Layla
The soft glow of the bedside lamp cast long shadows across my room. My borrowed room. In the guest house of Aldo’s manor. Because I still didn’t have my own damned life.
I perched at the edge of the bed, staring at the floor. Aldo’s words replayed in my mind on an endless loop: his confessions, his regrets, his misconceived attempts at doing what was right.
My hands trembled in my lap.
He’d truly thought he was doing the right thing. For me. For Eli. For his family. For everyone except himself. Sure, he’d been wrong.
But he’d learned.
And that was why he’d offered me the out, the new life, the new name. The ticket away from this hell I called the Mafia.
I lifted my trembling fingers to my cheek. They came away wet, glistening with tears. I’d started to cry.
And I knew, I k
