Ross

R oss had spent the better part of a week trying to hunt down Leo. He had his guys out looking for him too, tracking down leads and nothing was turning up. He hated that Leo was running from him and everything that they had built together. The worst part about Leo going missing was having to deal with his father again. He could tell that Tony knew more than he was letting on, but he wasn't sharing any information with .

He had pretty much given up scouring the town for Leo and decided to head over to his mother's place. With any luck, his sister would be there too, and he'd at least get a home-cooked meal out of his visit, even if all he wanted to do was complain and be miserable.

"Ma," he called from the front door. "Come unlock the screen door and let me in," he shouted. His mother peeked around the kitchen wall and smiled at him.

"I just wanted to make sure that it was you, ," she said.

"How many men call you ‘Ma,' Ma?" he asked.

"Well, just you but a lady living alone can't be too careful these days," his mother insisted. "Since your father has been gone, I've been reading this book about living without your spouse and it's teaching me a lot of safety tips. I've been sharing them with Dakota too." could just imagine how uninterested his sister would be listening to their mother go on about being safe as a single woman. Their mother liked to harp on her about getting married and giving her grandchildren before she died. But at just twenty-four, Dakota didn't want any part of marriage or kids in her near future.

"Is she here?" he asked.

"No, your sister is out for the evening. I'm hoping that she finally took my advice and went out on a date, but she wouldn't share that information with me. You know how she can be," his mother said. He knew that Dakota tried to keep her private life private around her mother or she'd never break free of her lectures. She especially didn't want her mother to know that she had joined the police force and was hired at a local station. Dakota had begged not to tell anyone about her plans because, in her words, she didn't want to jinx things. knew the truth though—she didn't want their mother finding out because she was trying to spare herself from a lecture before she had to. Dakota promised to tell their mother about joining the police force, and her plans to become a detective, before too long. had a feeling that she'd wait until the last minute to tell their mother. Hell, knowing Dakota, she'd wait until she was in her full uniform, with her gun in its holster, to tell her mother about her career choice.

"Would you like to stay for dinner?" his mother asked, pulling him back to reality. "I've made your favorite pasta dish."

"I'd love too," he said, "I'm starving. Searching for Leo hasn't left me much time to eat."

"Well, I had an idea that you might stop by here to take a break, so I took a chance and made your favorite dinner tonight. Actually, I was just about to sit down to eat and was worried that my mom's intuition was off, and I was going to have a lot of leftovers."

"I'd be more than happy to help you with your leftover problem," teased.

"You always were a good eater, son," she said, looking up his six-foot-two frame as if proving her point. "I take it that you still haven't heard from Leo if you're still looking for him."

shook his head, "No, and it's been a week now since he disappeared. I'm really getting worried, but his father doesn't seem fazed by his only son's disappearance. Zane's been out helping me look, but we've had no luck."

"I'm sure that Leo has his reasons for leaving and not telling you where he was going, . Just give him some time. I'm sure that he'll come back at some point." His mother was right, but had no plans to tell her that. Leo took off right after admitted that he was in love with him, and he was worried that he had spooked him—especially since Leo hadn't given him those three little words back.

"I'll try, Mom," said. He didn't mean a word of his promise though. He planned on hitting the streets again to look for Leo as soon as he left his mother's house.

"Good, now, let's eat. I'm starving too," his mother said. He followed his mother into her small kitchen and inhaled the aroma of his favorite meal. Why did he always feel so safe and at home at his mom's? Maybe it was because this was the house that he had grown up in and memories came flooding back every time he walked through the door. He had sat in that very kitchen to watch his mother make dinner night after night as a kid while he did his homework. He had only happy memories in her house and coming home felt like the right thing to do tonight. He might not ever find Leo, and that might break his heart, but he'd always have his family to fall back on when he needed them. Right now, that was going to have to be enough for him.

spent the rest of the evening with his mother, helping her with the dishes, and doing a few odd jobs for her. He knew that she was trying to keep him for as long as possible so that he'd be too tired to go back out to look for Leo, and her plan worked. By the time he arrived back home, he felt ready to drop. All he wanted to do was take a hot shower and then fall into bed. It just sucked that it was going to be yet another night sleeping in his bed alone, without Leo.

He unlocked his front door and tossed his keys into the bowl that sat on the shelf by the door. looked around, trying to figure out what felt off. The light over the kitchen table was on and he hadn't left any lights on when he left early that morning. He pulled his Glock from his shoulder holster and slowly made his way through the downstairs of his townhouse. If someone had broken into his place, they were either gone or upstairs.

He felt as though his heart might beat out of his chest as he carefully climbed the steps, peeking into each room as he made his way down to the master bedroom. He carefully turned the doorknob and found a dark shadow sitting on the edge of the bed.

"Don't shoot," the shadow whispered.

"Well, that will depend on who you are and what you're doing in my house," said, flicking on the overhead light to find Leo sitting there. He was holding his bloody shoulder and looked as though someone had beaten the hell out of him.

"What the hell, Leo?" asked, crossing the room to him. He put his gun on the nightstand and turned back to Leo. "You look like shit."

"No kidding," Leo grumbled. "I've been shot, and I need your help. I can't go to a hospital; my father will have men there watching for me."

"Did he do this to you?" asked. He ran back to the master bathroom and grabbed some towels and disinfectant before Leo could answer. "Here, put this towel over the wound and press down hard. I'm going to disinfect the area and then, I'm going to call a guy I know to come over here to patch you up."

"Are you sure that it's safe? Do you know this guy personally and can vouch for him?" Leo asked.

"He's trustworthy," assured, "and, you didn't answer my question—who did this to you?" He already believed he knew the answer, but he still needed to hear it from Leo.

"My father had two of his guys take me out to kill me and get rid of my body. I guess his plan failed because here I am," Leo breathed. "They held me for days, at my father's request, but this morning, he called and gave the order to, ‘Get rid of me for good'. My own father wanted me dead all because I told him that I was gay and in a relationship with you."

"Wait, you told him that we're together?" asked.

"I did," Leo said. "I went to the office the night that I left you because I was told to be there by seven if I wanted my father back alive."

"That's why you tried to break up with me," guessed. "You were trying to keep me from following you or finding out the plan, right?" he asked.

"Yes," Leo breathed. gently tugged Leo's shirt down his body, freeing his injured arm.

"They got you good," said. He poured the disinfectant on the wound, quickly putting the towel back in place to put pressure on the affected area. Leo was still bleeding, and would probably need a few stitches. "Looks like the bullet went straight through, so that's good news."

Leo barked out his laugh and groaned. "Don't make me laugh. Nothing about what has happened to me should be considered good news, ."

"I didn't mean to hurt you that night," Leo whispered. looked into his eyes, and he knew that his guy was being honest with him.

"I believe you, but it did hurt me that you could so easily throw us away," he said. "I told you that I loved you and you still walked away."

"To keep you safe," Leo breathed. "I was told to come alone, or they would kill me and everyone with me. I couldn't put you at risk, . You mean too much to me." didn't want to get his hopes up, but everything that Leo said did just that.

"What does that mean, Leo?" he asked.

"It means that once I clear this mess up with my father, I'm hoping that you'll give me another chance," Leo admitted.

"No," growled. "You're not going to clean up this mess with your father alone again. You did that once, and it didn't work out for you," said, nodding to Leo's shoulder. "If you want another chance, we do everything together from now on—got it?" he asked.

Leo looked him over and wondered if he was going to give in to his demands. After what felt like hours, not seconds, Leo nodded his head and let out the breath he didn't know he was holding. "Thank you for that," said. "I'll call my doctor friend to come over here and patch you up. Then, you can fill me in on everything you can remember about this week. I want to know where you were held, how you got away, and everything your father said to you."

"I got away because one of the guys he sent to kill me wasn't completely loyal to my father. We grew up together and he couldn't seem to do what my father asked him to do. Joe shot me in the shoulder and after I fell to the ground, he stood over my body and whispered for me to stay down. I did as he asked, hoping that he was truly trying to help me. Joe told his partner that I was dead, and they left me there, in the middle of nowhere, bleeding like a son of a bitch. I don't remember every second of my trip back to you—I was pretty out of it. What I do recall was a white pickup truck stopping on the side of the road where I was walking, and asked if I needed a ride. I told him that I'd appreciate it and made sure to keep my shoulder covered with my jacket. I didn't want to scare him off if he saw the gunshot wound."

"Smart," praised. "Did he bring you here?"

"He did, and I never even caught the guy's name," Leo said. "As for the rest of your questions, I don't want to recap his homophobic comments. In a nutshell, he told me that he had a suspicion that I was gay the whole time and that he'd never leave his company to his gay son." Tony was never one of 's favorite people, but after what he did to Leo, he wanted to kill the fucker.

"That's bullshit," growled. "I can't believe he said that to you. I'd like five minutes in the same room with your father."

"Taking him out won't do either of us any good. If I killed my father, his men would never follow my orders. They would vote someone else in as the head of the family and I'll never take over the company," Leo said.

"I thought that you didn't want the company. I mean, you've always said that you didn't want to inherit the family business from your father. Why the change of heart?" asked.

Leo shrugged his bad shoulder and moaned in pain. "I'm not sure," he admitted. "I guess being locked up this week in one of my father's safe houses, I had some time to think. I like the idea of you, Zane, and me taking over the families and making them into something that we can be proud of. I think that we can make a difference in how things are done, but I can't do that if we make my father a martyr." Leo was right. Killing Tony would piss off the Capo family and diminish Leo's chances of taking over the business.

"We will come up with something, babe," promised, "together." Leo agreed and just hoped like hell that this time, he'd keep his promise to him.