He made a face at me and then wiped his forehead again. The heat was making him sweat. He smelled like Old Spice. “We need to talk.”
I waved my fork, as if to say,go ahead. It wasn’t like I could stop him.
“Not about Ben.”
The bite of mozzarella I’d just taken felt lodged in my throat. I took a sip of water to wash it down, but it didn’t budge. Instead of a ball of cheese, it was a lump of nerves stuck there.
“I’m not going to tell,” he said. “Not right now. Because I have no solid proof. But you have to stop this. You have to end this.”
I inhaled a breath, and it came from my mouth in a rush, though I tried to slow it down so he wouldn’t notice. “What are you talking about?Whoare you talking about?”
“Don’t play dumb with me, girl,” he said. “We both know there’s something between you and Candle. I knew it before.”
Oh shit. I had to harden my feelings to keep them from showing on my face. He was searching, looking for any clues that I was panicking, which meant that he’d have the truth.
“I don’t want to marry Ben,” I said, “and it has nothing to do with—”
“I believe that you lost your memory,” he said. “Which is the only reason you’re still here, but you’re far from dumb. Something I’ve always admired about you. And you’re not only clever, but loyal too. But that also means you’re hardheaded once your mind is made up. So let me put it to you this way. If you truly love Candle, let him go. That’s how true love works. It’s not selfish.”
“How would you know?” I said, not able to stop myself from asking. I was slipping in so many ways.
“Mymamma told me when I was a kid and we had to put our sick dog down. That’s in the Bible too. You let someone go when it’s not right.”
Wrong again, just like when he’d told me I was Ben’s by right because his brotherwantedto marry me.
Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth.
Especially when it comes in the form of unbreakable vows.
I promise to be true to you in good times and in bad, in sickness and in health. I will love and honor you all the days of my life.
This time I kept my mouth shut, though, because even though he was wrong, it was based on a technicality. I understood what he’d meant.
“I appreciate the advice,” I said. “But it’s really not needed—”
“It’s not advice,” he said, standing. Another one looking down on me. “It’s a warning. Candle will be burned alive for disavowing. It’s symbolic. You’ll be forced to watch. Yours won’t be much different, but much slower. Immurement in these gardens. Except there will be no one there to watch.”
With that, he turned and left me alone.
* * *
Just as Iran away from Ben in the garden that day, I ran away again.
This time from the truth.
Leaving everything behind, I took off with no direction in mind. I didn’t stop until I turned a corner and my body crashed into another one.
“You left everything in your fucking locker,” Aniello said, his grip on my arms hard. He was keeping me up, even if he didn’t realize it. The moment I’d realized it was him, all my energy drained. “Answer me.”
“I did,” I barely got out. “You’ve been tracking me.”
“Every one of your steps belong to me,” he said. “You don’t make a move without me knowing about it.”
The alert on his phone.
All the times he arrived at the perfect time.
Even the AC in the condo in New York.
