The Brightest Star

82. Leo

Leo's POV

"Over the docks?" I asked, feeling King tremble as he held my face. I only saw real fear in his eyes once before. The night he found me tired up against the TV stand while Charlie hid on the stairs at my house. But this time. This time, the fear mixed with so much more agony. Tears spilled from his eyes. Pain dimmed the bright green color as his jaw clenched. "I don't understand. Please. Please talk to me. You're scaring me, King."

It felt like I couldn't breathe. I watched King put something together in his head while he watched those men get out of the van on the computer screen. The way his body straightened and tensed. There was a shake in his voice as he yelled before dragging me away.

"No. There isn't time. Get your things. We are leaving right now." King let go of my face and turned around, grabbing one of our bags I had just finished unpacking when he got home and walked over to the dresser.

"You can't just leave," Uncle Ben said, making me jump.

"Watch me. This place isn't worth it anymore. I'm out. Done with this life."

"No, you're not. Don't you think Rex already knows his plan was ruined? He will be watching. He probably already has someone else watching us. You have to stay here where it's safe."

"Safe?" There was a hint of a laugh in King's voice as he slammed the dresser shut, startling me again as I bit into my thumb. "How can you call this place safe after they tried to go after Leo?" He yelled to his uncle as he jabbed a finger in my direction when he said my name.

"And you don't think they will try again once you leave? It would be early to get to you both. And what if they do? Huh?" Uncle Ben stepped into the room, making me step back so I wasn't caught between them. "Who would be more valuable? What do you think they would do to the less valuable person? Think this through, King. Don't let your vision get clouded by fear and anger. Let me protect you both as I have been. I can't do that if you leave right now. I'm sorry I underestimated them, but I swear I won't let that happen again."

King sat on the bed, hands rubbing over his face as he took a few deep breaths, letting Uncle Ben's words sink in. I stood there, confused by all of it. Everything that happened today since we got home. I couldn't take it confusion anymore. "Why were they after me?" I asked, trying to keep my voice from creaking. "What is going on? I've never asked what you do when you tell him to run somewhere for you or poked around to find out where King goes or why. But I think I need to know this if they are after me. You owe me that much, at least."

Uncle Ben looked at me with a deep breath. His eyes cut to King, still processing on the bed, before turning to me. "We believe a man who is trying to take control over the docks was planning on kidnapping you to use as a trade-off. You for the docks. If he gets them, he will control all shipments from overseas and have power over us and everyone around us, like Olivia. It's something we can't lose, but fuck all of you if you think I wouldn't have traded it over if that fuckers plan had succeeded today."

Uncle Ben stormed out of the room, leaving me there with my mouth hanging open. "Who... Who is that man he is talking about?"

I couldn't wrap my brain around it. Everything was happening too fast. My mind felt like a white sheet draped over it, trapping cold air inside.

"Someone you don't want to know," King mumbled, looking defended. His fingers laced against his forehead, and his head bowed toward the floor.

The anger lashed through me. "If this guy is after me, I have a right to know," I said, grinding my teeth. "I'm not going to be left in the dark. It's not fair to ME." I stepped forward, yelling the word Me.

King shook his head as he stood, sounding disgusted as he tsked. "You want to know who this guy is so badly? Fine. He just set fire to one of Olivia's buildings, burning six of her people alive, most likely. He's also killed over ten people before that, and he was the reason why I got beaten and nearly drowned at the docks a few months ago. Not someone who would have treated you nicely if he succeeded in taking you today. We nearly caught him once, but I let him go, and now he is after you." King threw his hands in the air in a shrug.

I remembered King telling me about nearly dying in the water and how he had lied to me at the time when I made Kiki take me to him.

"You think he'll come to save you? Fat chance when I just gave him and his family the golden egg they'd been looking for." Charlie's voice echoed in my ear. "He left you all alone for me to take while he gets his revenge."

I gasped, covering my mouth as I looked at King, my eyes bulging. "This is the same man you let go to run back to my house that night, isn't it? He's the one who tried to take me?" Everything was circling into my head so fast I couldn't think. How was I supposed to deal with the fact that he saved me instead of catching this guy, and now he was out there killing others? I felt sick as I sank on the bed, my knees threatening to give out.

"And I would save you over and over again. I care about only you, and I'll do whatever it takes to keep you safe, even if that means staying in this house. I won't leave your side until they take care of this guy. " He kneeled in front of me, hands rubbing up and down my thighs. "I swear it."

I could see in his eyes how much he meant those words. I leaned down, letting go of everything in the past because this wasn't the main issue, and capturing his lips with mine before finally lying in bed together.

I could tell King's mind was as restless as mine with his low sighs every few minutes. His thumb irregularly rubbed over my shoulder for want, which felt like hours.

"I think..." King started but tightened his grip. "No, not think. Once this is over, or we are leaving here," he said calmly, making me lift my head off his shoulder.

"What do you mean leave?" I couldn't wrap my head around the thought. "We can't just leave everyone here."

"Yeah, we can." He sat up, and the dim light from the TV caught his eyes as he stared into mine. "We'll go back to Casper City. Go somewhere else. A place you won't be in danger because of the things I do for my uncle. I'll... I'll find a job doing whatever it takes to take care of you. I don't care where, but I already decided that I was out. We wouldn't have to look over our shoulders, and you deserve better than everything that's happened here in this town."

My heart jumped with his words. The way his eyes looked at me made me feel like I was the only one on earth. Every crack in his voice made me want that, too, but we couldn't go. We couldn't just leave.

"Your dad is getting out in a few months. Your family is here. You can't leave everyone behind. We can't do that, and I won't let you lose more time with your dad either," I told him, caressing his cheek and feeling a wet streak from a tear I didn't see fall. "And I grew up here. I don't want to leave my memories with my mom behind either."

King listened to my words, letting them sink in before he pulled me closer. "You're all I care about in this world. I'll choose you and everything you want every time."

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