Page 40 of Run

Thirteen

Giovanna

“Where are we?” I asked when Vincent turned down a street I didn’t recognize.

We’d been silent for hours, my own thoughts racing as we got closer to the place I swore I’d never return to.

Other thoughts, too, like what would happen now that I was back.

This time on the road with Vincent was something I would treasure, but I knew with finality that it was over. I didn’t know what would happen, but that peace I’d found with him was gone for good.

I knew realizing that hurt me, but when I looked at Vincent, I saw nothing except his slight preoccupation. Maybe he was thinking of other things, of the life he could get back to now that he was done with me.

That thought cut through my chest like a knife, and after I finally managed to squeeze out a breath, I stayed quiet, the wobble of my heart making more speech impossible.

“We’re at Daniela’s,” he finally responded as he pulled to a stop on what seemed to be a quiet residential corner.

Following Vincent’s lead, I got out of the car and looked at one of the small ranch-style houses.

“Here?” I asked, frowning at the surroundings.

From what Vincent had told me of her life now, this kind of home was not the one I had thought she’d end up in. I expected a palace, one that would keep her in as much as it would keep others out. How many times had I imagined Daniela in just that kind of place, busying herself with decorating, housekeeping, anything it took to stop herself from seeing the world around her?

Maybe I had been wrong.

He shook his head, the action bouncing icy rays of moonlight off his dark hair. “Up here. It’s easier to walk,” he said.

Then he started moving, and I followed, not necessarily because I wanted to, but because I didn’t know what else to do. My mind was racing, nerves at seeing Daniela mixing with the unwanted and uncontrollable emotions that being with Vincent brought.

It had been so many years since I’d seen him last, and yet my feelings for him were still there. Were even deeper than they had been before when I hadn’t thought such a thing possible.

The distance was there too.

I’d kissed him again, had made love to him again, let him hold me while I cried over my mother’s death. But I again considered that I didn’t really know him now, and part of me wondered if I ever had.

I watched him as we walked, partly to distract myself from what was ahead, but mostly in what I knew would be a vain attempt to understand him.

Vincent was angry, less so now than when we’d been younger, but there was a calm to him that I’d never seen. It scared me. Because if Vincent was calm, if he didn’t even care enough to be angry, there was no chance he still loved me.

I looked away from him then, focused on the house that was up ahead. I had no business thinking about him, about anything like that. Just like I had no business being here. Once I saw Daniela, I would leave. Forget this place.

Forget him.

“Stop, Gia.”

I responded to Vincent’s command automatically, then looked over toward the direction he faced. A shape appeared, seeming to have materialized from nowhere, but it only took me a second to realize it was a man who’d been standing there all along.

“She’s clean,” Vincent said.

The man, whose face I couldn’t quite make out in the darkness, stood silent for a moment, but then said, “If it’s all the same…”

Vincent nodded approvingly. “Good. There’s a temptation to get lax, especially when it’s late like this, but you don’t know her, so it’s smart to stick with protocol. Giovanna.”

He looked at me and then gestured toward the man. I knew what this was, but it hurt me deeply that I was being searched. She was my sister, for God’s sake. What did Vincent think I’d do to her?

I glared at him, and the look he returned was one of complete tranquility.

He didn’t care, didn’t care at all.