Chapter 7

Alessia's Pov

Glass shattered somewhere in the penthouse. I flinched as Leo shoved me behind him, drawing a gun from his jacket in one fluid motion.

"Stay down and stay quiet," he ordered with a voice barely audible above the chaos erupting around us.

A burst of gunfire sent me ducking behind a sofa. Despite everything, Leo positioned himself between me and the door, his body a human shield.

"Isn't this ironic?" I hissed. "Protecting the woman who just ruined you?"

Leo's eyes flashed in the dim light. "You didn't ruin me, Alessia. You just complicated things." He checked his weapon with practiced ease. "And despite what you think of me, I don't let people I care about die."

"Since when do you care about anyone but yourself?" The words came out more bitter than I intended.

A humorless smile crossed his face. "We'll discuss my many character flaws later—if we live through this."

The door to the study burst open. One of Leo's security men stumbled in, clutching his bleeding shoulder. "They're not all feds," he gasped. "There's a second team, all professionals and they're here for her." He nodded in my direction.

Leo's expression hardened. "Who sent them?"

"Matteo Ricci," the man wheezed. "The word is he escaped three days ago when news of your engagement reached him."

My blood ran cold, My husband was out of jail already? How?

"That's impossible," I whispered. "He's in maximum security."

"Apparently not anymore," Leo said grimly. He turned to his security man. "Get the chopper ready. We're leaving now, I need to thank those motherfuckes for disrupting my evening and my discussion with the perfect wife ever."He said sarcastically and I swallowed but the next few minutes passed in a blur of gunfire and shouted orders. Leo kept me close, one arm around my waist, the other holding his weapon as we moved through secret passages I hadn't known existed in his penthouse.

"Get in!" Leo shouted over the noise as he grabbed me to the car. An we drove off.

Leo's remote estate in the mountains looked more like a fortress than a home. Stone walls, security checkpoints, armed guards—it was the kind of place someone went to disappear.

"This is temporary," Leo said as he led me through massive oak doors. "Until I figure out how Ricci found you and how deep his reach extends."

"You can't keep me like a prisoner," I said, though the tremor in my voice betrayed my fear.

"I'm not keeping you like a prisoner, Alessia. I'm keeping you alive." He ran a hand through his rain-soaked hair. "Though after your little stunt with the press, I'm not entirely sure why I'm bothering."

Before I could respond, he stepped closer, patting me down with methodical efficiency. He removed my phone, my backup phone from my boot, and even the small tracker disguised as a pendant that the ICD had given me.

"Really baby?" he asked, holding up the pendant. "Did you think I wouldn't know about standard agency protocol?"

"You can't do this," I protested as he dropped the electronics into a metal box. "I need to contact my colleague, let them know I'm okay."

"Your colleague," Leo said coldly, "don't give two fucks about you so Di the honours of keeping quiet a d act like a good girl and if I let you contact them, Ricci's men will trace the signal straight to us." He closed the box with a decisive click. "Consider this your punishment for betrayal."

I glared at him. "You don't get to punish me Leo, taking all my belongings is cruel! Stop acting like you care” I yelled and he scoffed at me.

"No?" He stepped closer, backing me against the wall. "Then why am I the one keeping you safe while your precious department is nowhere to be found? Why am I the one who has spent the last year making sure your mother gets the best medical care available?"

I froze. "What did you just say?"

Leo's expression shifted, softening slightly. "Did you think I didn't know about your mother's condition? That expensive private clinic you somehow managed to afford on a government salary?" He shook his head. "Who do you think has been covering those bills, Alessia?"

My world tilted on its axis. "That's not possible. I set up payment plans—"

"Which mysteriously get paid off each month?" Leo's laugh was bitter. "You've been accepting my help all along while you were obsessed with getting me behind bars, whether you knew it or not."

I felt sick, the room spinning around me. Everything I thought I knew was crumbling. "Why? Why would you do that?"

"Because I wanted something from you," he said simply. "Though God knows you've done everything possible to make me regret it." He turned away, pulling out his phone. "And now I need to move her too."

"No!" I lunged for him, but he easily sidestepped me. "Leave her out of this!"

"You didn't thought about that when you sent evidence to tye damn press!” He spat back defiantly.

"You can't just—"

"I can and I will," Leo interrupted. "This isn't a negotiation, Alessia. Shut up!”

Before I could respond, his phone rang. He answered it, his expression growing more serious with each passing second.

"When?" he asked. "And you're certain? Keep her secured. I'll be there within the hour." He hung up, his eyes meeting mine with a gravity that made my heart stutter.

"What is it?" I asked, not sure I wanted to know.

"Your mother's clinic was attacked twenty minutes ago," he said, his voice flat. "Two of Ricci's men, posing as orderlies. They were stopped by my security team."

The room seemed to tilt beneath me. "Is she—"

"She's alive," Leo assured me quickly. "But we need to move her immediately. The clinic isn't safe anymore."

I stood on shaky legs. "I'm coming with you."

"No," Leo said firmly. "It's too dangerous. My men will handle the transfer."

"She's my mother," I said, my voice rising. "If you think I'm going to sit here while—"

"While what?" Leo challenged. "While I ensure her safety? While I clean up the mess your little exposé created? Tell me, Alessia, what exactly would you do that my security team can't?"

"I could be with her!" I shouted. "She must be terrified!"

"She's sedated," Leo said more gently. "She won't know what's happening." He checked his watch. "I need to coordinate the security teams. You should rest. There's a bedroom upstairs, second door on the right. We'll talk when I return."

As he turned to leave, a question burned on my tongue. "Leo," I called after him. "Why did you really place me in the ICD? Was it truly just to protect your operations?"

He paused at the door, his back to me. "No," he said finally. "It was to protect you."

"From what?"