Layla whimpered, tears streaming down her pale face. “Because I want to be.”
Matteo smiled wickedly. “See. Told you.”
I couldn’t take it anymore. I couldn’t handle seeing her in so much pain. It was killing me, and I had no other choice but to react.
I pulled out my gun, but not before Matteo dropped the pouch, grabbed Layla at the back of her head, and pushed the muzzle of his gun against her cheek. “Put away your gun, Dante.”
“If you hurt her, I’ll—”
“You’ll what? Huh? You’ll what? Kill me?” He snorted. “Unfortunately, my bullet will be in her skull before you even pulled your fucking trigger.”
Layla cried, her eyes squeezed shut.
“Stefano,” my father called, “stop this. Stop this right now. This has gone far enough.”
“Release my cargo, and it can all end now.”
I snapped my glare in his direction. “This won’t end until you let Layla go.”
Stefano sighed. “All this drama over a girl?”
“A girl you kidnapped. A girl you turned into a fucking addict!”
“Talking about an addict,” Matteo turned the attention back to him, “I promised this beauty a reward. After all, she’s been doing her job really well.”
“What job?” I demanded.
He cocked a brow. “Fucking with your head, of course.”
“The only thing fucking with my head right now is the uncontrollable urge to carve your goddamn spine out.”
Matteotsk’d. “So violent. No wonder she came to me, all alone and pregnant, begging for me to make her disappear off your radar.”
I scowled as more pieces were added to the puzzle. “That’s how you got hold of her, isn’t it? You knew where she was all along.”
He loosened his grip on her hair and wrapped an arm around her waist, pulling her close to him. “All because of her daddy, selling out his own daughter for a buck.”
Layla continued to cry, biting her bottom lip.
Matteo gestured to one of the guards to pick up the pouch he dropped. “Take your reward, darling.” Layla hesitated. “I said take it!”
Both Lucio and Antonio aimed their guns, the bodyguards in front of Stefano doing the same. It was fucking anarchy, guns pointed in every possible direction. But Matteo just pressed his gun harder against Layla’s cheek, making everyone painfully aware that he had the upper hand.
I inched forward. “Let her go, Matteo. If you don’t, I guarantee you no one will walk away from this alive.”
“Shhh,” he cooed as Layla sobbed, shaking as she took the pouch from him. “Let’s show secret daddy here what you really are. What really runs through your veins.”
“Stop this, now!”
Thunder rumbled in the background, lightning cracking through the night sky. The storm was about to erupt above us, as it was about to rage between us and the Mancusos.
“Go on, Layla,” Matteo urged, knowing all too well he was holding all the cards. The fucker was right. I couldn’t do shit without Layla getting hurt or killed, and it was driving me insane. Not being able to tear her away from him was the worst kind of torture.
In horror, I watched as Layla pulled out the needle. When I saw the way she stared at the vial with hunger in her eyes, I realized how much trouble she was really in. How far and deep she had already fallen. The drugs had complete control over her. It steered her every action, manipulated her with the promise of escape.
Her gaze shot up to meet mine. “Dante.”
I shook my head. “Don’t do it, Layla. Fight it. You have to fight it.”Fuck!