Chapter 68

Aldo

The silence of my office was suffocating, broken only by the soft hum of the desk lamp and the rhythmic pacing of my polished shoes on the floor. Layla perched in the chair beside my desk, her arms wrapped around herself.

Like she was holding herself together. Or perhaps shielding herself against the brute force of all that had happened. All that had still to happen.

I hated seeing her like that.

It broke something inside me.

I could only be grateful that Eli was upstairs, sound asleep and blissfully unaware of the trauma his mother and I faced alone in this room.

I hadn’t asked Layla if she’d given him something to help him sleep. I couldn’t bear to ask—to know. What kind of life was I giving my son?

“They’re getting stronger,” I muttered as I turned the corner of yet another lap. “How are they getting so much stronger?”

“Aldo …” Layla said, without any true conviction to stop me.

“Is it Aurora? Marco?” I waved a hand. “How are they doing this?”

And how do we stop them, I didn’t ask. I didn’t know. I couldn’t make sense of any of it. There were far too many things I didn’t know, didn’t understand, and I didn’t know what to do about any of it.

My hands clenched and unclenched at my sides as I paced.

But one thing, one very simple thing, was clear to me. This couldn’t go on. Layla and Eli constantly in danger, barely escaping? No. Unacceptable.

I couldn’t do it any more.

I stopped beside my desk. Forced myself to sit. And I leveled Layla with a look that I hoped conveyed the gravity of the words I was about to speak.

“This isn’t working,” I said, and the words cut through the tension like a blade.

Layla straightened in her chair, her brow furrowing. “What are you saying, Aldo? What’s not working?”

I dragged a hand through my hair. I wanted like anything to look away, to not have to face down that questioning blue gaze. But I couldn’t. I owed it to her to meet her head-on.

“I can’t protect you and Eli.” I sighed, tugged my hand through my knotted locks again. “Not like I need to. This city’s gotten too dangerous.”

“What are you saying?” her word was a bark of cold anger. “Tell it to me straight, Aldo.”

“They’re getting bolder, Layla.” I kept my voice low, firm. “Stronger. I can’t let this happen again. I can’t—”

I can’t lose you. But I didn’t speak those words aloud.

“Maybe they’re getting stronger.” Layla sat up straighter, and her blue eyes burned with sudden fire. “But so am I. Every time they don’t kill me, they make me stronger. Smarter. Better at playing their game.”

My chest clenched tight. Painfully so. She was so beautiful and fierce, my Layla. I had no doubts she’d make an amazing Mafia queen.

But …

“Is that really what you want, Laya?” My words were a murmur, barely a whisper. Maybe a plea. “To be good at this game?”

She opened her mouth to respond, but I saw the way the question hit her. The way the words hung between us, sharp and meaningful.

No, she’d never wanted this life. How many times had she told me as much? She hadn’t wanted it, and she surely had never wanted it for Eli.

The air between us turned thick, suffocating.

Finally, I turned away. I couldn’t bear to see her face when I broke the next words to her. “Your police officer friend—Ethan. He can help. He has connections. Resources. Ones even I don’t have.”

“Witness protection,” Layla said, her voice low, cold. “You want me to take him up on his offer to join the Witness Protection Program.”

“You would be safe—”

“This is my home,” she spat, and suddenly she was on her feet. Looming over my desk. “My life. And you want to just rip that all away?”

“It’s the safest option.” My voice sounded so cold, so emotionless and lifeless. The Don’s voice, not mine. “You have to think of what’s best for Eli—”

“What’s best for Eli!” Layla barked out a cold laugh. “Suddenly, you’re father of the year—”

“His life is at stake, Layla.”

“Tell me, Aldo. How does one end up in Witness Protection?” Her voice had gone suddenly cold. “They turn someone in! Play rat! Are you suggesting I should, what, turn you in?”

I flinched back from the venom in her words. The fire in her eyes.

“I’m not doing it, Aldo.”

“And I’m not losing you.” I stood, too, forcing her to look up at me. “They won’t stop. Not until they’ve destroyed everything I care about. And I can’t let that happen to you or Eli.”

“No, God forbid you feel something.” Her mouth curved in a sneer. “Instead, you want to ship us off somewhere to be someone else’s problem!”

“Is that truly what you think?” My voice cracked with emotion, with frustration. With anger. “Either way, I lose you, Layla. I’d rather do it and know you’re alive—”

“Then fight for us, Aldo!” Layla’s voice lifted to a shout. “Don’t send us away. Fight for us.”

The words echoed through the wide room. The passion behind them. The anger and fear and emotion. Such fervor, such vehemence—how could I argue.

“I don’t want to lose you again.” Layla’s voice lowered to a more conversational volume, but none of the emotion drained away. “Oh, it would be such a noble sacrifice on your part to send me away—but what about what I’d sacrifice?”

“Layla—”

“No, Aldo.” Her chest rose and fell in labored breaths. “You act like you’re doing this for me, but in the end, you never truly think of anyone but yourself.”

The words hit me like a slap to the face. Like a punch to the gut. I couldn’t form thoughts, let alone words or any kind of response.

“The first time you left me, back in Alaska?” Layla continued, those blue eyes still blazing. “I died that day. The thought of never seeing you again. The idea of starting over. Of learning to love again? I never did figure out how.”

Her eyes shone with tears, but she didn't let them fall. Of course she didn’t. Layla was the strongest woman I knew, the strongest person I’d perhaps ever met.

“And now, you want that for me again?” Her voice dropped to a low murmur. “Except this time, now that I know the truth about your life, I get to wonder, every single fucking day, whether you’re alive or dead.”

Another gut-punch to leave me breathless and reeling. So many things I’d never thought about, never considered. She was right, I was selfish.

“You’re always looking for a way to fix things, Aldo,” she said, her voice trembling. “But you never stop to think about what it costs. Sending us away won’t stop Marco and Aurora. It’ll just break us.”

She was right. If I sent her away again, there’d be no coming back. Not this time. She’d close her heart off to me and be lost forever. Eli, my Layla … they’d be gone. My family ruined.

But they’d be alive.

And for that, I would pay any price on Earth. “I can’t lose you, Layla. Next time, they’ll be faster, stronger, more cunning. Next time, I won’t be able to reach you.

“Next time,” I said, my own chest heaving with pained breaths. “When I get the call, it’ll already be too late.”