Page 55 of Silver Sinner

Something tightens in my gut. "A secret?"

"Yeah. I don't… I don't want to disrupt Maddie's life until… y'know, until we're sure this is something real."

Ah. Of course. "I understand." I kiss her temple and we settle back down. Layla ends up falling asleep in my arms not long after, and I soak up the soft warmth of her presence while just listening to her breathe.

Keeping it a secret is something I expected from me, not her. But her reasoning is sound. Maddie's life is not a game to be uprooted, and I respect that.

Bzzzzt.

My eyes slide to my phone, where a message from Moses displays on the screen.

[Moses] Pavel wants a face to face. He's pissed. Really pissed about the car ring.

Shit.

19

LAYLA

Is this what love feels like?

Real love?

I haven't been able to stop thinking about Pierce since our night together, a night that's fully etched into my thoughts like an intricate painting. The following days that pass are almost a blur, because returning to normal life after an erotic sex marathon is surreal.

But the normal things tick by as expected. I go to work, I care for Maddie, I go to sleep and I dream of Pierce. Pierce, who texts me each of those three days with sweet messages of affection that make my heart flutter. The dream lasts for three days.

Until Maddie unintentionally drags it from my heart with her tiny hands.

"A family tree!" she declares, holding up her school project. "Teacher wants us to write down everyone we have and see who can have the biggest tree! Mark's dad is taking him to the library because they have a really, really old family that goes back years and years and years!" She sets the sheet down and then slides it toward me. "Can we have a big tree too?"

I stare at it. The drawing of the tree is simple enough. Maddie's already filled in her name and mine, but the rest is completely blank. At least twenty boxes are waiting to be filled, and I have nothing to give her.

"Right here, Mommy," she says and she points at the box next to mine. "What do I put for Daddy?"

Her father.

Trik.

I haven't thought about him in days, through some excellent mental gymnastics to keep him from my thoughts, but there's no avoiding it now. He hasn't texted me since the day he came and punched me to the floor. That has to mean his threat was as empty as ever. Maybe he was in the area and saw me, then decided to make a game of tormenting me. That's exactly the kind of shit he would pull. Back when we met, he made it clear I was nothing to him. Just someone he could throw enough money at while the place where I worked turned a blind eye. That, and he bragged about criminal connections loudly enough that everyone almost seemed scared of him. I was too, for a while. It kept me from taking any legal route to get him removed as father.

I hate him.

I won't let him control my life. Not with Maddie, and definitely not with Pierce.

"Mommy?" Maddie stares up at me with wide eyes and taps the sheet again. "What do I put?"

"Your Daddy… was called Stephen. He was a really sweet, really kind man, but he died before you came into the world, remember?"

"Stephen," she repeats while dragging the sheet back. Pen in hand, her tongue sticks out as she starts writing the name and my heart sinks slightly.

Ideally, she'll never find out the truth—but more than that, maybe I need to tell Pierce. Something about him just feels… safe in a way I've never felt before. Surely if he knew the truth, he would help protect me? After everything he's done so far, it seems that way, but how do I tell him about Trik without telling him what I used to do for a living when I was too young to know any better?

Would that change things?

Maybe he'd throw it in my face like Amy did. As soon as that thought rises, though, I'm hit with a curl of guilt. Pierce is a good man. He'd never do something like that to me.

A good man and a rich man.