undock and set sail. Dante staying one foot away from her at all times was going to make it tricky to escape if he didn’t give her space.
Watching the dock begin to get smaller and smaller, she knew her window of opportunity was closing. It was now or never, if only this asshole would take one step away from he—
The suddenness of Nadia’s hand being thrown up to cover her mouth had all three Caruso men looking at her as she ran to the edge of the boat.
“She’s going to blow,” Amo warned, and that was exactly why Dante didn’t follow close behind her. He didn’t need to see what she ate for breakfast.
Plus, they were so far out now that it wasn’t like she was going to jum—
Splash!
“Holy fuck!” Amo shouted.
Leo looked around at them. “Did she just fall in?”
They quickly ran to where she had flipped over the ledge, with Dante leaning his head over the water. He didn’t see her drowning. Nope, Nadia was trying to swim away.
“Well …” he said, looking at his soldier, who was just staring down at her, “are you going to get her?”
“Hell no!” Amo told him truthfully. “I’m built like a boulder; I’ll just sink.”
Turning, he looked at his son, but Leo clearly wasn’t eager, either, needing to only point at his nonexistent eye to say, “Not it.”
“Goddammit!” he grumbled, throwing off his jacket. What is the fucking point of having an army of men at my disposal for a time like this?
“You’ve got time,” Leo informed him nonchalantly as Dante quickly slipped off his Italian leather shoes. “She can barely doggy paddle and isn’t getting very far.”
Oh, how he desperately wished Lucca or Nero had come. Hell, he was sure his daughter, Maria, would have fucking jumped in, heels and all. Instead, he was stuck with these two.
Climbing onto the ledge, he took a single deep breath before expertly diving off. He cut through the water like a freshly sharpened knife cutting into paper before he rose back out of the depths. Shaking the water off his face, he adjusted his eyes to see that she, in fact, hadn’t gotten far at all. Hell, he wasn’t even sure you could call what she was doing a doggy paddle; that would be disrespectful toward canines who actually had the instincts to fucking swim.
Hearing a plop behind him had him looking to see that Amo had actually done something by throwing the life preserver over.
Dante had half a mind to let her ass drown right here and be done with her. Unfortunately, he found his arm hooking through the red and white ring to save the now-beginning-to-sink woman.
Okay, maybe I didn’t think this through.
If the devil were on her shoulder right now, he’d be saying, “Gee, you think?”
Hitting the water had knocked all the breath out of her as she made herself fall like she had passed out instead of properly jumping off. But that certainly wasn’t all, because she was certain she could swim as a kid.
All thoughts, however, were beginning to escape her, except for one, as water started to fill up her mouth and fatigue started to set in.