“Yes! Yes! You lied. You kept secrets from me, the woman you claimed to love.”
His eyes met mine. “The woman I still love.”
I faltered, his words piercing my heart like a thousand daggers. Everything about him was breaking down the walls of my resolve. I was such a fool thinking I would be able to pull this off, counting on his anger toward me to make this easier. Unfortunately, failing was not an option for me. I needed to see this through. I needed to stay strong if I intended to survive long enough to save what was most important to me.
I wiped at my cheeks, trying to get rid of the traces of my tears. “You never loved me, Dante. And unfortunately, the man I fell in love with never really existed.”
I brushed past him, knowing the longer I stayed here with him, the better the chance I had of failing.
“He will ruin you, Layla.”
I stopped without turning around.
“You are not meant for this world. That’s why I kept the truth about me and my family from you. You’re just too damn precious to be ruined by this world we live in. Now he’s sucking you into it, and once you’re caught up in it, Layla, there’s no escaping.”
I glanced down at the hollow of my arm, the blue vein bulging under the skin. “That’s where you’re wrong, Dante. The day you made me fall in love with you was the day you made me a part of your world. Matteo can’t ruin what you’ve already destroyed.”
And with that, I stormed toward the door, unlocked it, and left.
I choked back the tears that threatened to escape. I pushed back the pain, fought the regret, and grabbed hold of the one thing that numbed it all. The craving. The need.
The poison.
Chapter 8
Dante
I couldn’t move. I stood there and watched her leave, the door slamming shut behind her.
Her words rang over and over inside my head.Matteo can’t ruin what you already destroyed.
In the past, it had crossed my mind that maybe she found out. That she discovered I was lying to her, keeping the secrets of my family from her. But I had hoped if that was the case, she would have come to me, confronted me, demanded answers and an explanation. Instead, she fucking ran from me. Disappeared.
Finally, after all these years, I had my answer. I knew the reason she left…and it was me. I was the fucking reason she left.
“Fuck!” I screamed like a fucking animal and slammed my fist against the wall, cracking the tiles, the pieces cutting through my skin. But I felt nothing. No pain. Well, not physical, anyway.
“Fuck. Fuck. Fuck.” I pulled my hands through my hair and started to pace. My blood was boiling, my insides twisted in barbed wire. When I locked us in this room and stared into her amber eyes, her lips parted, all the anger I felt over her leaving morphed into a need I was unable to control. All those nights I longed for her, for her touch, and the sight of her succumbing to me came rushing back, and the desire it ignited exploded into one moment of extreme insanity. I didn’t care about the questions I had. About the betrayal I felt over her leaving. And I sure as fuck didn’t care about her showing up here with the enemy. All I cared about was having her, feeling her, and losing myself in her.
I wanted to consume her, just like I wanted to be consumed by her. I wanted to erase the past and completely annihilate the fucking reality.
I wanted her.
She knew all about me. Knew who and what I was. There were no more secrets—from my side, anyway. But I knew she was holding back something from me; she was lying. The way her body reacted to my touch, how easily she submitted to me proved she still felt something…something for me. Then why the fuck was she here with Matteo?
Nothing made sense. But true as fuck, I would figure it out, even if it was the last thing I did. I would find out what the hell was going on.
I stormed out of the room, almost knocking over two women who came walking in.
“Look where you’re going, asshole.”
I snapped my glare in the woman’s direction, and I could see the exact moment she recognized me, panic causing her to pale.
“Sorry, Dante. I didn’t mean—”
I walked away before she had a chance to finish her sentence. It was always the same, people thinking they could talk to you and treat you like shit…until they realized who and what you were. A Valenti. A mobster. A fucking prince.
As I stepped out of the hall and into the bar area, I immediately saw her in her red dress sitting next to Matteo on one of the leather couches.