Page 151 of Cara

Every time I remember it, I’m hit by a freight train.

“Just tell me you’ll find a way. I'm not letting you get into that car until you say it!” Dante shouts, his usually playful eyessosevere. Fear really does take a heavy toll.

Despite knowing better, I nod for them. My gaze shifts to my husband, who is focused on the road instead of any of us. Forhim. “I’ll find a way.”

“We need to go,” Xavier says, breaking the tension.

Dante drapes his arm over my shoulder, resting his heavy head on mine as he walks me to the car. Xavier trails behindus, drilling information into Bo. “Get Courtney on that plane at all costs. Everything you need is in the bag. Don’t wait.”

“We’ll stay at Dante’s until it’s time to go. The airport is too risky to linger at. Plus, Dante’s place has a fire escape just in case something happens.”

Xavier agrees with a nod. “I bought some land a month ago in Thailand. Near Phuket. You’ll find the deeds and directions on how to get there in the bag.”

“You bought land? In Thailand?” Bo asks. “Why?”

Xavier deliberately keeps his gaze fixed on the ground as he says, “In case we had to run again.”

My voice is caught in my throat as I force a smile at Dante, sliding into the passenger seat, sinking into the leather. The air has dropped several degrees since we’ve been standing here.

I hope Isabella isn’t cold. Or scared.

My eyes close at the sudden thought, struck by my love for a child that isn’t even mine.

As Xavier settles into the driver’s seat, I hear Dante scoff and turn away, unable to watch us leave.

“Nah. This isn’t happening.”

Bo taps on my window with his knuckles. He nudges my chin with his hand when the barrier is lowered, smiling softly. The affection is too much—far too much. “Look at me.”

Breathe.

When he has my eyes, he says, “You don’t deserve this. You didn’t do this to anyone. Isabella was kidnapped, and you had no part in that… You hear me?”

“I killed?—”

“You didn’t even know what was happening.”

“If I hadn’t, you would have had enough men to?—”

Xavier is the one who speaks this time; his answer is cold, complex, and resilient. “Vito was bait, Sophie. He was meant to disarm us. And he succeeded. They used our hate and ourpain to get through the door, and I let them. I brought him in. If anyone is to blame, it’s me.”

“Since we’re having a goddamn pity party, I'm to blame for not checking the wire,” Bo says. “And Dante’s to blame for not closing the gates before Strata and his men could get onto the property.”

Xavier looks up at his friend, who places his arms on the window. “Quit it.”

Bo forces a weary smile. “Just trying to feel included.”

I lean my head against the seat, offering the both of them a smile, grateful for the joke even at a moment like this. “I love you guys.”

As Xavier pulls out of the lot, my gaze sweeps over the big wrap-around porch, past his mother’s rose bushes, across the family cemetery, toward the solitary trail leading to a grave. I shut my eyes, suppressing a sob at the realization that Thomas will have no visitors there.

Bo and Dante stumble back, their gazes locked on the car as Xavier floors the accelerator, pulling us out of the driveway. I watch them disappear from the side mirror of my door.

This road I’ve traveled my whole life, I give it one last look.

Somewhere within these acres lies an abandoned treehouse where Xavier and I spent a good deal of our childhood. Also hidden is a stream I would pass during my morning runs and the side roads we traveled whenever they brought me here for the summer.

We are both utterly silent.