When my clunky boots hit the wooden floor, they both look over at me, Solana seeming unsurprised and Layton appearing uneasy. “Lola, just calm down and let me explain,” he says, putting his hands up, eyeing the knife in my hand.
“Five seconds,” I tell him with the knife pointed out in front of me.
“Five seconds and what?” Layton asks, gradually setting his gun on the floor.
“Five seconds to give me a good explanation as to why the f**k you tranquilized me and what the hell is going on. And if you can’t, I’ll slit your throats and run.” I’m being a little over dramatic, I know it, but I need to get some answers.
Layton struggles for words. “Lola I… we need to… you and I—”
“Oh for the love of God.” Solana tosses her gun to the side, gets up and crosses the room in three long strides. She grabs the knife out of my hand, and chucks it on the floor as well. “He tranquilized you because you’re easier to save when you’re passed out, since you’re pathetic when it comes to protecting yourself. And what’s going on is that you have Frankie Catherlson, the Dellefontes, and the Everett’s all wanting to kill you. So congratulations. You’re probably the most wanted women in mafia history at the moment.”
“The Everett’s.” Baffled, I glance over to Layton in shock. “Is that true? Does your family want to kill me too?”
He reluctantly nods then gets up from his chair and takes a few cautious steps toward me, the floorboards creaking under his weight. “I’ve been wanting to tell you, but I didn’t know how.”
“It doesn’t make sense,” I say, wondering what part Solana plays in all this. Layton says she was sent to kill me, but she hasn’t, so why. And who sent her if there’s three of them who want me dead? “I mean, I understand why the Dellefontes want me dead... And Frankie I guess. But why you’re family?”
“For the same reason as Frankie does.” He spats Frankie’s name venomously.
“For revenge on my father,” I say but he nods. “But what does your father have against my father? I thought they got along for the most part?”
“They don’t, at all… haven’t for a long time…” He trails off, shaking his head as he closes the space between us. There are bags under his eyes, his hair is sticking up all over the place, and he looks strung out. “Lola, I lied about why Frankie’s men are after you… I was afraid to tell you the real reason since my family is a part of it, since they have a hit on you too. I didn’t think you’d trust me, especially after all the lies already.”
“A part of what exactly?” I look from Layton to Solana who shrugs.
“Don’t look at me,” she says, backing away from me. “It’s his job to tell you.”
“But it’s your story,” Layton tell her. “You should be the one—”
“I don’t want to talk about what happened to me.” She cuts him off and for a moment a fire flames in her eyes, emotions so powerful I feel it in my own gut. Anger. She’s angry over something.
She picks up her gun and her jacket then heads for the stairway. “I’m going to go check on things. Have fun kids.” And with that, she leaves Layton and I alone as she trots up the stairs and disappears.
“So are you the one who’s going to do it?” I pick up my knife from the floor and wipe some dust off the blade. I wonder how many times I’ll have to question everything, question my life, question the truth. As long as I’m connected to the mafia world, I’m sure questioning will always be a necessity. I wish I could just disconnect myself.
Layton’s appalled by my statement. “What? No. God, Lolita, I wish you’d quit saying that.” He rubs his hand down his face and then releases a stressed breath. “Can I at least hold you while I tell you?”
I pull a wary face, shaking my head. “You know that’s never been my thing.”
“I know, but I need it right now.” He extends his hand toward me. “Please.”
I eye his hand for a while, then finally take it. Our fingers lace together, the contact of him surging to my body as he guides me to one of the chairs. When he sits down, he pulls me down on his lap without asking first. “You remember they day your… mother died?” he starts, his arms wrapping around my waist. “And how the Dellefontes, the Catherlson’s, and my family was all there at your house?”
I nod, remembering how they all just looked at my father holding my dead mother in his arms. Instead of helping him, they simply left. “How could I forget? It was one of the worst day’s of my life.”
“Well, they were there for a meeting.” He brushes his fingers through a strand of my hair and tucks it behind my ear. “A potential business offer for your father, but he wouldn’t take it because of your mother.”
“What kind of a business offer?” I glance at the stairway where Solana disappeared. “I’m guessing it has to do with Solana and that school she was sent to.”
His body stiffens. “That’s not really a school so much as a warehouse to breed… murdered, assassins, whatever you want to call them.”
My jaw drops. I’ve heard a lot of shit in my life, seen a lot of bad stuff. Death. Murder. Dishonestly. Back stabbing. But this. This is disgusting. “Wait a minute, when you say breed, what exactly do you mean?” I think I already know though and it makes me sick just thinking about it.
“I mean they take young children and train them to be killers.” He pauses and I can hear his pulse hammering. “And they also breed. They have women there who are being kept there against their will to have children with good bloodlines who are to be raised in that environment. Then when they get old enough, the sell them off.”
My stomach rolls and I’m worried I’m going to throw up all over Layton. The idea in itself is repulsive but then there’s the fact that my father sent someone to this place—sent Solana there, my half-sister, my flesh and blood. The fact that he could do that makes me wish I was really an Anders and nothing more, makes me wish I could drain the Anelli blood from my body.
“Why do they do this?” I ask then shake my head. “Never mind. I already know. For the money. It’s always about the money.”
“There’s a lot of money in it, yes,” he says with a nod. He stares at me momentarily then shuts his eyes and leans in to me, pulling me closer. “Lola, I want you to know that I didn’t know about this until I went to work with Frankie... It nearly killed me knowing…. The things they made me do… the things I saw… It was killing me inside.”