~LAYLA~
The caller’s voice still crawled under my skin like insects, making my flesh prickle with unease. "$90 million, we know everything, and we are coming to collect."
I stared at my phone, hands shaking so badly I nearly dropped it. The beautiful night, the romantic dinner, the celebration, all of it felt like a distant dream now, replaced by cold, stark reality.
Axel pulled close, his arm around my shoulders. "We’re not paying them. Charles frad us. This is his doing, all of it."
"So what are we going to do?" I asked, my voice barely above a whisper. "We can’t just ignore them. They made a promise, Axel, a threat"
"Then we fight back. Whatever it takes, we’ll handle this together."
I couldn’t help but let out a shaky laugh that bordered on hysteria. "I love your courage and confidence, really I do. But in case you don’t realise, we’re talking about the mafia here. Not so business rivals or petty criminals. The actual mafia."
"I know exactly who we’re talking about. And that’s why I’m calling Tye."
"Tye?" I pulled back to look at him. "What does Tye have to do with any of this?"
Axel’s expression shifted, sothing guarded creeping into his eyes. I watched him carefully, reading the subtle changes in his face. "Who is Tye, Axel? Really?"
"He’s my close friend. Best friend, actually. You know that already."
"I know that part. But there’s more, isn’t there? Who is he... really?"
Axel opened his mouth, then closed it again.
"And before you answer," I said quietly, "let’s rember we agreed to no secrets. No more hiding things to ’protect’ . We’re partners, rember?"
He sighed heavily, running a hand through his hair in that way he did when he was stressed. "You’re right. But not here. This conversation needs to happen at ho, where we can talk properly."
"Fine. Let’s go."
The drive ho felt endless. Axel kept one hand on the wheel, the other gripping mine tightly. Neither of us spoke; the silence was filled with unasked questions and unspoken fears.
When we finally got ho, I kicked off my heels while Axel headed straight for the bar. He poured two generous fingers of whisky into crystal tumblers, the amber liquid catching the light.
"Here," he said, handing one. "You’re going to need this."
"That good, huh?"
"That complicated."
We settled on the couch, Axel pulling close beside him. He took a long drink before starting.
"Tye’s real na is Tyler Vargas. Son of Rafael Vargas, who was the head of the Los Zetas cartel. One of the most powerful criminal organisations in North Arica."
I froze, the glass halfway to my lips. "What?"
"Let finish. Please." He took another sip. "I t Tye when I was seventeen. My parents were dead as you know, and I was struggling to survive on the streets. Working any job I could find just to eat, sleeping in shelters or abandoned buildings."
I stayed quiet, letting him talk, though my mind was racing.
"One night, I was walking back from a construction job... late shift, under-the-table pay. I saw three guys jump soone behind a bodega. They had knives out, and the kid was bleeding badly. He couldn’t have been more than fourteen."
Axel’s jaw tightened at the mory.
"I didn’t think. I just reacted. Threw myself into the fight. Took a blade to the ribs, cracked a guy’s jaw, broke another one’s nose. Got the kid out of there and hid him in an abandoned car until sunrise, pressing my shirt against his wounds to stop the bleeding."
He drained his glass and set it down with a sharp click.
"Turned out, the kid was Tye. So rival cartels wanted to get to Rafael, and they figured the best way was through his son. When Rafael found out what I’d done, that I’d saved Tye’s life... he said he owed . Gave a job running ssages. Clean ones, he promised. Legitimate business dealings."
"And you believed him?"
"I was seventeen, broke, and holess. What choice did I have?" He looked at . "But yeah, they were clean. Rafael kept his word about that. I learned the business side of things, including how to negotiate and read people. Saved every cent I made, invested it carefully. By twenty-three, I’d bought my first company."
"Ohhh..."
"Then Rafael died, a heart attack. Tye took over the organisation. He’s been my shadow ever since. My friend, my ally, my... insurance policy, I guess you could say."
I sat there, trying to process everything. "So Tye is a mafia boss."
"He is. But he doesn’t advertise it. On the outside, he looks like any other successful businessman. Expensive suits, legitimate companies, charitable donations. But underneath?" Axel’s expression darkened. "You definitely don’t want to see him angry."
My jaw dropped. "Wow. That’s..." I struggled for words. "That’s insane. How did I not see this? How did I miss all the signs?"
"Because Tye’s good at what he does. And because you weren’t looking for it. The revenge plan against Charles... Tye and I ca up with it together. Every move, every step."
"Really? The whole thing?"
"Every detail."
I set my glass down hard enough that so whiskey sloshed over the rim. "So we’re allies with the mafia now? That’s what you’re telling ?"
"We’re allies with Tye," Axel corrected. "Tye happens to have ties with various criminal organisations, yes. But he’s also my friend. He saved my life more tis than I can count, and I’ve saved his. We’re brothers in everything but blood."
"And he wants to see Charles suffer?"
"As much as we do. Charles has made enemies in a lot of circles, Layla. The business world, the criminal underworld... the man’s burned bridges everywhere he’s gone. Tye sees this as an opportunity to eliminate a problem and help a friend at the sa ti."
I leaned back against the couch cushions, my head spinning with all this new information. The man I’d married, the man I’d fallen in love with, had connections to organised cri. Had been saved by the mafia as a teenager. Had built his empire with the help of a cartel boss’s son.
It was insane. Impossible. Dangerous.
And yet, sohow, it made a twisted kind of sense.
"So," I said finally, "what’s the plan? How do we handle this mafia threat?"
Axel’s eyes darkened, taking on an edge I’d rarely seen. "We will figure sothing out. But no doubt, things are about to get a bit dark, Layla."
"How dark are we talking?"
"The kind of dark where Charles Watson doesn’t just lose his business and his reputation. The kind where he loses everything. Where he wishes he’d never even heard our nas."
A shiver ran down my spine, but it wasn’t entirely from fear. There was sothing else there too, anticipation, maybe. Thrill.
"I’m listening," I said quietly.
Axel pulled out his phone. "Then let make a call."
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