Free Dark Sins and Desert Sands by Stephanie Draven

The cold truth was that she was a fraud. How could she help patients when she hadn’t even been able to help the man who shared her bed? When she couldn’t even help herself?
    Fingering the sixpence coin at the end of its chain, Layla took a deep breath. “Isabel, I have something to tell you, and it’s important. It’s just really hard for me to say.”
    “ ¿Por qué? What could you say that would shock me? ”
    Oh, after tonight, Layla could imagine a thing or two that would surprise even Isabel. But the words of her confession stalled on her tongue. Isabel was the only friend she had and Layla was fairly certain they wouldn’t be friends anymore once she told the truth. Nonetheless, the truth was what Isabel deserved. “Isabel, I don’t have any memories of my life before I came to Las Vegas. I woke up in a car in the desert with this coin in my hand…”
    Isabel gave it a glance, then her eyes went back to the road.
    “I also had my wallet, a checkbook and a few boxes of my belongings. The diplomas and certificates I found told me that I was a psychologist, and as it turned out, I had enough money in the bank to open a practice, but I don’t know who I am.”
    “You just don’t know who you were, ” Isabel said quietly, without any show of surprise. “There’s a difference.”
    Layla felt herself blink. “You knew?”
    “Do you think you could’ve pretended without me?” Isabel asked.
    “But why? Why would you help me to pretend that everything was fine?”
    “What harm were you doing to anyone?”
    Layla squeezed her eyes shut. She felt certain that the life she’d led here in Vegas was a better one than she’d been living before, but now her past was coming back to haunt her. “The stranger who came to the office the other day. He’s a man from my past. He’s stalking me. He’s left threatening messages in the office, and tonight he grabbed me off the street and…” Did she dare tell Isabel what she’d told the police about Ray’s abilities to control her? They hadn’t believed her and she couldn’t bear to hear Isabel laugh at her. “The point is, I’m no good to my patients like this. I need to find them new therapists and make sure that they’re cared for. Then I have to close down the practice.”
    Isabel looked dismayed.
    Layla rushed to add, “I realize this puts you in a bad spot, but I’ll have a generous severance package for you and a glowing recommendation.” After all, Laylahad money—lots of it—and she’d make sure that Isabel wasn’t out of a job for long.
    “But you love what you do, no? It’s your calling. You were becoming your own woman.”
    Becoming was a strange word. One that felt as wet and salty and unfinished as the tears Layla couldn’t cry. Maybe Isabel was right, but she couldn’t go on like this.
    “You were like a butterfly just coming out of her cocoon,” Isabel continued. “You were just starting to find yourself….”
    Maybe so, but Rayhan Stavrakis had found her first. Now everything had changed. “Isabel, I just need a few days to get everything in order. I’m going to attend Dr. Jaffe’s funeral. Then I think I’ll need to check myself into a facility for evaluation, and maybe I can get my memories back.”
    “Lo siento,” Isabel said softly. “I’m sorry. If that’s what you need to do, I’ll help you, but be sure you want to remember…”
    That night, Layla was afraid to sleep. Afraid that she’d dream of the way she’d found Nate’s body hanging in his closet. Even more afraid that Ray would enter her mind, and that this time, he’d leave more than her headboard in shreds.

Chapter 6
    It screams with no voice, and when it ends we rejoice.
    P ain . Ray was holed up in his motel-room-by-the-hour with a bottle of bourbon, a handful of aspirin and a crushing headache. He’d managed to slip out of the hotel room before the cops showed up, but he wouldn’t have been surprised if they broke down his door any minute now.