Up for Heir - Stella Starling Page 0,86

you?” he asked… which was clearly the wrong question because Linnea’s lip trembled and Tilde’s face fell and Oliver’s eyes widened and Astrid immediately burst into tears.

An icy pain stabbed right through Leo’s heart, stealing his breath. One could argue that he barely knew the four of them, and yet… yet… he couldn’t bear it. Astrid’s tears gutted him. He’d never felt as blindsided or so helpless in his life. And yes, of course he was concerned that his little librarian’s whereabouts were currently unknown, but in the face of the younger Bloms’ overwhelming distress, a singular truth crystallized for Leo. They were Eddie’s heart, and even if Leo’s skills at loving people were still woefully underdeveloped, his capacity for it was clearly larger than he’d realized, because while he’d already accepted that Eddie had become his heart, somewhere along the way, that heart had laid claim to the entire family.

Leo hadn’t just fallen for Eddie, he truly loved all of them.

“Astrid,” he said, across the room before he could think. He pulled her into his arms. He wanted to gather all four of them up and protect them from… well, from everything, but the other three were already clinging together and Leo… Leo was oddly gratified at the way Astrid immediately clung to him, too. He murmured soothing nonsense for a moment, petting her hair as a steely resolve firmed inside him. Whatever was happening right now, whatever this… this reaction was about, he would do whatever it took to make things right for them.

“Please give us the room for a moment,” Hugo murmured behind him.

He was vaguely aware of the stylists filing out as he held Astrid close and tried to make sense of the situation.

No, he couldn’t. He needed more information.

“Okay now,” Leo said gently, tucking Astrid against his side once her tears reduced to sniffles and making eye contact with the other three Bloms. “Tell me what this is about, please. Where is Eddie?”

“If he’s not here, then we don’t know,” Oliver said in a strained voice, hugging his sisters to him as he stared at Leo with wide eyes. He was normally such an irreverent, brash, fun-loving young man, but he was young, and in that moment, he looked it.

“Can you tell us what you do know, Master Oliver?” Hugo asked in a much-too-soft-to-really-be-his voice, folding his hands behind his back and looking reassuringly competent.

Oliver gave a jerky, aborted nod, then cleared his throat. “Um, yeah. He… Eddie, he called us yesterday afternoon from the archives. Hans ditched him there—”

“Of course he did,” Tilde muttered, scowling.

“—and Eddie told us not to worry if he was home late, because he still had a lot of work to do.”

“And he reminded us that it was laundry day,” Linnea murmured, sniffling. “Which we already knew.”

“And he told us to cook the last of the beef for dinner before it went bad,” Astrid said in a small voice, her words muffled against Leo’s chest.

“And he also said that his phone was going to die,” Linnea added. “He didn’t have his charger with him, but… but there are other phones in the archives, if he’d wanted to call. Landlines, right?”

Her lip started trembling again, and Hugo, bless the annoyingly efficient man, immediately moved to guide her, Tilde, and Oliver over to a low settee situated behind them, then excused himself once they were seated, disappearing in the direction of the apartment’s small kitchenette.

“We’re going to sort this out,” Leo promised, infusing his voice with authority as he tamped down his own unease and reminded himself that, despite his own need to treat Eddie like Eddie was a precious treasure to be pampered and spoiled, his little librarian had a fiercely capable core and had proven himself more than competent to handle whatever life threw at him long before Leo was on the scene… which meant that while Eddie may have gotten himself into a bind, Leo trusted that he could take care of himself until Leo got there to do that for him.

Therefore, Eddie would be… would be fine.

He simply had to be. Nothing else was acceptable.

Leo swallowed hard, only realizing he was shaking when Astrid tipped her head up to fix him with a watery gaze.

“Are you okay, Leo?”

“Of course I am, sweetheart,” he said, forcing a smile as he gave her a brotherly squeeze to reassure her. “But I’ll be much more okay once we locate Eddie and bring him back here.” He looked over at Oliver. “So