Page 93 of Broken Rules
And his heart stops beating for me.
“Yes,” Frank says, smiling as if this is the best day of his life. “I’m taking away what you hold, dearest, Dante. I’m taking away what you love most. Now you know what it feels like to be betrayed by the person you trust with your life.” He looks at me again, and his smile grows wider. “Do the honors. It’s your prize for the time you spent with him.”
It never crossed my mind that Frank might wantme tokill Dante. He calls it a prize, but he means punishment for my insubordination, for loving his enemy. The last test of loyalty. I can’t fail now, not after all I’ve done, not when the finish line is so close. I have to do it, or else nothing will change. Tomorrow I’ll still be a stranger to my own father... I won’t get another chance to earn his love.
“Why didn’t you tell me about Luca?” I ask, stalling again.
“You’re more believable when you don’t know the details.”
Anger bubbles inside me like boiling water. “You told him to cut off my finger!”
Dante shudders but remains silent, standing there with his gun pointed at the ground, his stance poised, eyes not veering off my face for one second.
“You think Dante would come to your rescue if I locked you in a hotel with a bottle of champagne and a butler?”
“He’d come for me everywhere.”
I’m as sure of it as I’m sure that either I kill him or Frank does. I squeeze the gun and raise it, tasting the salty tears on my lips. I aim at the man who trusted and loved me the way I always wanted to be loved—unconditionally.
“I really do love you,” I whisper, looking into his eyes, my voice defeated. I don’t want him to die thinking he never knew true love or that the time we shared was worthless.
I found peace where there should be fear, happiness where there should be disappointment, and love where nothing but death should await.
“I know, Star.” Not a hint of doubt on his face or in his voice. He knows me well enough to understand my reasons.
My hand is shaking, but I slide my finger to the trigger. “I’m sorry,” I mutter, my heart no longer beating as powerful sobs tear me apart.
“Do you need me to count down from five for you, Layla?” Frank growls, disdain in his voice like a low blow to my stomach. “We don’t have all fucking night. Get it over with.”
I let the air out of my lungs, blink the tears away and pull the trigger. The recoil throws my hand back. At the shooting range, guns were loaded with blanks and seemed weaker than the .44 that falls to the ground.
The bullet pierces his heart, but it’s not the precision that surprises me most.
It’s relief.
I feelfree.
Silence falls upon the scene. Frank’s gray eyes remain open as his motionless, lifeless body lies on the gravel, blood seeping from the wound in his chest.
Dante stares at him for a few seconds before he spins around, his back to me. Frank’s men kneel before him in surrender, dropping their weapons, heads hanging low.
Adam dies first.
A bullet from Dante’s Beretta strikes Adam’s head, and he falls as if in slow motion. Allie’s face flashes before my eyes, and fear grips me by the throat.
The second bullet is for Burly.
I force my legs to move, painfully aware that one of those bullets is destined for me. I drop to my knees by Luca’s body, frantically searching his pockets for the keys to the white van. My hands are covered in blood when I pull them out of his jacket. Adrenaline keeps me moving, my senses agile, though exhausted; my mind focused, though hesitant.
Panic is pushed back by survival instinct.
Gunshots tear through the otherwise silent night as I run toward the van, not daring to check how many people died. The engine springs to life seconds later. My foot hard on the pedal, I make a sharp turn, burning out of there, praying to get as far away as possible. I tremble like a leaf, ignoring blood and the piercing pain in my left.
Tears are absent.
I don’t regret killing my father. Hearing the disdain in his voice helped me realize he was rotten to his core. There was no saving him, no gaining his love or acceptance. Nothing would’ve changed if I’d kill Dante. Frank would find a different thing to obsess over, a different reason to keep me at a distance.
He didn’t deserve me, my love, or my allegiance.
