Layla
“Mommy?”
I froze.
My hand was still wrapped firmly around the handle of the blade Vanessa had threatened me with just minutes ago. But I made no immediate move to use it.
The soft, innocent sound of my own child’s voice broke through the air and struck me like a stray bullet to the back. All the air became stuck in my lungs as I dared to turn my head.
Eli. The center of my life. My last bit of normalcy I had—was terrified. For all the times he’d been placed in such dangerous, life-threatening situations, he’d remained calm and collected.
Not this time.
The whites of his eyes were so large, it made him look several years younger. There was a tremble to his hands and his bottom lip. My heart clenched between my lungs.
What was I to do?
Vanessa’s life was literally in th
