22. A Large Oversight

Dom

Leonie was not a crier. Other than that one time at the pub, I hadn’t seen her cry since the night her dad died. And before that, the week prior when I walked in on her having phone sex with Sam Fucking Yun.

But other than those three occasions, and her childhood tantrums, she never cried.

Once, in school, when she was seven and I was nine, she fell down the slide in the playground and her finger twisted so far back, I’d heard the snap from the football field on the other side of the gate. She hadn’t cried, just stared at it in shock. Her dad had laughed, told her she was ready to unite the Armenian, Italian and Russian mafia all under her leadership. Because she was fearless.

So when her voice broke on the phone asking if I could go to hers, I was already holding my keys.

She didn’t give details, just reassured me she was okay and told me she needed my help. At some point. But, no rush, Dom.

From the ports of Darley, I still bombed it down the motorway.

At her flat, I knocked with my fist until she opened the door. She sniffed as she saw me and I pulled her into a hug with the door still open.

“You came,” she whispered.

“You called. Of course I came.”

She nodded into my chest and we stood there for a few moments. Something horrific had happened. Something had hurt her, my little lion. Someone was responsible.

And I would tear them to shreds.

“What happened?” I murmured into her hair. Almost a kiss.

She tried to pull away, but I kept her close as we walked into the living room. Naturally, she fell onto my lap on the sofa and she wiped at her eyes before turning to me with a weak smile. “Anton… his people found something.”

I’d only just been with him and he hadn’t mentioned anything. The man was always too focused on killing.

“Like?” I asked, stroking her back.

“Like a quarter of a million pounds going into Firdman’s bank account the week my dad died.”

My strokes stopped for a second as I took that in. “That’s a large oversight.”

She leaned into me and I tucked her head under my chin.

“Derek had to know. He had to know.”

It didn’t seem rational for him to miss this. He was far better than that. When his best friend died, he would have turned over every stone to find out what happened.

My father would have too. But he took in Leonie while Derek handled the legal side of things.

“Technological advancements—”

“Can you find out?” she asked, her words laced with caution. “I know it’s a big ask—”

“I told you, I will do anything you ask, Leo,” I said and stroked back her hair. “Not just sexually. You’re my friend.”

“I was your friend,” she corrected me.

“Call it a favour,” I said and tried not to cringe. I owed her everything. This was nothing. “I’ll still dislike you if it makes you feel any better.”

And she let out the tiniest shake of a laugh. But I cherished it. Held onto it.

“I don’t have everything I’d need to find what you’re after, but let me call some people from work,” I started, shuffling to hold her tighter as I reached for my phone in my pocket.

“No!”

She fought against my grip and I froze, releasing her. “No?”

“I don’t want your dad involved.”

I watched her stand carefully. She was hurt, but there was no need to be absurd. Her suspicions over Derek didn’t incorporate my father.

“Why?” I asked, worried about what she might say.

She threw her hand in her hair. “He’ll tell Derek. He’ll defend him.”

“You don’t trust anyone, do you?”

“No,” she said again, her voice stern as she breathed heavily. “I don’t. My dad was too trusting. That’s not why, though. It’s that your dad will be devastated.”

He would be. When Luís died, he’d walked the house as a ghost for weeks. He was Leonie’s personal protector afterwards, taking her to visit her mum in the hospital and personally driving the girls to and from school.

“My business has nothing to do with my father,” I told her and lifted my hands up in surrender. “It’s completely clean, Leo. No connections, no money trail. Nothing back to my dad, any of his businesses. From the clean ones like Issy’s bakery to bloody Bristow Buildings. The people I hire are loyal to me. Do you think I haven’t had my employees hack into my dad’s shit before?”

“Why would you do that?” she asked, startled.

I only tapped my nose.

“There’s something I want to do,” she said softly as I stood to join her. “But it’s even more to ask of you. I just—I just don’t know if I should drive right now. It’s a lot… I’ll pay for petrol and I’ll—”

Pulling her chin to face me, I told her, “Stop talking. I told you I’ll do anything you ask.”

“That would be two favours.”

“You can make it up to me later,” I told her and pulled her chin closer to me so I could kiss her on the mouth.

We could have gone further. I could always go further with her and she seemed to want the distraction, her tongue swiping my lips.

But I needed her trust more.

“Ask it, Leonie.”

“I… I want to go home.”