I didn’t want her to see, but she did.
Now, everything was different.
There was no going back.
I couldn’t even if wanted to.
She was irrevocably, eternally, forever…mine.
Moving to her side, I held her close to me as her head lay on my chest. Her soft fingers drew lazy circles on my stomach. I could hear the steading of her heart as she sighed, her hands moving to hug my waist.
“When they took me. I thought I knew what would happen. I was so naive and so stupid. I should have known it wouldn’t work. Kitty and I talked about everything. I just never considered it. I never thought that we wouldn’t make it out without a scratch. How could I not think something would go wrong?”
“Sometimes, thinking and seeing are two different things,mia Amore. You can plan everything down to the littlest detail, and inevitably something will still go wrong. Nothing is full proof, except death.”
“She was my first real friend. She was so alive, Gio. Everything about her was bright, loud, and real. I never met anyone like her. She could walk into a room, and everyone would stop just to see what she would do or say.”
“She sounded amazing,” I replied, holding her tighter to me.
When she started speaking, I knew it wasn’t because she wanted to. It was because she needed to. She needed to get it all out. To talk about everything that happened. The pain, the loss she endured, and doing so in the dark of the night, gave her the anonymity and courage to do so.
Layla was a complicated woman, that was for sure, and talking about someone who meant the world to her, was something I would bet she rarely did. Like me, she would have held onto any nugget of information, taking it with her to the grave, as to not disrespect the memory of her loved one. But sharing was an intimate move, something so out of character. I knew she was giving me something she would never give anyone.
“I don’t think you would have liked her, though,” she said, and I stopped. Looking down at the top of her head, I grinned, “And why’s thatmiaAmore?”
Layla softly chuckled, “Kitty was crass. Her mouth was…colorful.”
Grinning, I nodded then teased. “I see. She talked like you then.”
And like I hoped, she turned and looked up at me, gasping, “I don’t curse all the time.”
“Oh,Amore, you really missed your calling as a longshoreman. You have a very distinct way of expressing yourself.”
“Are you saying I have a foul mouth?”
“Yes, and I wouldn’t change a thing.” I smiled, kissing her forehead.
She huffed right before she laid her head back down on my chest. “Whatever. I can’t change who I am any more than you can. So, I don’t have a fancy degree like you. That does not make me stupid. In fact, some scholars say that the use of foul language is a sign of intelligence.”
Silence drifted around us for some time before she spoke again. I knew whatever she needed to say was hard for her to do. Like me, Layla kept everything close to the vest. Neither of us just openly talked about our feelings. It just wasn’t in our nature. Never would be.
“He bought me. My real father, Angelo Capribella.”
She knew the truth!
Shocked, I stayed quiet as worry seeped into my mind. If she knew about Capribella, then what exactly was her endgame? Why did she insist on finding me? Why have me kill her father? Nothing made sense when it came to Layla. She was like a jigsaw puzzle, and I was only just beginning to put the pieces together.
“He looked right through me as if I was nothing. When Reynolds sold me to him, I thought he would just tuck me away, but he didn’t,” she said, her voice getting so quiet, I was having a hard time hearing her. But there was something in the way she said‘he didn’t’that alarmed me. I knew Capribella was part of the Human Trafficking ring. He was wanted not only by the US Government authorities, but men like those in the Golden Skulls also wanted him.
“My dad, James Doherty, was a good man. I should have never said what I did that day. I was so mean and cruel to him. That was the last time I saw him.”
Confused, I wanted to ask her to clarify, but I didn’t as she continued.
“I knew James wasn’t my biological father. I learned the truth when I had my appendix taken out. When I confronted him, he denied it, of course, and I called him a liar. I just wanted the truth, that’s all, I promise. But when I stared the truth in the face, I couldn’t stop myself from screaming for my daddy. I wanted him so badly to rescue me and make everything better. But he couldn’t. My brother killed him, and I was left alone to fight the truth myself. Only I wasn’t strong enough.”
My body tensed.
I tried to comprehend what she was telling me.