Layla's brows drew tight. Her patience had evaporated.
"One last chance."
She signaled her assistant, who stepped forward and held a tablet to my face.
On the screen: my father's hospital room. He'd been in a vegetative state for years, motionless in his bed. But he wasn't alone.
A figure stood over him, scissors poised directly above his oxygen tube.
"Withdraw the lawsuit, or keep your father alive." Layla's voice was ice. "Choose."
Blood surged to my skull. I screamed and lunged forward, but her bodyguards pinned me to the cold floor.
"Weigh your options," she said, looking down at me. "Do you really want to destroy everything you have for the sake of a dead woman?"
Her words cut deeper than any blade.
Years ago, when Layla had just taken over the Matthews empire, her iron-fisted leadership made dangerous enemies. She was kidnapped during a trade conference.
My father was the lead officer on that case.
In the moment between life and death, he took a bullet for her. He saved her life.
Out of guilt and gratitude, Layla brought my mother and me into her home and covered all my father's medical expenses. For five years, she gave me the best care imaginable. In that closeness, we developed feelings for each other.
The year I graduated, Layla declared her love at the ceremony. In front of the entire school, she promised me the happiest life in the world.
In the end, she broke that promise.
The day Bryce Gilbert returned from abroad marked the end of my endurance.
I stared into Layla's pitch-black eyes, searching for any trace of the woman I once knew. "Have you forgotten my father is in that vegetative state because he saved you?"
My voice cracked. "And now—for him—you're threatening to pull the plug?"
A violent tremor ran through me. Even with her cruelty laid bare, I couldn't comprehend that she would sink this low to protect Bryce.
Layla closed her eyes and sighed, as if she were the aggrieved party.
"I've already punished him. He knows he was wrong." Her tone was dismissive. "We're family, Brandon. No need to drag this through court and become a laughingstock."
I knew what her "punishment" meant. Ground him for a few days. Freeze his credit cards. A farce.
For eight years, I'd watched this cycle repeat until it sickened me. Whenever Bryce returned, my time with Layla was borrowed. One call from him and she'd vanish.