Page 108 of Ruthless Redemption

“Jesus goddamn Christ.”

She’s risking her life out there on her own.

I palm the knife in my pocket, digging it into my skin as I storm for the hall. I have to find her before anyone else does. Before I lose my goddamn mind.

I trek for the living room, passing my bedroom, my steps skittering to a halt.

Did I close my door?

I backtrack, my temples pulsing, my palms sweating as I reach for the handle. I’m holding my fucking breath for a miracle as a faint brush of noise carries from inside.

“Layla?” Adrenaline has me by the balls as I open the door, gut clenched, chest tight.

She sits on the far edge of the bed, staring toward the ocean, her back to me, her duffle on the floor near the dresser, Remy’s gun on the bedside table.

“Gesù dannato Cristo.” My pulse takes off, wild and unrhythmic. “La mia stella polare, you scared me half to death. I thought you left me.”

She glances at me over her shoulder, her smile forlorn. “Sorry. I didn’t feel comfortable in my room with the door lock broken. Not while they’re here.”

I decimate the distance between us, falling to my knees in front of her, clasping her hands in her lap. “I’ll speak to them. We’ll find them somewhere else to spend the night.”

“No. It’s okay. I want this for you.”

I want this for you.Despite her fear. Despite her enemies being under the same roof.She wants this for me.

She wants my happiness. My closure.

“Mi dispiace che tu ti sia guadagnato l'ergastolo con me.”

“What does that mean?” she asks.

“It means you’re mine.” I drag her toward me, taking her mouth with my own. Hard. Fast. Frantic. “That you’re stuck with me. That I’m never letting you go.”

Her reciprocation is meek. A gentle palm presses on my sternum.

I lean back, seeing the torment she doesn’t try to hide. “I can’t live through another betrayal, Matthew. If you hurt me for a second time, I’ll…”

“You’ll kill me,” I answer for her. “You’ll realize that none of this was your fault and that I’m a pathetic son of a bitch who deserves to die, and you’ll fucking kill me. Is that understood?”

Her nose scrunches, the scars of my past transgressions still raw as she lowers her attention to my chest.

“But it won’t happen.” I grip her chin, tilting her head upward, reclaiming her attention. “I swear it to you. I make mistakes, Layla. But I never repeat them.” I drag my thumb over her lower lip. “I promise your heart is safe with mine. We’ll make this work.”

“How?”

I move to sit beside her, sliding an arm around her waist to pull her close. “We’ll leave in the morning.” I follow her gaze to the waves sweeping the shore, my lungs filling with the scent of her shampoo.

“I already know that part.”

“We’re no longer going back to D.C.”

She turns her gaze to mine, her eyes questioning.

“We’re going to Virginia Beach.”

“To see Lorenzo?” She pivots toward me, reading me. For long moments she stops and stares, quiet in her appraisal. “You’re going to ask for his permission to kill Emmanuel instead of hiding our plan.”

“Of sorts.”

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