Chapter Thirty-Nine Denny #2
When Larissa’s eyes flit with guilt, I condemn her in my mind before the microscopic shake of her head relieves me.
“Thank fuck,” I exhale. “I guess the better question now would be, would you have?”
“I wanted to be capable,” she admits. But even as she does, I see it, the raw emotion she’s guarded until now, before she blinks it away. His match in every sense.
“You are capable,” I declare, “just not with him.”
“Where is my brother resting?” she diverts.
“He wasn’t desecrated, if that’s what you’re asking. He was buried. Layla wouldn’t have it otherwise, and believe it or not, she grieved him.”
“Don’t tell me anymore,” she warns, turning her head away before standing abruptly. “What do you want me to do with this, Denny? What do you want from this confession?”
“Spare Tyler for paying for my crime, because he doesn’t fucking deserve the punishment.
I won’t plead for my own life, and I can’t regret it because Craig would have hurt us both that night.
Hurt my club. Hurt my brothers. Even when he faced me, I could see it in him, and so could he.
He knew he wasn’t coming back from his last mistake. ”
She glares for long seconds before nodding. “Like I said, I was never going to punish anyone for Roc’s death. You can go,” she wheezes, before hacking into her hand.
“Can I say something?”
After recovering, she cautiously nods.
“As much as I am for second chances, and while I’m thankful for this one, know that Tyler was never going to give me up. Not for anything, or anyone. And this time”—I swallow—“this time he fucking should have. If you give him the chance—”
“What kind of a fucking fool do you think I am?” she scoffs.
“Not a fool at all,” I say. “But you would be one to not take what he’s offering now.”
“And what’s that?”
“You know what it is. He’ll be the best father you could ever want for your child.”
She blinks. “All of you know?”
“Not all of us, just a close few. But you were tested when you went to the clinic. It was early, mere days, but your blood had a strong trace of the hormone.”
She swallows and nods.
“But I’m thinking you might have recognized a few symptoms, or not. Again, it’s still early.”
“I-I … just got over pneumonia,” she states before catching herself. It’s clear this news is fresh, rattling her to her core.
“If you deny him, you deny your baby his protection, and from what I witnessed, you’ll be denying it to all three of you.”
Her eyes focus back on me and narrow. “You want me to take advice from a man who murdered my brother?”
“I liberated a woman just as trapped as you were by Ciro,” I counter, but she fixates past me, lost in thought.
“Larissa,” I call. “In seeking Tyler out, you got exactly what you bargained for. He’s loyal to his own fucking detriment, because that’s what you get with his love and protection.
He just lost his way. He’s faced more battles than all of us combined.
He’s been aimless for years since Delphine died, and this thing, us, we’re the only thing he’s decided to live for.
And we’ve all realized we aren’t worthy of that sacrifice,” I rasp out.
“He just gave up his only shot with you to protect us, and none of us can fucking live with it. He deserves the chance you can give him through that baby. If he’s capable of coming back, you have the power to make that happen. I’m begging you not to turn him away—”
“Stop,” she pushes out, turning abruptly before knocking into the iron chair behind her. In an instant, I’m keeping her steady as she braces against me. Her honey eyes drill into mine for sincerity, and I see it then, the recognition.
“Let’s get you lying down somewhere, okay?”
With a curt nod, I help her into the house on shaky legs.
A man I recognize as Alonzo glares at me before falling in step with us and ushering her into him, his death glare lingering as he guides her across a sunken living room.
As they begin to walk down a terracotta-tiled hallway, a cough splinters her composure briefly.
“Larissa,” I call, making one last attempt for both my and my brother’s sake. Stopping, she glances back at me, unforgiving eyes latching onto mine, even as she frees me with her words.
“Get out.” She looks between me and Tobias, who’s just walked into the room with Tula on his heels. “All of you. Leave, and take him with you,” she orders.
“Even if we do, he will never abandon you or that baby,” Tobias relays brokenly.
“It’s not his fucking decision,” Larissa declares coolly. “Take him and go before I change my fucking mind.” Ripping herself free of Alonzo’s grip, she disappears down the hall before Tobias and I lock eyes.
For now, it’s over, and we’re taking Tyler home.
While I should be relieved—and the husband and father in me is collapsing internally at the thought—it’s the fact that the man we’re leaving with will be unrecognizable a second after he comes to that has every step we take away from that villa feeling heavy.
And I’m right—when Tyler stirs the second the wheels go up on the plane, he instantly snaps to sit before realizing he’s restrained.
Fighting against them as his eyes frantically search us until he sees it in our expression …
Sinking back into his seat without an ounce of fight.
Face twisted in agony when none of us bother with useless words we know won’t bring comfort.
Knowing the inevitable is coming, I force myself to watch, allowing the burn to blister me when, within a blink, the man who gifted me the life I have checks out.
His features flatline as he hurls himself into the detached place I’ve glimpsed a handful of times.
A place none of us can reach. A place I know he’ll remain indefinitely until he decides otherwise.
Unable to help the pained grunt that escapes me at the sight, I feel Tobias’s gaze snap to mine as the brunt of the blow takes hold—the loss of another brother.