Chapter 19. Her Bleeding Heart

Layla’s POV

The air shifted quicker than the tides. As if the happiness had been sucked out of the room and the wind outside stilled to a calm breeze that barely moved a single leaf. The clouds drew together and an ominous blanket laid over the house and it weighed us down, pressing our bodies against the floors and making my heart feel like it was filled with led.

Heavy and still I took a step back needing to create space between myself and the man I had come to love.

He viewed me with such gentleness and calm but inside him was a roaring storm that brewed before the burst of rain and thunder commenced.

“Layla, how do you know that name?” He too fell back a step, the distance between us growing further and his eyes suddenly looking past me and into a ghost. I saw her in his eyes, I knew he was seeing her too. Would she always be here? Standing in between us and would he always wish that it was her that he was with instead of me?

“When the gates