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“I killed your fucking mother!”
I lay there in shock as he raged on.
“I made it safe for you to come back, made it safe for Amber! I saved you and your ungrateful sister! I loved you my whole goddamn life, Taylor Ellison, and you left me in that fucking hotel room to rot!”
; And then his weight on top of me was gone. It took me seconds to recover, and when Laz came into focus, I saw he wasn’t alone. Laz grunted out in pain as Daniello landed blow after blow to his face, alternating his fists and then holding him up by his throat when Laz went too limp for him to continue his brutal beating.
The baby was screaming as I watched Daniello’s wrath unfold.
I found my voice and managed to croak. “Stop, Daniello.”
Daniello did as I expected and continued to punish Laz with bone crushing blows.
“STOP!” I gripped him by the arm. “Please, you can’t.”
In a sudden move, he gripped Laz in a headlock with a Glock to his temple.
“NO! No! The baby!” It was all I could bring myself to say. Daniello scoured my body, his features filled with a rage I’d never seen.
His voice deadly, he leaned in to whisper in Laz’s ear, “She begs for your life, you piece of shit.”
“Daniello, don’t.” I stared on at Laz, who I believed with everything in inside, loathed me as much as he loved me.
“Oh, he’s going to,” Laz said with ironic humor, his face completely broken as he spat the blood pouring from his lips.
“Wise words from a stupid fucking man,” Daniello bit out, his face twisted with restraint.
“You’ll waste her,” Laz grunted out, agony in his fractured face. Two of his teeth were cracked, and his face freely bled as he looked at me with sorrowful eyes.
“And you will never have her,” Daniello hissed.
“I did though,” he coughed out. “Didn’t I?” Twin tears streamed down his cheeks as he looked at me with a mix of need and regret. “Always, right?” He stared at me in the present and the past. I knew exactly what he was referring to—our picnic with the strawberries. It was one of the best days we spent together. Recognition of our past life razored circles over my chest and threatened to cut deeper. Cedric was right. No matter how much I denied it, I loved Laz in memory.
I gripped my chest as Daniello held his life in his hands.
Laz’s eyes implored mine as he looked at me, lost. “Red,” he whispered, “did you ever love me?”
I stared back at the man who was my nemesis and the boy who was at one point, my hero and my first love. “Yes.” Laz’s eyes closed in what looked like relief a second before Daniello cracked his neck. Laz went completely limp as I slid to the floor in unison.
The next few minutes were a blur as Daniello barked orders at Amber’s closed door. I looked into Laz’s cold, lifeless eyes with strangled breaths and glassy eyes. Relief, devastation, and confusion all came into play as Daniello hoisted me up from the floor and slid my shorts back on before he pulled Laz into the dining room, past Joseph’s ice cream-soaked highchair. I blinked again and again, completely torn and unwilling to snap out of it. Daniello was in front of me, washing my face, twisting my neck to survey the damage.
“Phoenix, Jesus Christ, look at me. Look at me.”
“I’m okay.” The words were metal and lead on my tongue. “He told me you were dead.” I couldn’t control the emotions that surfaced, the confusion, the anger as I let my tears flow.
“It was one of my men.” Careful brown eyes scoured me. “Taylor, you saved him from a worse fate. I could not let him live. Tell me you understand.”
Still in a haze, I muttered my reply. “I understand.” Behind him, movement caught my eyes, and my chest seized when Daniello lifted his gun, his eyes still fixed on me, and aimed directly at Cedric’s head.
“No.” I shook my head at Daniello. “He’s a friend.”
“You better make goddamn sure you don’t miss,” Cedric said as he inched toward us and Daniello turned to fix his focus on Cedric. I saw the fire light between them. I clutched Daniello’s arm. “Please don’t.”
“Nice gun,” Cedric complimented, cold as ice. The look in his eyes was deadly. Daniello was stiff in front of me, and I could see his intent as I tried to wedge myself between the two men.
“You do a horrible fucking job of bodyguard.” Daniello’s voice was full of condemnation as he pushed me away from him and faced Cedric head on. “You tried your best, but you failed.”
