“No!” I gripped my hair in frustration, in denial. “Ayla wasn’t lying!”
It was a lie. Ayla wouldn’t betray me. I didn’t believe it. I couldn’t believe it.
I was sixteen when I was raped.
He raped me on my sixteen birthday, and he continued to do so every single night for seven years.
My father never did anything. He never even paid attention to me. I was a loner, never allowed to leave the house. And then he handed me over to him. A cruel man who destroyed me.
He used to beat me. He would chain me to our bed and then whipped me if I did something wrong or what he perceived wrong.
Every word, every moment rushed back to me until I was blinded with grief. My lungs constricted as I fought for breath, my heart aching in the most painful way.
When Ayla was telling her past, I heard the truth in her words. Her pain-filled eyes, her nightmares, they weren’t lies. They were real. Her suffering was real.
But why would she leave? With him…the same monster who destroyed her?
It didn’t make sense. None of it made sense.
I refused to believe it.
Because I believed her. I believed in us.
“She didn’t leave,” I said, staring at the gates. “She wouldn’t go back to Alberto.”
“I agree,” Viktor said beside me. “There’s no way she would leave of her own will. I saw how scared Ayla was of him.”
There was only one conclusion.
Alberto took her. Snatched her away right under my nose.
My eyes widened, and a sudden pain went through my chest and I almost doubled over.
My stomach lurched, and my hands shook beside me. I shuddered as I thought of the things Alberto had done to her. And now she was with him again. At his mercy. She had been thrust back into the darkness she’d been running from.
And it was all my fault.
I had one simple job to do. Protect her. But I failed. I failed my Angel.
“Are you sure you saw her leave with Alberto?” I heard Phoenix ask behind me.
“I saw her getting in his car,” Artur replied.
“So it’s possible Alberto had threatened her,” Viktor added.
It didn’t matter.
None of it mattered. How or why it happened.
The only thing that mattered was getting Ayla back safely. And making sure Alberto was no longer a threat.
In that moment, my vengeance was forgotten. The reason why I needed to finish the Abandonatos was forgotten.
It was replaced with another purpose.
Getting rid of every single person who had hurt my Angel. Slowly and painfully. Until they wished they had never laid eyes on her.
Chapter 29
I swiveled around and stalked back inside. My men followed close behind me.
“Boss, I’m so sorry. I didn’t know. I thought—” Artur started but then quickly broke off.
I faced him, and he went to his knees, bowing his head, his gun placed in front of him. A posture of submission.
“I have failed you and Ayla. You have every right to take my life.”
Bending down, I took his gun in my hand. “You are right. I can take your life right now. Only because you called my woman a bitch. You made a mistake, but that will be your last mistake.”
I stood up to my full height, but instead of pointing my gun to his head, I gave him an order. “Stand up.”
He stood up, facing me with his head still bowed down. “You have one more chance. Protect Ayla with your life and you will be forgiven.”
I couldn’t condemn him for thinking what any of us would have thought. It was easier to think that Ayla had betrayed us.
But I knew…my Angel would never do such thing.
“Viktor, track her phone,” I ordered. He nodded and took his phone out.
I rubbed a hand tiredly over my face as I looked around the room. “Phoenix, call in the other men. We are leaving as soon as we have Ayla’s location.”
I was still talking when I caught a glimpse of the cake Ayla baked for me the night before. Walking over to the dining table, my chest tightened with an unyielding pressure. All I could see was her sweet smiles. I heard her laughter, her melodious voice. And I felt her soft kisses.
When I reached the table, I froze, my eyes going to the item next to the cake.
I heard Viktor swear behind me before he spoke. “Alessio, her phone—”
I tried to suck in a breath, but I couldn’t breathe. I clenched my fists together as my heart fell. Screaming out in rage, I took Ayla’s phone and threw it at the wall.
Without thinking, I threw the cake too. It splattered against the wall. I couldn’t stop. My anger was fueled further with the thought of my Angel being with Alberto and having no way to find her.
The thought of him hurting Ayla drove me insane.