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“I’m sorry, baby girl, I’m so sorry. I won’t hurt you,” Manny said and rose.
He held out his hand, but Lyla was too shaken to move. She stared at Manny, wondering what the fuck was going on. She was close to passing out. Her heart beat a rapid tattoo in her chest. Manny gently helped her up. She sagged into him and he wrapped an arm around her waist.
“I gave you something precious and you broke it,” Manny said to his son. “What you don’t care for and cherish, you lose. I would die for your mother, give everything I own for one more day with her and you treat Lyla likethis?”
“Dad—” Gavin said and reached for Lyla.
Manny knocked his hand away as if Gavin was a child and not a man capable of killing with his bare hands. Carmen sucked in an audible breath.
Manny glared at his son. “You still have much to learn. I trusted you with Lyla and she ran from you. Now that you have her back, you put bruises on her. The way to make a woman stay isn’t by abusing her. It’s by loving her so much that she can’t imagine being without you.” Silence stretched and then Manny bellowed, “Ricardo!”
A Hispanic version of The Hulk appeared. Manny’s bodyguard took in the scene and went straight to Lyla. He acknowledged her with a gentle smile and picked up her quaking body.
“We’re taking her home,” Manny said.
Lyla was too shaken to say a thing as Ricardo carried her out of Carmen’s home and deposited her into a Rolls Royce. Manny got into the back with her. Lyla turned away from him and plastered herself against the car door, wondering if her status went from bad to horrific. Manny turned and tipped her against him. Lyla trembled uncontrollably and moaned when he stroked back her sweat soaked hair.
“I’m sorry I scared you. I promise I won’t hurt you. I had to show him, to make him realize... Well, it doesn’t matter now. Its over,” Manny cooed.
“Y-you almost s-shot—” Lyla couldn’t finish.
The car pulled out of Carmen’s driveway. She wanted to leap out and make a mad dash, but her nerves were shot. She was wrecked, completely and utterly. Too much happened in too little time. Everywhere she turned doors were shut in her face and fear yipped at her heels. Since her arrival back in Las Vegas, it had been a rollercoaster of uncertainty, dread and terror. Gavin changed beyond recognition and it seemed, so had Manny. She loved these men, enough to look past the way they did business. She would have died for them, did anything they asked and now she was being bandied between them like a stray puppy. She wished for Maine, the anonymity of the city and Jonathan. She felt as if she were tumbling headlong down the rabbit hole with no exit in sight.
She must have dozed. When she came to, she was cradled in Ricardo’s arms. She caught a glimpse of Manny’s mansion. Although he wasn’t in her line of sight, she heard Manny snapping out orders to the staff who were running in every direction. Ricardo set her on the edge of a heavenly bed and a young woman wearing an old fashioned maid’s uniform bowed.
“My name is Juanita. The master wants you to bathe.”
Lyla stared at her blankly. She was having a hard time concentrating.
“He says you might be a bit... upset. He thinks you’re in shock,” Juanita said gently and helped Lyla walk into the bathroom where she settled Lyla on the edge of the tub and began to fill it.
“I like tubs,” Lyla said. For some reason, this seemed important enough to say out loud.
Juanita gave her an encouraging look. “That’s good. You should soak and relax.”
Lyla snorted. Relax when her life was spinning around so fast she couldn’t get a hold of it? Juanita kept up a steady stream of mindless chatter as she helped Lyla shrug off the ruined dress and expensive diamond bracelet she forgot she was wearing. Lyla didn’t have the energy to be self-conscious or worried. In the past two days she had been blackmailed, fucked her psycho ex, bit, threatened, pampered at a salon and looked down the barrel of her adopted father’s gun. She was so fuckingdone.
Voices sounded from the bedroom. Juanita discreetly left to deal with it. She came back a minute later with a chagrined look on her face. “Master is very anxious.”
Mannywas anxious? He didn’t seem anxious when he pulled a gun on her. Seriously, how the hell had she ever felt safe with the Pyres? She must have been brainwashed and naive. The Pyre family was dangerous, unpredictable and had their own set of rules. Manny held her at gunpoint and threatened to kill her. Why? She tried to figure out his motive, but couldn’t process anything right now. She didn’t even have the energy to wash herself, much less figure out how the Pyre mind worked. Juanita took over while Lyla’s mind went on vacation. It took a lot of effort to scrub Carmen’s makeup off, but they managed. Juanita had a prim nightgown ready for her. Whose nightgown was this? Did Manny have a girlfriend? This question seemed important for some reason.
Juanita asked if she was hungry. Lyla shook her head. Having her life threatened took care of her appetite for the foreseeable future. Juanita led her into Manny’s guest room, a room she occupied with Gavin a million years ago. The room was done in tasteful cream and gold. Lyla sat on the edge of the bed, staring at nothing after Juanita left. Not even a minute later, the door opened and Manny stood there, dressed in plaid pajamas and house slippers. He closed the door and approached her slowly. Lyla watched him with detached wariness. Now what? After taking care of her and making her feel safe, he would do something dastardly and turn on her again? That seemed to be the Pyre’s MO so far. Manny sat beside her on the bed and took her hand in his. Lyla’s skin prickled, but she didn’t pull away. She waited.
“I’m so sorry,” Manny said and his voice sounded strained. “I was very angry.”
No shit, she thought. People with anger problems shouldn’t carry guns for obvious reasons. Manny stroked his thumb over the back of her knuckles in a gesture that would have been comforting if she trusted him.
“I love my wife,” he said.
It didn't matter that she died over twenty years ago. Lyla heard the ache in his voice. There was no doubt in her mind that every day he mourned her. Manny squeezed Lyla’s hand with surprising strength.
“Even though we had so little time together, she gave me Gavin and a lifetime of memories. No one can ever measure up to her and I'm okay with that. I would rather have the real deal than a lukewarm imitation. Love is the most complex and rewarding emotion we can feel. I feel sorry for the poor bastards who never experience love or have it returned.”
Manny brushed her hair back from her face. She knew that he wanted her to look at him. She mentally braced yourself and turned her head. Manny's eyes weren't filled with incandescent rage any longer. His eyes were grief-stricken and imploring. It made her heart clench painfully because she loved him and hated to see that look on his face.
“Lyla.” He said her name like a prayer and kissed her hand. “I'm so sorry. I want you to know I would never hurt you. I love you as much as my own son and I want both of you to be happy. I just wish you could be happy with each other. That's always been my dream for both of you.”
A tear trickled down her cheek. She shook her head, but said nothing. Manny kissed her hand once more and clasped it between his own. She felt him tremble ever so slightly.
