Chapter 5 - The Rules Tessa WroteLeo required eleven stitches.
He refused anesthesia for the first three.
Then Tessa threatened to leave the medical room if he continued behaving like “an emotionally constipated action movie extra.”
The doctor hid a smile.
Leo accepted the injection.
It was nearly four in the morning when the estate finally quieted.
Matteo Russo had escaped unharmed.
One attacker had been killed.
Another captured.
Carlo was interrogating him in a location Tessa deliberately did not ask about.
The blue ledger sat inside Leo’s vault.
Tessa hated that.
But she hated carrying it through a house full of possible traitors more.
She stood at the kitchen island drinking tea.
Still wearing the burgundy dress.
Still wearing Leo’s jacket.
Leo entered.
His left arm was supported by a sling.
“You should be resting.”
“So should you.”
“I wasn’t shot.”
“You were shot at twice in one night.”
Tessa looked at him.
“Whose fault is that?”
Leo’s face tightened.
“Mine, indirectly.”
“Your father’s, directly.”
“Yes.”
“And maybe someone in this house.”
“Yes.”
Tessa pushed the tea away.
“I’m leaving.”
Leo stopped.
“When?”
“Today.”
“No.”
Her eyes narrowed.
He closed his.
“Let me rephrase.”
“Please do.”
“I don’t think leaving is safe.”
“I don’t care.”
“I do.”
“That’s becoming a problem.”
Leo moved carefully toward the island.
“Tessa, there is a difference between wanting to control you and knowing someone is actively trying to kill you.”
“There is. But you blur it whenever you get scared.”
That stopped him.
She continued.
“You were scared when you saw me in the dress, so you ordered me to remove it. You were scared of Greg, so you investigated him. You were scared I’d run if you told me about my father, so you manipulated my job.”
Leo’s expression hardened, but he did not interrupt.
“You call control protection because protection sounds noble.”
His eyes lowered.
The silence told her she had hit something important.
“Tessa.”
“I need boundaries.”
“What boundaries?”
She almost laughed.
“You genuinely want me to list them?”
“Yes.”
Leo pulled out a chair.
He sat.
“Tell me.”
Tessa stared at him.
“All right.”
She raised one finger.
“You never tell me what I can wear.”
“Agreed.”
“You never touch me because you’re angry or jealous.”
His jaw tightened.
“Agreed.”
“You don’t investigate anyone I date unless there is a real security reason you can explain.”
Leo looked physically ill.
Tessa waited.
“Agreed.”
“You don’t monitor my phone.”
“I don’t.”
“Good.”
“Carlo does.”
Her mouth fell open.
Leo’s face changed.
“That was a joke.”
She stared.
A slow smile appeared.
It was the first joke she had ever heard Leo Santoro make.
“You’re terrible at that.”
“I’ve been told.”
“By whom?”
“No one who survived.”
Tessa blinked.
Leo sighed.
“That was also a joke.”
“Stop joking.”
“Gladly.”
Despite everything, a laugh escaped her.
Leo stared.
Something vulnerable entered his face.
Tessa immediately became serious.
“Most important rule. You tell me the truth about anything involving me or my father.”
“That might put you at risk.”
“I’m already at risk.”
He considered.
“Agreed.”
“And I’m not your maid anymore.”
His head lifted.
“You’re resigning?”
“Yes.”
Leo absorbed it.
No argument.
No intimidation.
“All right.”
That answer hurt more than she expected.
She looked away.
“I’ll arrange severance through the agency.”
“I don’t want your money.”
“It isn’t charity.”
“I know.”
“You earned it.”
Tessa folded her arms.
“And my father’s care?”
Leo’s expression became unreadable.
“What about it?”
“The facility costs more than I can afford without this job.”
“I’ll cover it.”
“No.”
“Tessa.”
“That creates another chain between us.”
“I’m not asking for anything.”
“You don’t need to ask. Debt changes people.”
Leo leaned forward.
“Then borrow it.”
“What?”
“Interest-free. Repay me ten dollars a month for the next five hundred years.”
“That makes absolutely no sense.”
“I’m not good with personal loans.”
“You own banks.”
“I delegate.”
She almost smiled again.
Then she shook her head.
“I’ll figure it out.”
Leo’s expression darkened.
But he nodded.
“Your decision.”
Another boundary respected.
Tessa hated that she noticed.
A phone rang.
Leo answered.
“Carlo.”
He listened.
His expression changed.
“We’ll be there.”
He ended the call.
“The shooter talked.”
Tessa straightened.
“Who hired him?”
“He doesn’t know.”
“You’re lying?”
“No. He was contacted through an encrypted intermediary.”
“But?”
“The payment came from an account connected to Santoro Holdings.”
Tessa went still.
“Someone in your organization paid for my shooting.”
“Yes.”
“Who has access?”
“Seven people.”
“Names.”
Leo hesitated.
She stared.
“Rule four.”
His mouth tightened.
“Carlo. Me. My cousin Marco. Finance chief Stefano Bellini. Legal counsel Dominic Hale. My aunt Sofia. And my uncle Antonio Santoro.”
Tessa knew Antonio.
He visited every Sunday.
Gray hair.
Warm smile.
Always brought pastries for the staff.
She had served him coffee dozens of times.
“Your uncle?”
“He was my father’s consigliere.”
A terrible possibility surfaced.
“Was he around when my father had the accident?”
“Yes.”
Tessa felt sick.
Leo stood.
“We’re not accusing anyone yet.”
“But you’re thinking it.”
“I’m thinking about all seven.”
“Even Carlo?”
“Yes.”
She studied him.
“That must be horrible.”
“It’s useful.”
“That isn’t what I said.”
Leo looked toward the dark window.
“When you grow up the way I did, trust becomes a luxury.”
Tessa watched him.
For the first time she saw not the mafia boss, but perhaps the boy beneath him.
A boy raised inside a house where affection could become leverage and family could become an enemy.
“Is that why you don’t date?”
His gaze returned.
“Who says I don’t?”
“The staff.”
“I should fire the staff.”
“I’m not staff anymore.”
“Apparently I’m losing control of the entire estate.”
“You never had as much control as you thought.”
Leo smiled faintly.
“No.”
Silence settled.
Tessa realized they were alone at four in the morning, speaking more honestly than they had during the entire year she worked for him.
That felt dangerous in a different way.
“Why me?” she asked.
Leo’s smile vanished.
“What?”
“You could have placed guards around me. You could have warned me. Instead you brought me into your house. Then somewhere along the way you started watching me.”
Leo stood very still.
“Why?”
He looked toward her burgundy dress.
Then deliberately returned his gaze to her face.
“The first time I noticed you wasn’t three months ago.”
Tessa’s heart skipped.
“It was your second week here.”
“What happened?”
“You dropped a tray.”
She frowned.
“I’ve dropped many things.”
“You thought no one saw. You cursed at the tray.”
Heat entered her cheeks.
“I did not.”
“You called it a manipulative silver bastard.”
Tessa covered her face.
“Oh God.”
Leo almost smiled.
“Then you apologized to it.”
“I was tired.”
“I laughed.”
“I’ve never heard you laugh.”
“You had already left.”
His voice softened.
“After that, I started noticing when you sang while cleaning the upstairs hall. When you stole strawberries from Maria’s refrigerator.”
“She gives those to me.”
“You steal them.”
“Continue.”
“I noticed you always leave the library curtains open because you think books should get sunlight even though sunlight damages them.”
“That’s debatable.”
“It isn’t.”
“Continue.”
Leo looked at her for a long time.
“You became a person before I wanted you to.”
Her throat tightened.
“And that annoyed you?”
“Terrified me.”
Tessa stopped breathing.
Leo continued.
“I brought you here because I wanted to protect Michael Jenkins’s daughter.”
His eyes moved over her face.
“Then Michael Jenkins’s daughter became Tessa.”
The kitchen seemed very quiet.
“And I didn’t know what to do with that.”
Tessa’s pulse hammered.
“So you became jealous of an actuary.”
“Yes.”
“You ordered me to undress.”
Leo winced.
“That will probably haunt me until death.”
“It should.”
“It does.”
She studied him.
The attraction remained.
That was the problem.
Underneath every argument, every dangerous look, every moment when she should have dismissed him entirely, it remained.
“Tessa.”
“Don’t.”
“I wasn’t going to touch you.”
“That isn’t what I meant.”
Leo waited.
She whispered.
“I don’t know what I feel about you.”
His answer was immediate.
“You don’t owe me an answer.”
Tessa stared.
Somewhere beyond the kitchen, footsteps approached.
Carlo entered carrying a tablet.
“Boss, we found another transaction.”
“To whom?”
Carlo looked grim.
“A private care employee.”
Tessa’s blood ran cold.
“My father’s facility?”
“Yes.”
She was already moving.
“What employee?”
“A night nurse named Daniel Price.”
“I know Daniel.”
Leo grabbed his jacket.
“Call the facility.”
Tessa did.
No answer.
Again.
Nothing.
Her breathing accelerated.
Leo took her hand, then immediately loosened his grip.
“Can I?”
She looked at their joined hands.
Then nodded.
“Yes.”
He squeezed once.
Carlo’s phone rang.
He answered.
His face drained.
“What?”
Leo demanded.
May you like
Carlo slowly lowered the phone.
“Michael Jenkins is missing.”
Related Stories
