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My body shook with vengeance. And pain. So much pain. Seeing my Ayla like this was slowly breaking me. When it came to Ayla, she was my weakness, but I was fighting for her.
Strength and weakness. Both battling together.
Opening my eyes again, I stared at Ayla as she laid in the same position as I found her in the dungeon. For months, she stayed like this. This position had been her constant.
My fingers tightened in fists. Taking a deep breath, I took a step forward.
Now, I was going to be her constant.
Stopping in front of Ayla, I knelt down beside her. Palming her cheek, I caressed her. Her eyes closed with a sigh, and they didn’t open again.
I laid down beside her on the hard floor and pulled her into my arms. She laid half on top of me, and I held her.
“I’m not going to leave you, Angel. No matter how much you fight against me, I’m not going to leave. I’m not giving up. You might have forgotten me, but I will make you remember again. That’s my promise, Angel.”
Those words were mere whispers, but they were everything to me.
I placed a kiss on her forehead and closed my eyes.
That was how we fell asleep.
On the floor, against the wall but in each other’s arms.
Chapter 6
I woke up with a start. My heart drummed wildly, my body drenched with sweat. The nightmares still haunted me, even awake. I didn’t think they would ever go away. Those memories were etched in my mind.
But it wasn’t just the nightmare that had pulled me from my troubled sleep.
No, it had been because I was alone.
The bed was empty beside me.
I frantically looked around the room, but Ayla was nowhere to be found. She never left the room. Hell, if it wasn’t me carrying her, she never left the bed.
I was out of bed in a flash and went to look for her in the bathroom. Panic clawed its way into my body when I found that empty too. My chest felt heavy as I ran out of the room.
“Ayla?” I called out. My feet stopped in front of the piano room, and I glanced at the door. I didn’t want to hope, but my heart accelerated as I moved closer.
With my eyes closed, my hand shook as I opened the door. I blinked my eyes open to meet darkness.
My Angel wasn’t here.
Fear welled up inside of me, and I shook with dread. A swell of noise burst from my throat. “Ayla?” I screamed as I ran down the stairs.
My fingers dug into my scalp in frustration and alarm. Screaming on top of my lungs, I hoped that my voice reached her.
“AYLA!”
I saw Viktor and Nikolay running down the stairs. Lena and the maids came out of the kitchen. Some of my men came running through the doors, looks of panic on their faces.
“Alessio?” Viktor questioned, coming to stand beside me.
“Ayla is gone,” I said shakily.
His eyes widened. “What? How?”
“I don’t know!” Growling in frustration, I pinched the bridge of my nose and paced. “We were sleeping. She was with me. I don’t know how she got up without me knowing.”
I saw Nikolay nodding at the other men, and they all rushed around the house. The maids followed suit to look for Ayla.
“Did you check the piano room?” Lena asked.
“Yes,” I snapped. “That was the first place I checked.”
“Where would she go?” Viktor muttered.
That was what I was afraid of. Ayla wasn’t in her right mind. It had been a week since we rescued her, but she was still as lost as the first day.
The only change was that she started eating yesterday. That was only after days of trying. I finally got her to stop sleeping on the floor. They were small changes, but they meant nothing as long as she stayed lifeless.
I walked around the house, my throat dry, my body feeling heavy as I searched for Ayla. My muscles were locked tight as I paced the house.
“Ayla? Ayla!” I called out, running down the stairs again.
Viktor followed closely behind me. He swore in frustration. I held the back of my neck, my fingers pressing against the muscle to release the tension building there.
She was nowhere. Where would she go?
If she wasn’t in our room or the piano room then—
My eyes widened in shock, and I almost stumbled back. No.
“Alessio?” I heard Viktor call out to me.
I didn’t turn around. With only one destination in my mind, I ran out of the house.
Was it possible? Ayla’s memories stayed stubbornly locked away, no matter how much I tried to bring them back.
Ayla was refusing to feel. Like she’d rather stay numb.
I blindly ran, sometimes slipping over the broken branches but quickly picking up the pace again. My wound was healing up, but running with such force was causing my leg to weaken under the pressure. A painful burning sensation traveled its way up my leg, and I stumbled forward.
