24. Colton

This was a mistake. We shouldn't have come in here without backup. If Anton ended up dying in the process, so be it. It was better than whatever the fuck the six of us were walking into. This warehouse wasn't a vast open space. We entered the building in a hallway with doors and methodically checked each door as we went for anyone lying in wait. So far, we haven't found anyone. The hallway turned, and Zach peeked around the corner before waving us forward. We had only made it halfway down the next hallway when we heard gunshots from outside. Fuck! I pulled out my phone and called Keith.

"He isn't answering," I said.

"Ok. Let's go back," Layla ordered. "We'll shoot our way out of here if we have to, but whatever is happening out there has to be better than whatever is waiting for us here."

I had to agree with her. We needed to make it out of here before whoever was shooting outside flanked us. Otherwise, we'd be sitting ducks in the hallway or trapped in one of the rooms. We hurried back down the hallway, and my heart sank when I heard the door slam shut. Please let that be our men and not Anton's. Zach peeked around the corner but jumped back immediately and shook his head. Not our guys. I signaled for Drew and Tyler to watch our backs as I positioned Layla between us. She split her attention between the hall behind us and the corner ahead. Our best bet would be to wait for Anton's men to get closer and take them out. They didn't know how far into the building we had come. Hopefully, they expected us to be further along.

"Put your weapons down!" someone yelled.

"Not a fucking chance," Zach yelled back. "There are two of you and six of us. I like my odds."

"Are you sure about that?" the man replied with a sinister laugh. The laugh seemed to echo off the walls as the doors to the rooms we hadn't reached opened, and men poured out of them.

Well, fuck. This wasn't good. We closed in around Layla as Anton's men closed in on us. The men who had come through the front door strutted around the corner, and I recognized the speaker as one of Tommy's head guys.

"I think I told you to put down your weapons," he sneered.

"We don't have a choice right now," Layla said quietly. "We'll find our moment, but this isn't it. Put them down."

"Layla—" Sean said.

Whatever argument he was about to make was cut off. "I fucking said to put them down," Layla repeated quietly. Slowly, we placed our guns on the floor.

"Good boys, listening to your bitch," the man said. "Against the wall, now." We faced the wall as he instructed. "Search them." Men came forward to frisk us, putting all of the hidden weapons we still had on us into a pile on the floor.

"Keep touching me there, and you will regret it," Layla growled beside me. I turned to look at the man who dared touch what was mine. He'd be the first to die.

"I'd listen to her," I said.

The man sneered at me and held my gaze as his hand slid from Layla's shoulder over her breast and down her stomach. It didn't take much imagination to know where his hand was headed. Layla snapped her head back, catching him in the face. She took advantage of his shock and turned. In a flash, she pulled her knife he had tucked into the waistband of his pants out and slid the blade across his throat. Blood sprayed everywhere, covering Layla. When she opened her eyes and looked at me, she reminded me of Satan himself. Layla was furious, and God help us all when she was furious.

"Drop the fucking knife!" the man giving all of the orders screamed. Layla obeyed immediately as the dead man's body crumpled to the floor.

"He was warned," I said. I felt the barrel of his gun below my ear.

"When I want your fucking opinion, I'll fucking ask for it," he growled. "Move!"

We were marched to the door at the end of the hall, which swung open as soon as Drew reached it. I saw Anton and Tommy as soon as I walked through the door. They looked bored, but they perked up as soon as they saw us. This room was bigger, but it was hard to determine its original purpose. At the moment, it looked like it was going to be where we took our last breaths.

"Isn't this a beautiful sight," Anton said. "Hello, gorgeous. I like the bloody look. What happened?" he asked, directing his question to Tommy's man.

"One of the men got handsy with her. She caught him by surprise and slit his throat. On your fucking knees," he ordered us. We kneeled, Zach beside me and the others on Layla's other side. Layla remained standing.

"I warned him not to touch me like that. He didn't listen," Layla told Anton. "He only has himself to blame."

"I said fucking kneel!" Tommy's man went to force Layla to her knees, but Anton stopped him.

"Lay one of your fat fingers on her, and I'll kill you where you stand," he barked. "Layla may be my prisoner, but she's still a Queen, and a Queen kneels to no one. I would have been disappointed if she had."

Layla didn't respond to his praise. Instead, she stared at him silently, waiting for him to get on with whatever he had planned.

"I'd apologize for ruining your little plan, but it wouldn't be sincere. If you haven't figured it out yet, the good men and women of the Atlantic City Police Department won't be coming. I'm afraid your little detective friend, Kadence, ran into some trouble. I'm sure it doesn't need to be said, but just in case, this is the end of our little war as well. As much as I've enjoyed our little tit-for-tat game, I've grown tired of it."

Layla tried not to react to his announcement about Kadence, but I heard the sharp breath she took. Unfortunately, we couldn't worry about Kadence's fate when we had to worry about our own.

Anton's eyes traveled over us and then widened in mock surprise. "My friend! What are you doing kneeling? Come stand beside me, Sean."

What the fuck did he just say? This time, everyone heard Layla's gasp. Sean turned to look at Layla as he stood.

"It's not what you think. You have to believe me," Sean pleaded.

"Why should she?" Anton asked, clearly enjoying the pain he was causing. "Are you saying you weren't the one who tipped me off to where Layla would be so that I could kidnap her? It wasn't you who ordered us not to hurt her when we took her?"

Sean slowly made his way to Anton's side, his eyes pleading with Layla to believe him. To believe in him. "Yes, I did that, but not because I wasn't on your side. He's twisting it out of context."

At his admission, Layla fell to one knee. She fought back tears as Sean broke her heart. I reached for her hand and squeezed it, the only way I could comfort her.

"You son of a bitch," Zach growled with barely contained rage.

"What a disappointment," Anton said, shaking his head at Layla. "I didn't expect you to let a man drive you to your knees, especially this one."

Layla squeezed my hand in return and then stood. "No, you only expected me to bow to you," she replied, her voice strong despite how she must feel. "Just get on with it, Anton."

"All in due time, my dear. All in due time. I'm enjoying myself far too much to rush it," Anton purred.

Tommy's phone rang, and Anton scowled at him and the interruption. When Anton was putting on a show, all eyes needed to be on him, including Tommy's. "Are you done?" he asked when Tommy ended the call.

"We've gotta go. Now," Tommy told him. "Her men almost have us surrounded, and our window for escape is rapidly closing."

Thank you, Keith! I didn't know what happened out front, but he managed to send the bat signal after all. With any luck, we might just walk out of here.

"Why the fuck does this keep happening?" Anton asked. "Are your men so fucking incompetent that they can't handle hers?"

He turned back to Layla, who had forced a smile onto her face. "The answer to that question is yes," Layla laughed.

"My darling, I'm afraid I have to cut our time together short. I'd take you with me, but you've proven time and time again that you're more trouble than you are worth." Surprisingly, Anton truly did look regretful. Somewhere in his warped mind, he considered everything between him and Layla as some sort of odd relationship.

"You," he said, pointing at Tommy's man. He snapped his fingers and pointed at the floor. "Stay behind and kill them. Make him watch. Hell, after you make her watch her men die, make Sean kill her. Then, if the two of you make it out of here, you can join us at our other location. Don't fuck this up!" He turned and ran out of the room through the door behind him with Tommy.

"Right," Tommy's man said. "Anyone want to volunteer to go first, or should I choose?" He looked at Sean and waved his gun at us. "Any of them you hate more than the other? I'm feeling generous since you'll have to kill your girl."

Sean looked at me for several seconds, and I thought for sure he was about to pick me to die first when his eyes shifted to Layla, and he tilted his head slightly. His eyes returned to mine, and I saw the despair in them. I trusted him once. We all did. He fucked up, and I'm not sure if his explanation would protect him from Layla's wrath, but right now, I felt in my soul that I could still trust him. What did I have to lose? I moved my head imperceptively to let him know that I understood him.

He looked relieved for a brief moment. "Him," Sean said, pointing at me.

"I hate you," Layla whispered as tears fell down her face. I saw her turn her head toward me out of the corner of my eye, but I couldn't look at her and risk missing Sean's signal. Either I was right about him, or I was forfeiting the chance to look at my love one more time before my death. I prayed it was the former. My heart pounded in my chest as the man swung the gun in my direction, coincidentally moving it closer to Sean.

As soon as Sean made his move for the gun, I dove for Layla, tackling her into Tyler, and covered her with my body to protect her from any stray shots that might go off during the struggle. The gun went off twice, and I held my breath as I turned to see the outcome. Either Sean got the gun, or we were all dead. I released my breath when I saw Sean standing there with the gun in his hand. He did it. He saved us. My relief was short-lived as he stared behind me in horror.

Zach!

I turned to see my brother unmoving on the floor, with a growing pool of blood around him.