Page 48 of Once A Crime Lord

“Dammit, Blade. He doesn’t know!”

“Fuck, Lyla. You’re putting yourself at risk for him. I can’t let you do that.”

“I’ll check him into a hotel and leave, I promise.”

“I’m turning around.”

“No! Help Gavin!”

“You’re my first responsibility. Gavin would have my head if anything happened to you.”

“I’ll do this and go home.”

Blade hung up. She cursed and turned into a motel. She put the gun in her purse and looked at Jonathan. “Let’s go.”

He slid out of the back seat and walked beside her. “What’s going on?”

“They’re coming for me. You need to check in and lay low.”

“But—”

“I need a single room,” she told the bored front desk clerk.

“How many nights?” the girl asked without looking up from her cell phone.

“One,” she said and glared Jonathan into silence.

He had to leave tomorrow. If Gavin didn’t come for him, Santana’s gang might. She had to impress upon him how fucking serious this was.

She checked him in under a false name and paid with cash. She grabbed the key and rode the elevator to the second floor.

“Lyla, I don’t understand what—”

“You don’t need to understand.” She located his room, unlocked the door, and pushed him inside. She jabbed a finger in his face. “I’m not the girl you knew. You can never see me again, got it?”

She turned away and wasn’t prepared when he gripped her arm and dragged her into the room. He slammed the door, which bounced open from the force he used. Her mouth dropped. Jonathan manhandling her was just as shocking as a gun battle in a hospital.

He braced his hands on her shoulders. “I spent the past two years wondering what happened to you. Now that I’ve found you again, you think I can walk away, knowing you’re in danger?”

She opened her mouth, but no sound emerged.

“It’s me,” he whispered.

She swallowed hard. “I know.”

The familiar scent of his cologne surrounded her. She gripped handfuls of his shirt as reaction set in. Another battle, another time pulling the trigger. Fuck. Her eyes filled with tears.

He clasped her face between trembling hands. “Talk to me, Lyla.”

“I have to go. You have to forget what you saw today. My husband will kill you if he finds out about this. Use your computer skills to disappear.”

“Did you leave me because of him?”

“Jonathan, don’t.”

“Did he do something to make you leave? I reported you missing. I was obsessed with the thought that you’d been kidnapped, but the cops couldn’t find anything. I’ve been going crazy, and then I see you in the casino, and... You think I can just move on with my life without knowing what happened? You knew I loved you. I would do anything for you.”

As she stared into his tortured eyes, her heart twisted with regret. “I’m so sorry, Jonathan. I never meant to hurt you. I’m not that woman anymore. You should forget we ever knew each other. It’s over.”

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