Trinity tracks me down like the bloodhound she’s become. “You’re not answering your phone,” she says.
“No.”
She joins me, and we stare at the clothes on my bed. A tailored black suit, a custom shirt, and a handsome, expensive pair of Italian leather shoes that cost more than my first car. Tomorrow is Erede al Trono…again. And this is the custom-made suit I’d worn nearly a month ago.
I look down at them, disgusted.
“You’re really doing this?” Trinity asks.
I’ve put this off long enough. “Yup,” I say, nodding.
I collect the clothes and shoes and march to the side of the house. The trash bin is about to get a mouthful.
Trinity holds open the lid as I throw it in. “I hate that Ivy can’t come,” she says.
Fucking Andre. My emotions get the better of me, and I slam the lid shut. I dust my hands and meet Trinity’s wide eyes. “What?” I ask, mildly unnerved.
“Nothing.” She smiles and links an arm with mine.
We wander along the lake. I can’t remember the last time Trini and I did this: shuffled our feet on the gravel pathway. I stare off, aimlessly.
“Do you miss her?” Trinity asks.
Miss her? Understatement of the century. What gave it away? My three-week beard? Or perhaps it’s me wearing the same outfit for five straight days.
“Why not remove the sun and ask if I miss it?” I retort, irritated. I iron out my mood, determined not to take out my anger on Trinity. She’s the one person, maybe the only person, who never deserves my wrath.
“It’s not the same,” she begins to say. “The bond that Ivy and I have is as if we’re sisters. Wherever she goes or whatever she does, nothing will break our connection. But you…you could really lose her, Leo.”
What the hell? “I know,” I snap a little harder than I mean. But I can’t help it. There’s a knife lodged deep in my chest, and it’s as if Trinity dropped by to twist it.
She looks up at me, doe-eyed. “What’s the plan?”
Plan? Ha! As if there’s enough free will in me to devise a plan. This is Aunt Grace’s prediction, except my duties to the D’Angelos aren’t a choice. They’re my oath. My commitment. I gave my word to Antonio, and I can’t break that vow.
Instead of answering Trinity, I pretend I didn’t hear her and keep walking along. That’s when I get a dainty little elbow hard in the ribs. “Ow!”
She shoves me in the chest. “Why aren’t you going after her?”
Is she fucking kidding me right now? “Because I gave your father my word.”
“Yes,” she nods. “To protect the D’Angelos. And somewhere out there is a D’Angelo who needs you way more than I do.”
It takes me a moment to come to terms with what she’s saying.
“I’ll be fine!” she shouts, exasperated. With her hands on my collar, she stares me down. “Listen to me, Leo. I’ll be fine,” she repeats with her big, blue eyes and sweet, compelling grin.
I clasp both her hands with a squeeze. Is she saying what I think she’s saying? “Trinity, you understand if I leave, I’d be quitting. For good.”
She stares me down. “And if you don’t quit, I’ll have no choice but to fire you.”
Warmth fills my chest. Delirious, I chuckle. Trinity will be fine. Look at her. If I don’t go, she really will fire me. She’s a fucking boss. I kiss her on the cheek. “You sure?”
She nods. “At least if you quit, you get to pack.”
“True.” I laugh heartily as tears collect in her eyes and mine. I brush her bangs from her face. “You say the word, and I am here. Okay?”
“Okay,” she says, wrapping a tight hug around me. It’s the longest hug of my life. “And Leo…”
“Yes?”
“You’d better hurry. Hunter quit half an hour ago.”
“What?”
Trinity cradles my cheeks. “You should really check your phone.”
The trip to North Carolina was first class all the way. Chauffeured Bentley to the airport. Private jet. But that’s where Trinity and I agreed the D’Angelo hospitality had to end. If I was cutting ties, I was cutting all of them. Especially the biggest one—Smoke. I look down and stare at his text.
Answer your fucking phone!
I set down my bag and wait for my Lyft. When the phone rings again, I hesitate for a moment, then answer. “Hello?”
“Did you have to pick today of all days to do this?”
I feign innocence. “Do what?”
“There are movers at your house. Where are they going?”
“Storage. Until I’ve sorted everything out.”
“Don’t do this. Not now. Come back, and you can lose the remainder of your mind tomorrow.”
“Have you ever heard the saying that if you love someone, set them free?”
I imagine the vein throbbing in his forehead. “What the fuck does that mean?”
I chuckle. “It means I’m leaving. For good.”
My statement shuts him up for all of three seconds. “If you’re not here, and Enzo fights my claim, he’ll win.”
“No one, not even Enzo, wants the wrath of Trinity.” I rub my side, still sore from her elbow. “And even if that happens, the two of you will just have to bust out the yard-sticks and measure your dicks.”
“Goddammit Leo, I don’t have my father, and I want you here.” His booming voice softens. “Please.”
That should be enough, right? A small request from the man who was there for me when my wife was clinging to life on a ventilator. Except that it’s not. I wasn’t there for her until it was too late. I won’t make the same mistake twice.
If God has heard my prayers and the stars have aligned, I just might have one more shot with Ivy, and nothing will screw that up. “No.”
“You can still make it,” he says, blatantly ignoring me. “Get back on the jet. Ivy will understand.”
As the Lyft pulls up, I heave my US Navy duffel to my shoulder, and dust off my hands. I take a good, long look at my palm and smile. My love line is calling. “Maybe she would understand, Smoke. And maybe I’ve annihilated my chances with Ivy, but for once in my life, I’m following my heart. She’s what I want, and I’m going after her.”
“I chose you over each of my brothers, Leo. To stand in place of my father.”
The Lyft driver looks over expectantly with an impatient shoulder shrug. The jet is on standby, idly waiting. I send it off with a salute. “I choose Ivy. You see, Smoke, the last time I chose you. That choice was a colossal fuck up I intend to rectify.”
Smoke disconnects the call—no doubt smashing his phone in the process—while I bask in the warmth of the bridge I just burned down.