Antonio rubbed his temple. “Yes, just like we discussed.”
It was written all over his worried face. He hated lying to his little brother. “I know I’m asking a lot of you, Antonio. If there was any other way, I never would have asked you to do this. But there is just no other way.”
If I had a nickel for every time I had tried to think of a plan to get us out of this mess with all of us alive and well, I’d be fucking rich by now. There was simply no way. No matter how hard I tried, there was no solving this puzzle without someone dying. But this was the only way for me to ensure I was that someone, rather than someone I loved. I’d already started my eternity in hell the second Matteo placed that very first needle in my arm. After that, I never saw the light again.
“I know I said he’ll understand,” Antonio started, “but there’s no way in hell he’ll ever forgive me for this—even after he finds out the truth.”
Sorrow filled me to the bone while my chest cracked wide open. “I’m sorry. I know now that leaving was the worst mistake I ever made. I wish I could go back and change the past, but I can’t.” I choked back more tears.
“I just don’t get it,” Antonio said. “Dante was ready to give everything up for you, his family. So why still leave when you knew he was giving up the life he had held a secret from you?”
I closed my eyes. I could still remember how confused I was, how unsure I felt about anything back then.
“You can’t leave, Layla.”
Kate stood by my bedroom while I sat on my bed, tears running freely down my cheeks.
“You need to stay here so we can deal with this together.”
My heart thudded painfully inside my chest. “He can’t know.”
“Why not? He has a right to know.”
I shook my head, my mind a maze of thoughts. Thoughts which only led to one conclusion—I had no choice but to run. The day I fell for Dante Valenti, I didn’t realize what I was signing up for. He kept a huge part of his life a secret from me, and now I was stuck in the middle of this huge mess, and the only way out was to run.
“I can’t stay, Kate. I can’t.”
She crouched in front of me, her hands on my knees while staring at me with pleading eyes. “Talk to him. Find out if what Dad said is true.”
I wiped away a tear. “Dad has no reason to lie. He’s stuck in prison, and whether or not I stay makes no difference to him.”
“He’s a liar, Layla. Dad never does anything unless he gets something out of it.”
I picked up the photos and shoved them in front of her. “How is he getting something out of this? Someone sent him these pictures of Dante and me, proving that we—that I am being watched. I can’t see that Dad would have any reason to send me these other than to warn me.”
Kate straightened, pulling her hands through her wavy blonde hair. “I don’t trust him, Layla. Everything he’s ever done was motivated by greed, and nothing else. He never gave a shit about us. Why now?”
I tossed the pictures on the floor and stared at the evidence of how my privacy had been invaded—of how my life had been invaded because the man I fell in love with wasn’t who he pretended to be. Dante was a mobster. His father a criminal mafia boss. Pity I hadn’t been in town long enough to know who the Valentis really were.
Kate started pacing, her shoulders slumped, and her cheeks pale with worry.
As if I didn’t feel bad enough about her being saddled with me ever since Mom died. Kate lived her life around me, planned her life around me. And now I just managed to dump a whole new can of shit on her all because I lived my life as if fairy tales actually existed.
No more.
I couldn’t do this to her anymore.
I got up, stepped on the pictures of Dante and me walking around town hand in hand and snuggling up, just being nauseatingly happy, then grabbed my suitcase.
“Layla, stop.” Kate grabbed the case, but I jerked it back.
“No! I’m leaving. I won’t be the cause of putting your life on hold any longer.”
She shook her head. “That’s not true.”
“I can’t do it anymore, Kate. You gave up everything for me, and look how I repaid you. By falling for a man who kills people for a living. By having sex with a man whose family leeches off other people.” I placed my hand on my belly. “And now that I’m in too deep, I won’t drag you down with me.”
Kate stared at me in silence. She couldn’t hide her emotions from me. It was there, in her eyes, causing her so much pain, so much worry.