It wasn’t until Angelo had pointed a gun at her for the second time that she realized nothing had changed. She still wasn’t brave enough to die. But she wasn’t sure if she was brave enough to survive, either. Not with Leo’s compassion becoming harder to earn. It was as if being around Angelo and the rest of his family for an extended period had begun to unlock his criminal side.

“Go get cleaned up. I’m sure the women are already making breakfast,” he said, ignoring her question.

* * *

Leo grabbed his clothes and went down the hall to shower, careful to lock the bedroom door behind him. Angelo waited in the hallway with his arms crossed over his chest.

“You’re too soft. I wish you’d let me shoot her,” he whispered.

“If she had wanted to die, I would have. If she’s going to live in this house unmolested, she needs to show me the smallest respect by not tossing half-hearted suicidal words around. I don’t think she understood how ungrateful it was. Now she understands.”

Angelo followed down the hall. “So, now that you’ve got part of your balls back, are you going to take what’s yours?”

“I haven’t decided yet.”

“I’ve caught the way she looks at you,” Angelo said. “She might not know it yet, but she wants you. This could work.”

“She’s vanilla.”

“So?”

“So, she might want me, but she wants me in a Disney princess sort of way with soft candlelight and missionary position and love and candy. She doesn’t want me in a ‘chained down in the dungeon while I lay pretty welts down across her ass’ way. If she were kinky, I’d take her and turn her body against her no matter what she said she wanted. I’m not sure I’m up to that challenge with someone who isn’t wired like me.”

When Leo reached the bathroom, Angelo put a hand on his arm. “I’m sorry. Okay? You’re right, I should have killed her that night. You’ve done so much for me, supporting me and Davide when nobody else would. I wanted to give something back. When it went south, I didn’t want to admit I’d hurt instead of helped you. I’ll stay out of it. You don’t need more shit from me.”

“Thanks, that means a lot, Ange.”

They hugged and beat each other on the backs, then kissed on the cheek.

“And we make up on Christmas morning,” Angelo said, chuckling.

“It’s a Rockwell moment.”

Leo ran the shower hotter than normal, fighting with himself over what he was going to do with the woman in his bedroom. Why couldn’t she be a freak like him? Physically, she was just his type. She was smart. She wasn’t a psychotic like Caprice.

He considered utilizing the submissive tendencies she did have. The ones that made her want to placate and appease and get along. It wouldn’t make her any more receptive to anything in the dungeon, but maybe he could compromise. A quieter, gentler dominance. One that wouldn’t look kinky to the untrained eye but that might still be enough if he held full control and she gave him her obedience.