Page 88 of Silver Sinner

They've got me.

“Lay… la," I croak, my words muffled behind the mask.

"Layla?" Moses' frowns and then glances up. "Is she in the car too?!"

"No… no…" A new, hollow pain grips my chest and for the first time, I can't shove it away. "Gone," I croak and Moses' eyes land back on me. "She… gone."

She's gone.

And I have no idea how the hell to find her.

34

PIERCE

"Do you blame yourself?"

It's been two weeks since Moses dragged my half-dead body out of the trunk of a car sinking into a lake. Two weeks since Adrian broke my ribs, bringing me back to life in the back of an ambulance. Two weeks since I almost died.

It feels like I did.

Two weeks since I last saw Layla. Two weeks since she was snatched by Trik and hoarded God knows where with Maddie, never to be seen again. Two weeks since I last touched her, since I kissed her, tasted and held her. I was so stupid back then, so naive to think something as wonderful as her could last. I fell into a bliss that made me over-confident, and now I'm paying the price.

"Pierce."

My men have been scouring the city every day since I woke up with enough strength to give the order. As stealthily as they can, they've put out feelers, asked the right questions and done what they can—but there's no trace of Layla in the entire city. She might be dead, a truth I've barely entertained for how utterly impossible it feels in my chest. Given that Pavel is still active in the city, I have to believe Trik and, by extension, Layla, are as well.

"Do you blame yourself?" At her third attempt, my therapist taps her pen against the pad resting on her knee and finally draws me out of my thoughts.

I lift my gaze from my undrunk glass of whiskey and gaze at her with hooded eyes. "Of course I do."

"Why?"

"You really have to ask me that?" I scoff darkly.

She sighs. "Adrian asked for these sessions because he's worried about you. The fact that you're even here tells me you're a good brother to him. You want to give him peace of mind."

"If you can read me like that, then why the hell are you asking me stupid fucking questions?"

"Because you're avoiding the root of the issue."

My eyes narrow. "No I'm not. I don't eat, I don't sleep. I'm scouring everything within my reach for signs of Layla. I have every available man out in the city right now, turning over every rock and looking for her and Trik. I have paid bounty hunters and PIs and reached out to every alliance I have for help. I'm not avoiding the issue."

"Pierce, that's not the issue."

My grip tightens on the glass as she continues.

"You died in that ambulance. You nearly died in surgery due to the extent of the internal trauma from the ruthless beating you received at the hands of those men. You were captive, tortured, and nearly drowned all because of Layla."

My teeth grind together.

"So I'm asking you, do you blame yourself?"

If anyone else had sent someone like this to talk to me, I might have killed them. But the look of horror on Adrian's face when he walked into that hospital room and saw me gave me the same sickness as the look on Layla's face when she came down those steps.

"Of course I do."

"Why?"