Are you afraid yet?

The Truth

    Logan and Ben both wanted to deal with Victoria, but they had to find Layla now that they kind of knew what was going on. Ben was on the phone with Niles, "You have to find out what her address is or something that we can find her with."

    Logan thought to himself, those bruises and cuts looked really fresh. Who in the world would ever want to hurt Layla?

    Ben yelled, "I do not care how you do it Niles, FIND HER NOW!" He threw his phone on the floorboard of the car.

    Logan asked, "What if we go back to the club? Maybe she will work tonight."

    Ben said, "That is a good idea." They headed to the club to wait for Layla to show up.

    Back at Layla's house, she was getting ready for work. She could not believe what happened at school. Victoria was such a jerk and she always was attention seeking, but to do that to me in front of the guys and the school. That was just absolutely terrible. She wiped away the tears from her eyes, she would not allow herself to cry. If her dad sees her crying then he will only make things worse for her. She slowly walked down the steps when something pushed her from behind. She let out a scream as she fell down the stairs. She looked up the stairs to see her dad looking down at her.

    He yelled, "Why is there no beer in the fridge? What is wrong with you?"

    She said, "There is beer in there. I made sure there was."

    He pulled her by her hair, "Are you calling me a liar!?"

    She stuttered, "N-No I am not."

    He smacked her busting her lip, "Get the hell out of this house and never come back again." He threw her out the door.

    She cried beating on the door, "Please do not do this to me! Where am I suppose to go?" That was a question that was never going to be answered. She walked in the rain to work. She thought to herself, why does my life have to be this way for. What did I ever do so wrong? She finally got to work soaked from walking in the rain. When she walked in Michael, James, Ben, and Logan all stared at her in shock.

    Michael hurried to her, "Layla, you are literally soaked head to toe. What in the world happened?"

    She went to say something, but everything finally just got too much for her and she broke down crying. Ben and Logan hurried over to her. Ben asked Michael, "Can we take this to your office or somewhere private?"

    Michael showed them to his office and they all sat there with Layla. Michael asked, "Layla, what happened?"

    Layla looked at Michael, then at Ben and Logan. She whispered, "He kicked me out of the house."

    Ben and Logan were both wondering who. Michael asked, "Are you going to tell them what is happening or do you want to?"

    Layla took a deep breath trying to calm herself, "My dad has been physically abusing me for over 9 years. Today he thought I did not put his beer in the fridge so he kicked me out and said to never come back ever."

    Logan placed a hand on Layla's knee, "Why did you not tell us or someone sooner?"

    Layla said, "There are not many people who would believe me over him. He is a retired Navy Seal."

    Ben looked at Michael mad, "You knew about it and you did not do anything to help her."

    Michael yelled, "I did my best to protect her. She works here every night and I make sure she is fed and she has everything that she needs."

    Layla begged, "Please do not be mad at Michael. I begged him not to bring the police or anyone into this. This was my battle to deal with and I really did not want to bring anyone else into this. My dad can be a very dangerous man."

    Ben looked at Logan and said, "I think it is time that we tell you who we are to be precise."

    Logan took a deep breath, "We are part of the mafia. Well, we are the mafia bosses. I am Logan Bertolini and this is Ben Bertolini."

    Michael let out a breath, "That is why you two looked familiar. Your family has been coming here for their business meetings for a long time."

    Layla looked at them shocked. She said, "So you meant it when you said you were powerful with connections."

    Logan said, "Yes, but we do not want you afraid of us. We are going to protect you. To start with it though, we got you out of school. They will mail your diploma to our home for you. Secondly, you will be moving into our mansion with us, so we may keep an eye on you and you will be completely safe with us. There is nobody that can ever hurt you when you are with us."

    Layla asked, "What about my job? I do not want to leave Michael hanging."

    Michael said, "Darling, I want you to take care of you for a change. This is a great opportunity for you. They will keep you safe and this can be your chance to finally be happy."

    Layla thought it over and said, "Okay, I will go with you two, but I will be shy at first."

    Logan said, "That is okay. We just want to make you as comfortable as we can."

    Ben stood up, "We are going to take you to the mansion now. This way you can get into dry clothes and you will have your own bedroom."

    Layla stood up and held onto Logan's and Ben's hands, "Goodbye Michael, thank you for everything."

    Michael said, "Goodbye my dear. Please take care." He watched them as the left and got into a limo and drove off. He felt so happy for Layla.