Page 86 of Silver Sinner

But he loves me.

That alone brings me warmth, and I pray he survives.

Because I love him too.

33

PIERCE

Layla.

She's all I can think about.

Trapped in the arms of that monster. There's nothing I can do to help her. After he dragged her back upstairs, I dragged up what energy I had left and fought to wrestle myself out of the chains, but it was useless. I'm weak from blood loss, exhausted, and stretched so thin it's a wonder I can keep my eyes open.

The urge to sink into darkness wins out a few times over the course of the night until the urge to relieve myself creeps up and I'm powerless to do anything except exactly that. I'd be humiliated if not for the fact that I'm so deeply angry that it smothers all other emotions.

My head swims and the sluggish thump of my heart seems to grow louder and louder, until I realize it's the sound of footsteps descending those stone steps. Gritting my teeth, I narrow my eyes and brace for the blinding light that comes a few seconds later when Trik finally steps into the basement.

"Did you piss yourself again?" He grimaces and walks closer. "Hard for old men to hold their bladder, right?"

I can't look him in the eye. My attention's locked on the glittering pendant clutched in his fist. It's making my heart beat furiously in the aching cavern of my chest.

That's Layla's pendant.

In his hand.

He finally notices me staring and smirks, holding it up while he unlocks my cell and steps inside. "Recognize this?" He swings it back and forth. "The bitch tried to tell me Amy gave it to her, as if she could afford anything that expensive. She even tried to imply that Ant paid for it. She's a smart cunt sometimes, I'll give her that."

I grit my teeth until my gums ache and finally look the bastard in the face. "I'll k-kill you."

"Will you?" His eyes narrow. "Go on then. Kill me. I'm right here."

The chain rattle, and I pray that they'll break and let me get my fists around that narrow throat, but there's no one to answer my prayers. They remain solid and Trik breaks into a cackle.

"We're leaving. I thought I'd tell you. I'm leaving and Layla is coming with me, as is my daughter. And when we're far away from here, I want you to know that I'm going to be thinking of you every single time I fuck her. Because I'm going to fuck her. I'm going to take her apart and remind her why my cock is the best cock. I'm going to fuck her until she can't even say your name. And all the while, I'm going to be thinking of you. Romantic, right?"

Rage unlike anything I've felt before surges through me like a fever. It clouds my thoughts and my senses, makes my muscles bulge and my teeth sink into my cheek, but it's not enough. It's never enough.

Trik just laughs, and it's the most grating sound I've ever heard in my life.

"You know what's funny?" He pulls a small knife from his belt and lifts it, tapping the edge against my chin. "The things Layla will do to protect her daughter are admirable, and yet she still has it in her to beg me not to kill you. Seems her smarts only go so far. What do you see in her? I know fat chicks are grateful for attention, but come on, to fuck a woman who has a kid by another man? Do you have no self-respect?"

Words rise, but they're trapped behind the fury in my chest. All I can do is growl.

"Anyway, I can't linger. Thought you might want this. The final thing she touched that isn't me."

As he laughs, he lowers the knife and slams it into my waist just shy of the bullet wound. A wail of agony rises past my clenched teeth as he jerks the blade an inch or two to the left, slicing me open. Warm blood pours down my body, dripping onto my numb legs and joining the puddles on the floor.

"Here," he hisses.

The agony rises and a gut-wrenching, throbbing pain deep within me rises with nausea. Trik slides two fingers into the wound he's just created, then parts them. Flesh tears, my eyes roll back in my head, and I scream. I can't keep it in. It's unlike anything I've felt before. The wound burns like he's lit me on fire and then something cold and hard presses past the edge of my flesh and slides deep inside me.

The pendant.

Trik stuffs it inside me like I'm a fucking piniata, chain and all, then pats my cheek with his bloodied hand. "You killed the wrong man. Now, you'll be on a leash for the rest of your fucking life, or until you fall out of love with the whore. Either way, part of her will be with you forever."

The word fuzzes at the edges and my neck weakens, making it impossible to hold my head up. Try as I might, I'm losing blood fast and my energy with it. Throbbing heat radiates from my side, and every breath causes the pendant and more to shift inside me. I can't breathe. I can't think. I blink and Trik is gone.