Page 174 of Cara

A new beginning.

Yes… Wewillbe happy.

Xavier

With each bump and bend in the unpaved road, the weathered bus rattles as if a loose bolt might finally cause it to fall apart, scattering us into the rugged terrain we’ve been journeying through for the past two hours. In New York, we were getting ready for a season change. Here, the humidity envelops everything, clinging to summer indefinitely.

My eyes scan the foreign landscape beyond the smudged windows because if I don’t, I’ll blow our cover. Shout for help. Threaten every last person on this bus until I find someone who can help my wife.

Sophie’s head thumps harder against my chest with every inevitable bump in our path, each abrupt stop, hanging in a way that shows she has no control over any part of her body anymore. Concealed by her jacket, my hand is stained red from pressing into her stomach, applying firm pressure to where she has been bleeding.

We do what it takes to survive. That is especially clear now as Sophie winces with each jolt from the vehicle, struggling to endure a reopened wound.

It could’ve happened at the airport. Or as we left the pierin Phuket, crossing the water by ferry boat. It could have happened as we raced to catch the last bus of the night. Even this bus vaulting us out of our seats could have stretched the stitches beyond repair.

I wouldn’t know when it happened because she didn’t tell me. Not a single complaint until I felt her head drop onto my shoulder. Her face was paler than I felt comfortable with. I knew it wasn’t just exhaustion. And as I parted her jacket, there it was—blood staining her shirt.

“We’re almost there,” I reassure her.

She nods, her breaths weak and ragged.

Several decisions led me to choose this place—isolation in paradise. The largest one being that warm weather might help Sophie forget what it’s like to be cold. While Phuket is filled with tourists, the village of Koh Yao Noi is primarily inhabited by locals.

I needed to find a home where we wouldn’t be discovered, where the enemies I had left wouldn’t think to look. Because even though Strata is dead—Vito, too—there are others who would hear my name and come for us. If I must seclude my family from the world, it has to be worth it.

As we step off the bus and stumble through a small village that is the opposite of everything we’ve ever known, absorbing the vibrant green hills in the distance, I find it so damn hard to rationalize that we are nearing the end of this. God-willing.

Supporting all of her weight with mine, I grapple with the higher power I forsook four years ago, needing strength to face the unknown.

Let this be the right decision.

Dio, lasciaci riposare. Let us rest.

Every rooftop in the village gleams in a different shade.

Blue. Teal. Orange. White.

The streets are lined with dirt bikes and open-air clothingand food stalls. The sun beats down on us relentlessly, visibly affecting the woman clinging to my body for support.

No one will ever understand what she did to get here.

“You need a doctor.”

“I’ll be fine. Just get me home.” Sophie’s eyes squeeze shut, stifling a whimper as I urge her onto a bench to inspect her stomach. “Please, Xavier.”

A few stitches did indeed break, causing the bleed, but for the most part, they are still intact. Sophie traces the lines of concern on my face, smoothing them out until I’m helplessly gazing up at her, willing to do just about anything she wants.

“We’ll be on a motorbike, Sophie. Not a car.”

“I can handle it.”

“I don’t like it.”

She smiles weakly when I swipe away the sweat dripping past her temples. “I’ve been through worse than this. This’ll be a piece of cake.”

There’s no way to argue that. No way at all.

Even as weak as she is, she leans in when I kiss her, smiling through the pain as I lift her from the bench, trusting her.