Layla

I hadn’t slept that night. How could I?

I felt both emotionally wired and utterly drained at the same time. A very dangerous combination to be had.

As I lay in bed, my eyes kept drifting to the time on the clock that sat on the nightstand. My mind was reeling from how impossibly slow time was moving.

I wanted my Eli back. I was tired of waiting. A large part of me highly considered skipping out on the plan and going over to that old warehouse tonight—screw the plan.

All that really matters is getting Eli back.

Why was I purposely waiting around when I had every opportunity to go and fight for my son back?

It didn’t take me long to realize how easily Vanessa handed over the location. If I had to guess, me skipping ahead of the scheduled meet-up time was something that she was highly anticipating.

Well, I wasn’t going to feed into her expectations no matter how badly I missed my son. I tried my hardest to not think about the undoubtable fear that my son must have been experiencing. We’ve never been apart for this long. Ever.

It destroyed me to even consider the idea that he thought we’d completely abandoned him. My chest tightened and my heart ached from its usual pain.

God, when was this dull, relentlessly feeling going to stop? I didn’t know.

Aside from ongoing worries toward my son’s well-being, I was now beginning to question where I stood with Aldo. Things had shifted between us. And it wasn’t for the better.

The power within the family had shifted and in truth the two of us hadn’t really sat down and talked about it. Although, given all that’s been going on lately when the hell did we exactly have time for that?

Plus, I was fairly certain that Aldo had been spending a good portion of his time lately with a certain police officer.

Yes, it bothered me. It infuriated me to no end, knowing that he would much rather work with someone who could very well decide to turn on him and get him thrown in prison than work with me on this.

Instead of support, I was met with judgment and questions.

Why couldn’t he understand that everything I was planning to do was all in pursuit of ensuring a safer future for our family?

Instead, I was being looked upon as some evil criminal. For what it was worth, I didn’t feel like my regular self. I felt worse—sick. With the recurring pain in my chest and head, it was easier to give myself over to the darkness. At least then, I wouldn’t feel much.

I was numbed and void of all troubling emotions that threatened to get in the way.

By the time the sun was well above the horizon, I got out of bed and began to get ready. It was almost time. Aldo hadn’t returned back to the house as far as I was aware. At that point, I couldn’t bring myself to care.

A light knock on the door called for my attention. Carlo stepped through.

“How are you feeling?” he asked.

“Should I be feeling a particular way?” I countered back. “There’s no other way around this situation. It has to be like this.”

For a brief second, I thought I had caught another look in Carlo’s eyes. Dare I say, a look of hesitation?

“What is it?” I questioned. “You can tell me, Carlo. I can assure you, for what it’s worth, my emotions haven’t become void as of yet.”

His mouth fell into a straight line while he shook his head. “It’s nothing. I'm just wondering if you’re ready to face this whole thing. It’s not going to be easy.”

“Probably not,” I confessed. “The thing is, I don’t have a choice when it comes to protecting my son. If I have to wipe out half of the damn city to ensure that he will be safe, so be it.”

He gave me a sympathetic look and nodded. “It’s almost time. We’ll leave here around eight-thirty.”

“Any sign of Aldo?”

“No,” he answered. “He returned late last night and left a few hours ago.”

My brows furrowed in confusion. I turned my head to face Carlo. “What the hell do you mean he left?”

Where the fuck did he go?! Was he seriously not riding along with me to face Vanessa together?

I fought hard to ignore the ache around my heart. I shouldn’t have expected anything different. It wasn’t as though he was ever supportive from the beginning of this damn mess.

“Let’s go.”

With or without Aldo, I was prepared to face Vanessa.

As the car pulled up to the unsightly warehouse, I calmly stepped out and waited for Carlo to take my side. Naturally, we were faced with two of Vanessa’s guards. In truth, the only real intimidating aspect about them was the weapons they carried.

We stepped into the place and my eyes instantly began searching around for Eli.

“You’re going to find him out here,” a familiar feminine voice called out.

We turned our heads toward the far corner of the room where Vanessa stood, looking a tad bit disheveled. More frenzied.

Her eyes were frantic and twitching. “I’ll admit, I’m a bit surprised,” she slithered. “I would have thought that Aldo would be in attendance, given the situation.”

A small, heartless smile touched my lips. “He wasn’t a fan when it came to my counteroffer. Like I said earlier, I think you’ll find that this trade is far more valuable than having him sent to prison.”

“And what would that offer be?”

I turned to Carlo who then handed over a large tablet. With just a few clicks and swipes, I was able to pull up every single camera monitor I had placed on the groups. Each man was in position to take out the entire Rossetti family.

I kept my eyes leveled with Vanessa as I turned the screen around to show her.

“How about the lives of your own family?”

Her eyes widened in disbelief which swiftly turned to seething anger. “How the fuck—”

“Now it’s your turn to make a choice, Vanessa. Which do you care about more? Your petty little revenge scheme or the literal lives of your own parents and relatives?”

She lifted her eyes up from the screen and sucked in several deep breaths through her teeth. Her temper was slipping. I watched her hands fumble to pull out a small blade from her back pocket.

“Ah, ah. Keep in mind, all I need to do is send out the signal with one word and they’re all gone,” I tsked. I leaned over to Carlo. “Tell the others to begin searching for Eli.”

Carlo gave out the order. Vanessa’s sneer remained firmly locked in place as she took a few steps back.

“Make the right choice, Vanessa. What’s the point of being queen when you’ll have no one to follow you?” I asked, tauntingly.

She shook her head. “The only person who’s not going to make it out of this situation alive is you.”

“Oh, really? You plan on taking me out with that knife in your hand?”

Suddenly the knowing sound of a gun being cocked back echoed through the room. Out of the far corner of my eye, stood Michael Rossetti with a handgun aimed directly at me.