Chapter 156

Ethan

I knew that Aldo was worried for Layla—as was I and everyone else in that house.

To think that Agent Carter had gone out of his way to skip and basically chase after her through several states, it’s utterly insane. There again, we were all quick to learn that there wasn’t anything remotely normal about the guy.

When Aldo first reached out to me this afternoon, I couldn’t imagine what it was for. Things had been noticeably quiet since the whole mess went down with the Rossetti’s. All those ongoing explosions, robberies, and public disturbances came to a pleasant halt.

I couldn’t remember the last time the police station had been so relaxed. The place was actually quiet and everyone was able to catch up on much-needed paperwork.

And then, that damn call from Aldo came in. It wasn’t as though it was his fault that my blood pressure raised a few levels upward just from that one phone call. But I didn’t care much for the fact that he refused to tell me anything until I was literally standing in his office.

Fucking Agent Carter.

The crime wave had come to a calm ripple; however, it was a whole other rude awakening to find that one of our own was deeply troubled. As an officer of the law, it was our job to ensure the safety of other citizens—not stalk them and hunt them down like prey.

The world really wasn’t made up of black and white. There wasn’t all good and all bad. Layla had been trying to tell me this for so long and it pained me to no end that it took something as screwed up as Carter’s hidden photo collection to fully realize that!

But, in truth, I hadn’t felt the same since I met—or rather re-acquainted myself with Stasia Morozov. She was devastatingly beautiful. And while I couldn’t mentally bring myself to remember who she was, there was a nautical twinge in my chest that told me otherwise.

She really seemed to know who I once was. Perhaps, she’d be willing to talk to me about it sometime...

However, there was still that small voice in the back of my head that kept telling me to leave things alone. I didn’t need to know what happened because it’s all in the past now.

Once that door opens, I will never be able to close it. There would be no looking back.

Still...My curiosity was at an all-time high.

Aldo kept details about Layla’s trip vague but I knew that he wasn’t handling it well. He was concerned for her general safety and so was I. Who exactly were these twins?

Layla

I didn't want to have to make this choice.

After everything I’d gone through these past weeks, making a decision on this grand scale was too far beyond me. For God’s sake, it was part of the whole reason why I’d gone away on this trip in the first place!

I couldn’t handle the weight and pressure that came with having to make these kinds of decisions. When I was still a surgeon, working at the hospital, it was my mission to ensure the health and well-being of others.

I should have told her no. I didn’t want to possess the ability to decide someone else’s life or fate. I hardly had any control over my own—I sure as hell didn’t want to carry around the responsibility of someone else’s.

But Agent Carter had taken so much from me. He demolished my career not even for the obvious reasons in which it made any sense. It was never about the free clinic I tried to operate, he was upset that I wouldn’t openly share any Marcello secrets.

The man was petty, delusional and dangerous.

For that alone, I should have given Stasia the signal to pull the trigger. My mind flashed back to the last question Eva had asked me.

“Does Layla possess the ability to take a person’s life if it means protecting those that she cares for?”

There was no telling what lengths Carter would go to in order to achieve his own goals. The fact that he had the law on his side, made him all the more dangerous and unsuspecting to the masses.

Putting an end to this frightening nightmare here and now would have been an obvious logical way to go. But that would have defeated the whole point of me trying to get better. I wanted to get better.

Eva remained standing beside me. She spoke low enough so that I was the only one who could hear her.

“I know it’s not an easy decision to make. This guy took a lot from you.”

“If I tell you not to shoot him, will Stasia keep her word?” I asked her.

“Yes,” she answered. “However, the real issue will be getting him to put his gun down.”

“I’m tired of the killings,” I told her. I know there is something clearly wrong with Agent Carter, but there’s got to be a better way to handle him.”

Eva nodded and lifted her head. “Agent Carter, Layla has decided to actually spare your life, considering all the traumatizing shit that’s been uncovered today.”

“Lucky boy,” Stasia sneered.

“That being said, you are to lower your gun as Stasia will, got it?”

Carter narrowed his eyes in doubt. “Why should I believe you?”

“Because this has never been about my sister and I—only Layla. Her word is what we’re following,” Eva said.

“Trust me, knocking off some federal agent won’t mean a thing to me. Especially since you’re crooked as all hell,” Stasia commented. “But in this instance, I will listen to Layla.”

“On three, got it?” Eva began the countdown.

I glanced between Stasia and Agent Carter, thankfully the two were gently lowering their weapons simultaneously. Once both guns were lowered to their sides, Stasia showed herself placing the weapon back into the car.

Agent Carter followed her lead by placing his gun back into the side holster on his hip.

“Layla, come back with me,” he said.

I shook my head. “No,” I refused. “I came out on this trip because I needed to get away. I did it so I could properly work on myself.”

“I know the kind of people the Marcellos are,” he stated. “I know what they’re capable of.”

“Yeah, and I know what federal agents are capable of,” I countered back. “Don’t you dare act as though you have a higher moral compass than them. What you’ve been doing, what you did—coming all the way out here...What did you think was going to happen?”

He fell quiet. Carter would hardly even bring himself to look at me.

“Did you think I was going to have this magical epiphany and decide that I was going to just leave my husband and the Macellos and run away to be with you?” I shook my head again. “I can’t do that.”

“I can keep you safe.”

“I don’t feel safe around you,” I confessed. “To be honest, you scare the hell out of me. And I think that you need help.”

We all watched as Agent Carter turned on his heels to head back toward his car. It wasn’t until he started the engine and pulled back onto the road that I was able to breathe properly again.