Page 34 of The Fates We Tame

I don’t think I can do this on my own.

And as I breathe, as I try to calm myself before I throw up, all I can see is Theo.

9

SWITCH

I’m not sure how I know how to do this. To hide, and yet keep targets in my sight. To use shadows for cover and the buildings to my advantage. I’m hoping it’s one of the forms of memory I tap into automatically.

The corridor brings me out to the rear of the parking lot, allowing me to beat Sophia’s brothers to their car by a fraction of a second.

I peer through a narrow gap in the fence. Her brothers turn the corner. Of course they are fucking twins so I can’t tell one from the other beyond the color of their ties and haircuts.

A memory flickers. One I can’t quite hold on to. But it features Saint and a tall building.

Sniper, maybe.

It’s like a badly tuned television, and I squint. Am I thinking of him because a sniper on these two men would be handy right now? And what makes me think I’m physically in danger?

It must be my memory returning, because Saint arrived during the ten-year window I’m missing. But I don’t have time to celebrate that right now.

“You going to Mamà’s for dinner tonight, Luca?”

“I wasn’t going to, but I will. We need to speak to Papà.” Luca’s voice is a fraction deeper than his brother’s. His pace of speech, slower. Less excitable.

“About what?”

“It’s bothering me. The urgency. He told us to convince her to go without mentioning the wedding. To get her there so we could persuade her to go through with it. But why couldn’t it wait? She knows something is wrong.”

Shit. I saw the stricken look on her face before I sent her in there. Luca must have noticed it too.

The footsteps stop. “How can she? She remembers nothing.”

There’s a pause. “I don’t know. But she does. She could always read us.”

“Are you saying she has her memory back?”

A hand slams the top of the car. “I don’t know. But something was definitely off. We need to get her out of here. Tomorrow. Before she has the time to make other plans.”

Thoughts begin to run riot in my head. How could they take her? Where could I hide her? How do I stop it?

“You’re being paranoid, Luca.”

“And you’re too laid-back,Leo. Dad wants this solved. He thinks it’s the answer to the family’s prayers.”

“We’ve done everything he asked. We’ve cut off most of her friends, so they won’t ask questions about why she’s gone. She has no finances in her own name anymore, so she’ll be stuck in Sicily. She doesn’t even have an apartment. And there isn’t a hotel in any country she can check into without a credit card or without us knowing. And none of it feels good.”

“I wish we knew what caused her to drive so erratically like that. It makes no sense. And I don’t know why Papà is orchestrating all this deceit when we could just have an honest conversation with her.”

Leo huffs. “Papà doesn’t want to give her the opportunity to say no. He’s worried that the person she is now won’t be amenable. But a blood commitment was made and must be honored. It’s the only way without Papà facing disgrace.”

“It’s not enough.”

Both car doors slam, and soon I hear the wheels turn in the gravel.

Once the sound disappears into the distance, I go as quickly as I can back to my room. My shoulder aches, my arm physically hurts, and I feel a level of breathlessness that I’m uncomfortable with.

I hear Halo’s voice in my head call me a toddler for some reason. But I can’t place the situation nor context. The words are in jest, and people around us laugh.