Page 131 of Toxic Love

“You can get better,” I hiss. “You’re not going to?—”

“Dante.”

Her face is pained as she struggles to lift her hand to mine. I reach for it, grabbing hers and squeezing.

“You’re not?—”

“Iam,” she croaks, a wry smile on her face. “I can feel it.” She looks down, her head slowly shaking side to side. “I’m so sorry.”

“Don’t be, Layla, just rest. I called a specialist in New York. He’s going to be here tomorrow?—”

“But I won’t be.” She looks up at me, her eyes no longer sad, just resigned. “I’m sorry I made you cover up my sins,” she whispers.

“It’s fine,” I grunt. “Don’t worry about it.”

She sighs. “And my God…Tempest. What the fuck is my sister going to think when she learns about this?”

I fight back tears as I grip her hand tighter.

“Dante.”

“Yeah.”

Layla’s face twists into something between a smile and sadness. “There’s something else. No one else knows, but I want you to.”

She starts to cry.

“I’m pregnant.”

Holy. Fuck.

I blink quickly, my breath coming faster.

“It’s early,” she says quietly, her face twisting in pain. “It’s super early…”

I hold her as she cries, cradling her against my chest as she sobs out her pain.

“Jason?” I growl.

She nods against me, and my face turns furious.

Herdealer.

Her scumbag, piece of shit dealer who she’s also been “sort of dating”. He’s the motherfucker who led her from cocaine to fucking heroin. And now he’s knocked her up just in time for her to overdose.

I’m going to fucking kill him with my bare fucking hands.

Literally.

“Dante, please,” she murmurs when I start to shake with rage. “Just…” she exhales. “I want it to be you that tells them. My siblings, I mean. Wait until I’m gone, because I’m way too much of a coward to face them about this myself. But when I’m?—”

“What if they never knew.”

She looks up at me. “About?”

“About any of it.”

She chews on her chapped lower lip, her face gaunt and gray. “How? I mean Alistair and Gabriel are my closest family. They’ll be told the second they walk in?—”

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