I could feel the blood in my veins start to simmer, the need to kill and destroy scratching against marrow and bone. Suddenly, I was very much aware of the gun tucked away at my side, the weight of the weapon begging me to clutch it in my palm, then aim and pull the fucking trigger.
Matteo looked up, meeting my glare, a smug grin spreading across his motherfucking ugly face. That grin was like a giant “fuck you” directed right at me, and when he leaned down, placing his lips against her cheek while his eyes were still focused on me, I fucking lost it.
“Dante, no!”
Antonio tried to stop me. But how did you stop an enraged animal with a lust for blood? I rushed down the stairs, adrenaline scraping against my veins as images of Matteo’s headless body filled my mind.
As I stepped onto the dancefloor, I looked at Layla. Her amber eyes were wide with panic, her lips slightly parted.
She knew it. She knew it as well as I did.
I was coming for her…because she was mine.
Chapter 5
Layla
This was it. This was the moment I had been waiting for. The moment when I would look into the depths of his deep sienna-colored eyes and know my entire life changed because of him.
I’d often wondered if leaving was the right thing to do. But deep down I knew I had no other choice. I thought I was strong enough, that I had what it took to survive a life without him. And for a while I had everything under control, thinking I had successfully managed to escape him in order to protect what was most important to me.
But I was wrong.
I was so fucking wrong.
I should have known there was no way to escape a man like Dante Valenti. Not in this world.
The day I fell for Dante, that was the day his dark world dug its claws into my soul, and no matter how far I had run, how hard I tried to get away from it all…it found me. It found me, and now everything was at stake.
And the way Dante stared at me, the flames of anger raging behind his dark irises, I knew there was no way I’d be able to survive the war ahead. And that was okay. I was already ruined. There was nothing left of me to salvage. My heart, my soul, my very existence had faded away…one needle at a time.
But even though I had no chance of survival, I would do what needed to be done…until my dying breath.
Chapter 6
Dante
A few feet. That was how far I stood from her—the woman who held my heart in the palms of her fucking hands. And even after all the pain she had caused me, I still thought she was the most beautiful creature God had ever given a pulse.
Seeing her again was something I would never be able to describe. The sight of her did things to my insides, spreading a wave of heat all through my chest, right to the hole where my heart used to be.
I couldn’t tear my gaze away from hers. Those amber eyes which reminded me of each and every sunrise we watched together sucked me right in. I was completely caught up in the moment…until Matteo pulled Layla closer against him.
Every molecule, every cell inside my body exploded into an inferno of rage. I reacted. Like an animal protecting its territory, I wanted to attack and destroy. Claw and tear apart.
I stepped forward, my malicious intent obvious in my stance, my anger directed at the motherfucker in front of me. There was no stopping my instinct to eliminate the threat.
I pulled my arm back, my fist desperate to be coated in Matteo’s blood. But Antonio grabbed my elbow, pulling me back. “Dante, don’t!”
All I saw was red. All I wanted to do was kill. I wanted to tear Matteo Mancuso to fucking shreds.
Antonio pulled me closer. “You need to stop, brother. This is not the time or the place.”
I clenched my jaw, my murderous glare aimed at Matteo. “Let me go, Antonio.”
“You should listen to your brother, Dante,” Matteo said with a giant grin on his ugly motherfucking face. It was like a goddamn invitation for me to plant my fist against his jaw.
My nostrils flared, and my lungs expanded along with my rapid breaths.