46. Brogan #2
“You’d said quite a bit earlier, and I want to know what your intentions are. What is it going to take for you to keep your fucking mouth shut, Layla?”
She smirked. “Is the big bad wolf afraid I'm going to tell the world his secrets?”
“Layla, I'm warning you.”
“Nothing yet, but it’s a good security blanket to have. If you interfere in my life, I blow yours up.” I growled, but she continued. “You know, I might’ve never been on my knees between your legs, but I still have you by the balls.”
My lips thinned and my eyes narrowed. She was right because she literally did.
How in the fuck did I let myself get into the situation?
The worst thing was that I had absolutely nothing to hold over her.
It didn't matter who the hell she’d been fucking when we’d been together because I was sure all her lovers had been men.
And even if they weren't, nobody would look at her in a negative light.
She wouldn't lose the media empire her father was going to pass down to her.
She wouldn't lose her standing in the community. And none of those men’s lives would be ruined unless perhaps they were married.
Even then, everyone in our circle could’ve had, or did have, a mistress at some point.
It was the way the world of the wealthy worked.
We'd always presented one picture to the world while completely living another. My father had several mistresses, which, again, was the reason why there weren't cameras in places like my office. And my mother had known about those affairs. Maybe that’d been one of the reasons she’d left.
Who knew, but it was good riddance once she was gone, at least for him, but not for me.
I’d been completely fucking devastated when my mother walked out of my life as if I’d never existed.
And even if she had not loved or wanted me, she’d left me to be raised by a monster.
I’d learned then and there that you could never count on anyone but yourself.
Those that were supposed to love and protect you would toss you away like you were nothing.
As I looked at Layla and thought about the family she and I were supposed to have, I was glad to have dodged that bullet, although I’d need an heir one day to further my own legacy.
The very thought of either acting like my mother and repeating her mistakes, or watching it happen again like déjà vu if Layla used my secrets to destroy me, disgusted me.
I scrubbed a hand down my face. “What’s it going to take for you to shut the fuck up?”
She let out a giggle. “Seeing how flustered and scared you are just upped the ante. Whatever price I had, it's certainly going up by the second.”
“What the fuck will it take, Layla?” I repeated.
She shrugged. “I'll let you know when the time comes. In the meantime, I’d appreciate you leaving my key after you get the few other things of yours—”
“What things?”
“Things like that fucking knife over there. Take everything and get the hell out.”
I yanked my keychain out of my pocket, and within seconds, I dropped her key onto the island top, then I gathered up the few random things of mine that again she had to have swiped when she’d been at my place.
When my hand wrapped around the knife handle, I knew where this had come from.
It’d been something I’d picked up when visiting Declan on set.
She’d liked it so much, or at least she’d claimed to, that she ended up keeping one of them.
As my grip tightened around the handle, flashes of something appeared in front of my eyes, and as I turned to walk back to get my things, she smiled.
“This is worth every month, week, and day I’d had to spend with you.”
“What was worth it?”
“Seeing you so defeated. You’d thought you were powerful because you had money to lord over my head.
Now, you have nothing I need, but I have something you do, and I'm going to take advantage of it.” She stepped closer and ran one of her hands up my chest. “Maybe it'll be a series of small things…” And as her hand slid back down my chest, she dropped it lower, eventually sliding it over my cock. “It’s a shame this isn’t small.
It might be the only worthwhile thing on you. ”
I ripped her hand away, then grabbed her by the throat. “Never touch me again.”
“Aww, is my hand not rough enough? Calloused enough? Am I not manly enough for you?” I growled out her name in a warning she ignored.
“You’re so tense and shaken. It actually makes me wet knowing I’m the reason you're in this state. I bet you thought you’d come over and force me to promise never to reveal your secrets. ”
“Layla—”
“Make no mistake, I’ll reveal them one day.
When that time comes, I'm going to blow your entire world to smithereens.
I'm going to make you feel every bit as afraid as I felt all these goddamn months I’d wondered when you were going to pull the rug out from under me.
You're going to pay for every time I had to be victimized by your venomous tongue and cruel wit.” She then wrapped her hand around my throat and smirked.
“Every time I laid with another, I had to wonder if it’d be the last time I did because of you.
Remember when you're lying in bed with Declan that any happiness you have can be ripped away in a flash.”
In this battle of wills, I gripped her own throat tighter, which made her smile grow even wider through her gasp.
As my other hand tightened around the knife’s handle, something continued to flash in front of my eyes.
Her face completely disappeared, and it was awash in colors.
As soon as everything turned back to black and white, I raised the dagger and brought it straight down on her chest. She screamed as the blade ripped through her flesh, but I didn’t stop there.
I yanked it away, then stabbed her again as a manic haze of anger drove me to bring the weapon down repeatedly.
Her screams turned to a gurgle, then silence.
I squeezed my eyes shut, and when I reopened them, I looked around. I wasn't in her condo, but I still brought my shaky hands to my face. They were completely clean and not covered or dripping in her crimson blood.
Reality came crashing back to me, and I realized I was in prison. Beneath my orange jumpsuit, I could feel the thick layer of sweat coating my body. I didn't remember going to her place that night and certainly not murdering her, but I had been out of my mind.
Had this been some truly fucked up, twisted nightmare?
The police had found the key and the dagger, so it was likely not. As my hands started to shake, I remembered my periods of dissociation, including the last one where I’d nearly blown my fucking head off.
Had I murdered Layla in cold blood?
I now knew it was possible and beyond that, it was even probable.
What have I done?
I heard the sound of something clanging, and it was exactly how a knife would’ve sounded bouncing off the tile in her condo, only here it was due to the rattling of iron bars.
Sitting up, I knew I’d never be able to go back to sleep now, so I started to pace in my cell.
It was a futile effort as a few steps vertically…
a few steps horizontally… became a circle.
An inconvenient and unpleasant truth hit me in that moment.
Maybe I was rightfully in this hell hole.
I now felt as if it was where I belonged.
God help me!