“Mom, don’t cry. It’s okay.” I hold my mom, the only one I remember having while she cries. She is such a good parent and after all the shitty foster homes, her home was the only one that felt right.
“I’m just so happy,” she sniffles. “I just know how hard it was for you growing up and it took you a long time to trust us. I was so afraid you wouldn’t ever trust anyone enough to have this. You are so wonderful, and all I wanted was for you to be happy and loved like you deserve. Now, you’re pregnant with twins. My grandbabies. Oh! I’m going to be a grandma. I’m so excited,” she sobs as if she’s devastated, but it’s only because of how hard she’s crying.
“Good lord, Rachel. Let my baby girl breathe.” My dad pulls my mom away, and gives me a looser hug, one that allows me to breathe. His eyes are watering when he pulls away. “I’m so damn happy for you. There is no one else in this world who deserves happiness more than you.”
“Thanks, Dad,” my voice breaks and I place a hand on the small swell of my belly, a new habit I’ve formed.
“Who is this man? Do we know him? Oh, look at that rock. Do you see that, Dave?”
“How could I not,” my dad grumbles. “That man is making me look bad.”
“Oh, I love my ring, but I love you so much more,” my mom tells him, giving him a kiss on the cheek.
“I love you too,” he replies, then sets his sights on me. “So, who is the man that is marrying my daughter who I haven’t met yet?”
Oh, I know that tone.
“He is very successful,” I start carefully. “Very… well-known in the city. Well, you know that I’m a nanny for a wealthy man?”
“I do,” my mom inches closer, dying for the gossip.
“I’m marrying him. Matias Mil—az… zo,” I cough to try to cover up his last name but it doesn’t work.
My dad drops his cup of coffee on the floor. “No daughter of mine is going to be involved in the mafia. No way! Hell no. If Matias has a problem with it, he can come to me. My grandchildren will not be—”
“—Dad, Matias is a good man. He loves me. He loves the twins so much already, and respectfully, nothing you say will be able to change my mind. You’ll meet him and you’ll see why I love him so much.” I check the time. “I’m sorry, but I have to go. Can we make plans and have dinner together with Matias?” I eye my dad.
“I’ll have my gun out,” he says under his breath.
“Dave!”
“Well, I will.”
I sigh, kissing him on the cheek, then give my mom another hug. “I love you both. I’ll see you later.”
“Drive safe. Tell us when you get home.”
“I will.” I give them a final wave, before heading out the door.
Pressing the unlock button, I get into the car, buckle up, and begin my journey home. I feel better after seeing them. Life finally feels right. This is how it is supposed to be. This is what true happiness is.
I press a hand against my stomach, smiling at the fact that I’m already showing. I guess that’s what happens with twins.
“Where are you?” Matias’s voice comes through the speakers from the voicemail he left me. “You need to get home now. It was Michael’s father who burnt down the house. He is part of the Irish mob, Sophie. Please, get home. Michael is going to complete what his father started. The plan was always you. He was going to kill you the moment you thought you had everything you ever wanted, but you do now. Please, answer your phone.” His voice breaks just as the message ends.
There are another six messages like that as I drive, listening to how panicked he is. Tears sting my eyes at his words, and fear replaces all the happiness I felt moments ago.
I press the audio message button. “I’m on the way home. I’m going the back way. I’m almost—” the car sputters. “What the hell?” The speed drops and the gas gauge is on E. “The car is slowing down. Matias, I have no gas. I had a full tank. I’ll need you to come get me. Please, hurry,” I cry. “I didn’t know. Oh my god, I didn’t know, but it makes so much sense. I love you, please—I’m sorry for ever doubting you.” I press send just in time because my phone dies a second later.
I get out of the car and immediately, I smell gas. A small puddle trickles out from underneath, proving I have a leak.
“Fuck,” I curse, just as a sharp pain strikes me over the head and darkness is all I see.
***
Matias
My heart is beating out of my chest as I rush to the car, not even bothering to change out of the jeans and t-shirt I’m wearing. Formal business attire is usually my go-to when I do things like this. When I kill people.
Fuck it. Michael doesn’t even deserve that.
“Speak to me, Gianni,” I say into the car, hearing him type away on a keyboard.
“Still searching,” he replies.
“Fucking hurry!” I snap, rage roaring in my ears. I feel panic rising too, but I can’t let that show. The panic in Sophie’s voice in the voicemail she sent me is echoing in my ears. I can’t imagine the fear she’s feeling right now, and I want nothing more than to bring her home. Safe.
“Matias,” his calm tone doesn’t mask the warning in his words. “I’m trying. Oh, it looks like her car is… in the middle of nowhere. I’m sending the coordinates now. I found out more about his father, as well. Apparently, after he was sent to prison by Sophie’s father, he got out and went back to his dealings. He had planned to come back here, to Sophie, but he fell ill. I suppose he pawned off his failure of a son to finish his work.”
“He won’t,” I manage to say quietly. He can’t. He won’t survive this.
The car inputs the location instantly, and I drive the fifteen minutes from my house. From our house. The fucking audacity to keep her so close to me. A mistake on his part.
The accelerator is revving anxiously as I whip the steering wheel to follow the barely noticeable, but fresh, tire tracks into the field. I drive down the unsteady path to find-
Not her car.
What the fuck?
I jump out, jogging over to the unfamiliar, rusty truck to see the tracker I’d placed in Sophie’s car resting on the dashboard, along with a paper. I grab it, looking at the scribbles.
“‘Won’t her parents love to see what should have happened to their Sweet Sophie?’” I read aloud, my heart dropping. I scramble back into the car. “Gianni! Fuck! Send me her old address, now!”
I can’t believe he fucking played me.
Is she already gone? Did I fail her like I promised I never would?
“She will be okay, Matias. Just drive. I already contacted the PD, and all deputies have been removed from your route.”
My hands are shaking on the wheel as I follow the roads through the country into the suburban neighborhoods. I can’t help but think about how I’d give anything to Sophie, even this.
Any life you want, my love. Just give me the chance. Please, be here.
***
Sophie
When I come to, I’m tied to the driver’s seat. My vision is blurry, and unconsciousness is still trying to take hold of me. I groan, squeezing my eyes shut to clear the fog. A splashing sound has me turning my head, and that’s when I see him.
Michael.
He’s smiling while pouring gasoline all over my car. The windshield blurs his face as he continues to pour. When he sees me, he grins, but the toothy smile he gives me has a slither of terror swimming down my spine.
“You’re awake. Good. Don’t bother trying to unlock the doors. You can’t. I disabled the locking system and I have your keys. You’re locked in.” He dangles the keys in the air and tosses them into the woods.
“Why are you doing this?” My body is tied so tight against the chair, I can barely move my arms. “Please,” I sob. “I’m pregnant. Don’t do this, Michael. Please.”
He slaps the driver’s side window. “Shut up, shut up, shut up!” he yells, licking his lips, sounding like a complete madman. “Be quiet. I’m so fucking sick of you. Do you know how hard it was to pretend to want you? You’re disgusting. All I thought about was avenging my father. Every day. But then you grew on me, and I wanted to have fun with you. I had hoped to at least fuck you before I killed you.” He douses the window in gasoline again and I flinch, for a moment thinking it was going to hit me. “Maybe after,” he grins, a psychopathic glee twisting his lips.
“Fuck you!”
He hits the window again. “No, fuck you! Fuck you and your family. Your father took everything from mine. He was a sorry excuse for a lawyer and ratted my dad out to the cops. When my father realized he didn’t kill you, he told me I could be the leader of the family if I finished what he started, to have people fear us once again. My dad couldn’t do the honors because he is sick, so I’m on a time constraint, Sophie. But don’t worry.” He lights a cigarette and inhales, blowing smoke against the window. “It won’t be quick. You’ll finally feel what your backstabbing father felt when he died. And to make it better, one of your boyfriend’s own runners betrayed him and kept me close. Isn’t that horrible for you? Unfortunately, he got most of my guys killed a few months back at the docks, but that’s neither here nor there. The real cherry on top is that I’m killing Milazzo’s heirs. How wonderful is that? The O’Brien name will be on top again.”
“He’ll never let you live,” I yell, fighting against the ropes. “He will kill you.” I spit.
“Not if I kill him first, during his heartbreak.” He flicks the cigarette onto the car and the entire vehicle goes up in flames. “Burn, you fucking bitch.” He steps away to the other side of the road, watching and waiting for the flames to burn me to death.
The heat paralyzes me. Smoke swirls its way through vents. It’s getting harder to breathe. The heat is getting stronger, the flames brighter. My head is pounding. The orange tendrils lick through the vents, creeping closer.
Flashes of the house fire flicker in my mind, the past and present colliding. I cough so hard, I taste blood in the back of my throat, and my head lulls to the side.
I can’t move.
I can’t think.
***
Matias
The tires screech as I hurl the car around the corner, seeing a shadowy figure at the dead end of the dark road. It’s Michael. He’s backing away from her red beetle, but I can’t see her.
Where the fuck did he put her?
I assume she’s hidden somewhere, and maybe he’s just playing with me by being out here with the empty vehicle. But before I have a moment to catch my breath, her car is on fire. The blindingly bright flames lick against the red-hot metal as I pull up, and then I finally see her. In the car.
Fuck.
I throw the car in park several paces away from them and I jump out, running over to see him grinning like a maniac. The light from the fire flickers across his features, causing shadows to dance across his eyes and morphing his face into something more monstrous than before.
It’s disturbing, even for me.
He turns to me, and I watch the arrogance melt away as I unclip my gun from its holster on my hip and raise it to his knees. I won’t kill him that easily. But I’ll fuck him up a bit.
“Perfect timing! You’re up next.” He taunts me with that twisted grin as I keep walking toward him, cocking a bullet in the chamber and shooting twice, once in each kneecap, and he falls to the ground, wailing. “Shit! Fuck!”
I feel tears stinging my eyes as I look back to Sophie. She’s not moving in there, and I don’t have a lot of time. I can barely see her from the smoke that’s building inside the cab of her car. I cock my gun again, and shoot into the car, away from her, shattering the glass as plumes of smoke billow out. I reach in, pleading for her to be okay.
***
Sophie
A gunshot rings out, I think—or maybe it’s just my imagination. I’m losing consciousness.
Glass shatters, a few pieces hitting against my skin.
“Sophie! I’m here, okay? I’m right here. I’m going to get you out. Hold on for me, baby. Hold on.” The rope tying me to the driver’s seat is loosened and Matias pulls me out of the window, since the doors won’t open. “I got you. Sophie, hey, look at me. Open those beautiful eyes. Come on.”
I do as he says, and another memory tickles my mind, taking me back to the day a stranger saved me. I smile when I realize Matias never had anything to do with the fire.
“It was you,” I rasp. “You saved me then, and you’re saving me now. You were always meant to be my hero.”
Manic laughter has me turning my head. Micheal is crawling on the ground, trying to get to me and Matias, but Gianni is right next to him, following his crawl with small steps.
“Throw him in the car and let him burn. I want him to know what hell feels like.”
“You got it, Matias.” Gianni picks a bleeding Michael up, and throws him against the car. The flames ignite his clothes, and the screams I hear aren’t from my parents.
They aren’t mine.
They are his.
And I never thought screams would sound so damn good.
“I’ll always save you, Sophie. Not even fire will keep me away from you.”
I notice his skin is red and raw from being burnt. “Your arms—”
“—Are fine. As long as I can still hold you, I’ll gladly take all scars and endure every flame.”
I press my head against his chest. It’s over. I can finally be free of my past and look forward to a future that burns bright.
