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He nods. “This is going to take time, you know. We’re taking it hour by hour.”
“It’s fine. I have nowhere else I need to be. When she’s ready, I’ll be here for her.”
Tyler pats my shoulder. “I can’t imagine a better bodyguard for her than you.”
After Tyler disappears back into Layla’s room, I pace the hallway as I process what I just saw—a beautiful, vibrant young woman reduced to a frightened shell. I’ll do whatever it takes to bring her out of the darkness and back into the light where she belongs.
Chapter 3
Layla Alexander
“You can trust him, Layla,” Ian says as he rubs my arm through the bedding.
I’m still cold, but the extra blankets are helping.
He’s lying. You can’t trust anyone. They all lie.
That’s not true. I trust Ian and Tyler. I trust my parents.
He’ll betray you too, just like Sean did. You’re so stupid.
Shut up.
Ever since I was abducted, my auditory hallucinations have been on overdrive. The voice has been at it nonstop for days—bombarding me with negativity and doom. Normally, I can block her out a lot of the time, but right now I’m exhausted.
As Tyler comes to stand behind my brother’s chair, he lays his hands on Ian’s shoulders. “I know Jason personally, Layla. You can trust him. I’ll vouch for him myself.”
Ian brushes my hair back from my face. “You know we wouldn’t recommend someone to be your bodyguard unless we had full faith in him.”
My gaze goes from Tyler to Ian. I never liked my previous bodyguard, Sean. I thought he was a jerk. But I never dreamed he’d betray me the way he did—sell me out to his drug dealer. Drug addiction makes people do crazy things.
And now Sean’s dead. Karma got the last word on him. He was shot in front of me by his roommate and drug dealer—Chad.
That’s when the real nightmare began.
As I watched Sean fall to the ground and blood begin to pool beneath his body, I started screaming. And then Sean’s roommate injected me with something that made my mind float out to sea. After that, I don’t have much recollection of what happened. Just bits and pieces. Flashes of memory. Mostly terror and pain. I do remember the sound of all those other girls screaming. I don’t know what those men did to them, but I can imagine.
“I’m tired,” I say, and then I roll onto my side to face the wall. I just don’t care anymore about whether I live or die.
No one cares. You’re a waste of a human being. Useless. An idiot.
Normally, I’d fend off her attacks, but I just don’t have the energy.
You’d be better off dead. Your whole family would be better off. Just get it over with.
Shut up.
Ian pats my shoulder. “Okay, sis. We’ll let you rest.”
* * *
Darkness.
Bone-chilling cold.
Uncontrollable shaking.
And terror. So much terror.
