Forever Loved (Forever Lost Book 2) (2 page)

Chapter Two

After the theater was emptied and left for the cleaners to finish up, Leo offered Cassie a ride home. He then listened in polite silence as Roger gave her the “talk” before he’d let his boss go, reminding her to use her panic button at any time during the night and he’d be there in just a few minutes. She thanked him and nodded, smiling sweetly up at the burly man with an affection that made Leo’s blood boil, but he made sure to keep his emotions in check. He didn’t want to ruin things quite so soon by pitching a fit and knocking out Cassie’s new bodyguard simply because he was being overprotective, when in fact it was the one thing he respected the guy for.

“Call me when you’re home safe,” Roger insisted, and she agreed. Leo said nothing, but gave Roger a courteous, respectful nod as he passed on his way out. He couldn’t deny, he really was pleased that she’d found someone trustworthy to take care of her, but the pang of jealousy he felt at watching their closeness and familiarity was hard to quash. However, so many people in her past had let Cassie down, him included, and she deserved to have good friends around her. He would simply have to tolerate this new bodyguard if it made her feel safe and confident. Cassie’s security and happiness was all that mattered.

They drove in relative silence, each seemingly mulling over the past that still hovered over their heads, but Leo didn’t care about any of that. Having her back was all he’d been dreaming about ever since the day she’d left for Mexico with Victor. It’d been the worst day of his life, but it felt good that he’d eventually made things right. She’d been saved, not all thanks to him, but Leo knew he’d played a big part in her release from the cartel’s clutches, and seeing her happy and strong again helped to ease some of his many burdens. The knowledge that she’d gone back to England and made something of her life while he’d served out his prison sentence was enough to dull that awful, screaming guilt he’d had to live with. Over that year while she’d been forced into submission by his cunning nemesis, Leo had died inside, only to reborn through his need for vengeance and his desire to save her. He just hoped that now she might be able to save him in return.

“What was it like?” she whispered, staring out the windshield thoughtfully. “Prison, I mean,” she clarified, and Leo tensed. He hadn’t wanted to lie to her quite so soon, but knew it would be better for her if he skimmed over the details of his incarceration rather than be honest. Better to save Cassie from taking on some of the demons from his deep well of guilt and regret.

“Money talks, love. Yes, I’ve spent the last eighteen months locked in that cell, but it was just a light sentence thanks to my cooperation with the FBI.” Leo shrugged for added measure. “I paid my way through the entire thing. I bought myself protection and benefited from the dirty wardens who happily lined their pockets with my money to keep me safe, fed, and watered.”

He watched Cassie’s reaction to his dismissiveness to his time away. She seemed to accept that he’d bought himself a relatively carefree sentence, and part of him wished he hadn’t been so blasé. In truth, he’d had to fall upon both his mental and physical strength and his superior survival instincts on a fair few occasions inside. He’d only barely made it through some of the brawls in one piece, and had made sure he’d ended up one of the most feared inmates. Despite his wealth, Leo hadn’t wanted to pay for protection. He’d wanted to earn it in blood, and thanks to the anger he’d kept bubbling beneath the surface, he’d managed it.

“I’m glad it wasn’t so bad,” she said, and turned to look at him. Leo saw the pain and fear creeping into her eyes, as if she was going to ask those dreaded words,
honestly, Leo?
Or,
you can tell me…
He was far from ready to divulge his deepest and darkest secrets, so he reached out and took her hand in his.

“Piece of cake,” he joked, making her smile again, and he was happy to see the sparkle return to her eyes. He knew he’d done the right thing in not telling her the truth, and honestly didn’t want to add to her worries. It was better for everybody if she saw him as the same guy she knew and fell for years before, not a brute who’d willingly embodied the persona of the common criminal while behind bars. Leo knew it was time to move the conversation on. “As soon as I was free, next came the extradition to the UK. I’ve been informed that I’ll be watched, but I don’t care. My life of drugs and whores is behind me. I’ll happily walk away from that world, trust me on that.”

“I do, Leo. I believe you. Hanna told me Jamie’s taken over?” she asked, talking about her New York best friend and her former drug-dealer husband. Cassie was right. Leo had left his entire empire for Jamie to look after in his absence, and knew he’d made the right choice. Jamie had not only turned the call-girl agencies and strip joints Leo owned into more profitable establishments, but he’d also helped take them in a more legitimate direction. Without his cartel connections, the drug business had run dry long before Leo’s fateful birthday party, during which he’d lured Victor Sanchez away from his Mexican fortress to have him arrested. He’d made a deal to turn both himself and Cassie’s husband over to the FBI, and although he hated being a rat, it had been a necessary step to ensuring her freedom. But, as plans do, they’d failed—and for the better. Victor was gone for good, not just for a stint in Chino. Either way, the end result had been the same for Leo because of his deal with the Feds, and Cassie had walked, which was all that mattered.

“Yep, I’ve left everything in his very capable hands,” Leo told her. “In preparation for my incarceration, I’d already been mentoring Jay to become my new man at the top for a while, probably permanently now that I’m back over here. He’s maintaining the string of businesses that are legit—on the outside. They’re still fueled by the cash I made from selling drugs and girls, but he has a tight grasp on the boundaries, and drugs are no longer part of our deal. I trust him,” he added, being honest, and she seemed to appreciate it.

Leo really had stepped away. His vast wealth and regular income would be more than enough to set him up for life, thanks to his stateside assistant, Tina. She’d arranged numerous offshore accounts for him and regularly deposited his cut into them, so much so that his move back to London hadn’t been an issue financially.

He’d known Cassie was still living in the capital city thanks to Jamie keeping him up to speed with how she was doing and what she was up to. Leo hadn’t been able to stop watching over her despite Cassie being thousands of miles away, and he doubted that would ever change.

“I’d trust Jamie and Hanna with my life, and agree you made the right choice with him,” she replied, pulling him out of his thoughts, and Leo nodded.

Rather than talk any more, he then focused on the feeling of her hand in his, and the caressing movement she was doing with her fingers as he drove. He was already aching to feel her skin against more of his body, and thought of the few times she’d touched him, loved him, and gave his body the releases he’d craved. He hadn’t been with another woman in that way since long before his incarceration, and the feel of her hand against his brought back that welcome yearning inside.

“Here we are.” Leo rested the car at the entrance outside Cassie’s new apartment and waited.

“You know where I live?” she asked with one eyebrow raised suggestively. He detected a teasing edge to her tone, rather than annoyance, so he shrugged.

“Of course, love,” he admitted without a care. The moment he’d stepped off that plane, Leo had tracked her down. He’d used his intel to check out the safety of her new place, as well as secure himself a ticket to the opening night of Cassie’s recently refurbished,
New Beginnings Theater
. He hadn’t wanted to wait or play any games.

He’d watched her from a dark corner of the theater for a while before approaching, taking in her confident strides and charismatic nature with a swell of pride. Cassie was no longer that lost young woman he’d seen at the trial. She was strong and seemed to have her shit together at last, and what was most impressive was that she’d gotten there all on her own. Yes, she’d had to be saved from the violent and oppressive grasp of her now dead husband, but the timid girl she’d become under his control was very different to the woman he had seen commanding the room and keeping cool under the pressure of her opening night, and that was all her own doing.

“So, Mr. Solomon. Are you coming up for a drink?” Her soft voice interrupted his reverie again.

“Only if you’ve cheap wine on the menu, and if there are jellybeans involved,” he teased, smirking across at her, and Cassie giggled. He loved how they could still laugh and joke together, and that they could still have their private joke after all the chaos. He remembered that laugh so fondly, and shuddered as the sound cascaded over him. He wanted to hear more of it.

“I’m sure I can rustle something up,” she told him with a wide smile before climbing out and ushering for him to follow her.

Leo tailed Cassie up to her apartment, feeling nervous for some reason. There was still so much love and passion between them he could almost feel the tension in the air all around, but it also scared him. The old Leo would’ve acted on those urges without a care in the world, but not when it came to Cassie, not anymore. With her, it was all about being patient and gaining her trust again. There would be no rushing any of this. She needed to know he had her heart in his sights, not just her body.

***

Once inside, Cassie deactivated the security system and quickly set about pouring them two glasses of wine. She then grabbed a half-eaten box of chocolates from the fridge.

“These will have to do, I’m all out of jellybeans,” she informed him with a smile, and he plucked out a small chocolate with a matching grin as if not caring at all that she was out of her promised candy.

They watched one another for a while. One hundred unspoken questions hung in the air between them, but Cassie wanted to push them all away and start again. She didn’t want to have any of the dark and depressing talk. Tonight had been a huge success for her theater and Cassie wanted to celebrate, not relive the awful past. She certainly didn’t want to deal with the doubts that niggled in her gut about whether or not being back in Leo’s arms would be a good idea. They’d been through so very much, both while together and apart, and now it was their chance to start over. She wanted it so badly it hurt.

“Milk chocolate, my favorite,” Leo murmured as he leaned over and nabbed another small cube from one of the plastic trays. Cassie followed suit, grabbing a caramel one.

“So, where are you staying?” she asked, unable to help quizzing him a little.

“In a rented apartment not too far from here, just for now. I plan on buying something big and lavish soon, but first I’m focusing on looking for a business startup.”

“Girls?” she asked, peering at him over the rim of her wine glass.

“No, never again,” he answered, and Cassie breathed a sigh of relief. Part of her wanted to ask if he’d been seeing anyone since her, or if any of his old employees might’ve been around to keep him company during his visitation time while in prison. She couldn’t bring herself to utter the words, knowing she’d despise the answer if he admitted her assumptions were true. “Just nightclubs. Maybe casinos if I see a good investment opportunity. I’ve got contacts over here who’ve already agreed to partnerships, it’s just a matter of getting set up.”

“You make it sound so simple,” she replied, thinking how hard it’d been running her own business this past year, and she envied his nonchalance.

“Nothing’s ever simple, you just have to be ready and willing to make it work. I approach everything that means something to me in the same way. If you want something bad enough, you’ll get it. Even if it takes forever to get there.”

Cassie’s heart fluttered in her chest. Leo’s dark brown eyes were staring so intently into hers that she couldn’t pull her gaze away. She didn’t want to.

“Do you want
me
badly enough?” The words left her mouth before she could stop them. Her cheeks burned, and Cassie knew she must be blushing.

“Good, bad—any way I can, love. You’re all I want, and everything I need. I can never apologize enough for what I did to you. But, if you can find a way to forgive me, I’ll make it my life’s work to make sure you never regret it,” he told her, and the sincerity in his gaze made her breath hitch.

Despite his height and huge frame, Leo looked small somehow. He seemed frail, broken, and in need of as much comfort as he evidently assumed she was. Cassie saw through his front and wanted to comfort and care for who she found there. Beneath that mask was a ruined man. He’d been battered and bruised in ways far different than she’d been, but he needed saving all the same, and she knew she had to be the one to do it.

Cassie stepped forward and slid straight into Leo’s embrace. She wrapped her arms around his back, resting her palms on his shoulder blades, and squeezed tight.

“Of course I forgive you. None of this was ever what you wanted, Leo. I chose to be with you back then knowing there were risks, and I still want you now.”

They stood like that for a long time. Each held on so tightly to the other that there was no denying their pain, or the openness of their feelings. Cassie was glad he’d stopped faking it and just let her hold him. Leo was a proud, defiant, and dominant man. She knew he hated being seen as vulnerable, but wondered if perhaps he simply wasn’t strong enough to hide it anymore.