I snickered then continued walking.
“Oh, come on. What does a guy have to do to give you an innocent ride to school?”
I stopped and turned to face him, and he pulled to a stop at the side of the road. I leaned down and looked at him. “Something tells me nothing about you is innocent.”
He shrugged. “You’ll only know that once you get to know me. Once I’m not a stranger to you anymore.” He winked, a cocky smile on his face.
I pursed my lips and glanced down the street before turning back to him. “Thanks again for helping me.” I straightened.
“Is that it? That’s all I get? I risked my life getting you your phone back.”
I laughed. “It sure looked like you risked your life while you slammed Gio against your car.”
I turned the corner and heard the roar of his engine next to me.
“Same time tomorrow?”
I stilled, closed my eyes, and cursed the heavens for sending me such an attractive goddamn temptation.
I turned to face him. “What do you mean, same time tomorrow?”
“I’ll see you the same time tomorrow morning,” he shrugged, “you know, to save you again.”
The charming grin that spread along his beautiful face was enough to melt the resistance of the strongest of women. It sure as hell had me in the bag, and by the way my insides coiled tighter and tighter the longer I stared at him, the more I knew he would either be the best thing to ever happen to me…or the worst mistake I ever made.
I smiled. “Yeah. Same time tomorrow.”
Turned out, he was both.
I fell head over heels for him that day, and if I was really honest with myself, I didn’t think I would have done anything differently even if I had known things would turn out as they did now. Dante was the love of my life, but at the same time, loving him was the worst mistake I ever made.
I sucked in a breath when we arrived at the large, black iron gates of the Valenti estate. Everything still looked exactly the same. Nothing had changed. The only difference was the last time I saw this place the gardens were painted with a rainbow of colors, spring in full bloom. Now the gardens were covered with all the shades of autumn, the men working in the gardens raking the dead leaves together.
We came to a stop, and I stared out the window.
Dante shifted next to me. “You okay?”
“I didn’t think I’d ever see this place again.”
I felt his fingertips softly brushing against my shoulder. “He can’t hurt you here, Layla.”
“You have it so wrong.” I turned to look at him, my heart breaking more and more. “It’s not me I’m worried about him hurting, Dante.”
“Then who? Me? I’m a big boy, Layla. I can take care of myself.”
I shook my head, a single tear slipping down my cheek. “It’s not—”
Dante’s door was flung open, two hands grabbing his collar and yanking him out of the car.
“What the fuck did you do?” Antonio’s voice was a low, angry growl.
“Jesus Christ. Get your fucking hands off me.”
Antonio slammed Dante against the car just as Lucio opened my door. “Don’t mind the brothers.” Lucio closed the car door. “It’s their way of showing love.”
“I warned you not to do something stupid.” Antonio continued to pin Dante’s back against the car. “I told you to fucking wait, but you never fucking listen!”
Kate stepped in next to me, reaching for my hand as we witnessed the two Valenti brothers about to repeat ancient history. Cain and Abel had nothing on these two savages.