“It is.” He stood quickly. “It took my parents, and now it’s going to take you. The Breakers won’t stop until I have nothing and nobody left. We’re leaving. Tomorrow.” He turned and started walking toward the house. “Actually, we’re packing right now,” he said over his shoulder. “We’ll leave right away.”
I rushed after him.
“We can stop in Portland,” he continued. “Stay the night there so we don’t have to drive in the dark.”
“Daniel, wait.” I reached for his arm, but he didn’t slow down.
“This was a mistake,” he mumbled. “Coming here. The Breakers never gives. It only takes.”
“Daniel, wait.”
He ignored me.
I stopped in my tracks. “I’m not leaving!” I yelled.
He froze, then spun around so fast, the gravel crunched beneath his shoes. “What do you mean?” His face was tense.
“I . . . we . . . can’t leave.”
“Why not?” He sounded genuinely baffled.
“Because we already tried running from my problems. I’ve been running my whole life. Alone at first. Then we ran together, all the way to Europe. And finally, here.” I pressed my palm to my chest. “This isn’t something I can outrun.I’mnot something I can outrun.”
My voice caught, and I stared at the gravel on the ground.
“I have to work through it,” I continued. “I need to figure out who I am. I need to remember my childhood.”
Daniel let out a long sigh. “This is all just the stress from the thing with Cynthia,” he said. “Things weren’t this bad before that. We just need to go home. Be somewhere familiar. Somewhere we can try to feel normal again.”
I shook my head. “What happened to Cynthia wasn’t the start of the real problems. It was just another fucked-up day in a lifetime of them. Before we came here, I didn’t have a single memory from my childhood. Not one. My mother never told me the truth about anything. Especially not about my dad. I spent years in therapy trying to pull those pieces back. And here, at the Breakers, I remembered. I finally remember how I got my scar.”
“And you also saw a woman in the basement,” Daniel shot back. “You never had hallucinations before we came here. How is that a good thing?”
That one stung. I didn’t have an answer.
He stepped closer and took my hand, wrapping his fingers around mine. “You’re unraveling here, Emily. We need to leave.”
My hand trembled inside his, but I didn’t let go. “No. I can’t leave. What if I remember more? There’s something about this place that brings it all back. And I think it’s you.”
His brow pulled together. “Me?”
I nodded. “Seeing your childhood home. Meeting your family. I’ve learned so much about who you were, all those years ago, before we met. It’s triggering something in me, Daniel. And whatever it is, I need it.”
I stepped closer until I could feel the heat from his breath.
“I need this. Like a frozen flower needs the sun. Like the stars need the night. Like Emily Winthrop needs her memories—because without them, she’ll go crazy.”
“Emily—”
I stepped back. “I’ve made up my mind. I’m staying. With or without you. But I hope it’s with.”
My fingers gave his a gentle squeeze. Loving. Reassuring. Or at least trying to be. Then I let go of his hand, turned, and walked toward the kitchen door.
“Emily!” Daniel’s voice rose behind me. “Emily, we’re leaving tonight, goddamn it!”
The anger in his voice jolted me.
He’d never yelled at me like that before.
