What the hell is happening?
“This doesn’t make sense.”
“I thought somebody had come in and injured…” The words fall silent as Giulio begins pacing with hands rubbing over his face. “Oh my god. I can’t believe this. What’s going on?”
It hurts.
It hurts to see him here.
It hurts to see him like this.
The truth of the matter is I have nothing to say except that somebody must have hacked one or both of our phones. But how? Why? And most importantly who?
A mix of agitation and defeat takes over Giulio’s expression. He’s at a total loss and it shows, partly because I feel the same knowing he thought somebody was here hurting me.
This isn’t easy on any of us.
“I’ll go, seeing everything is okay.”
I cannot take his departure lightly. I cannot take the coldness. This break up has me testing my every single word and movement, like my choice to follow him out. We pause by the front door where his spare key is inserted. My nipples respond to the chilled air outside, poking through the silk fabric of my pajama shirt as my arms cross over my chest.
The pitch black sky is accompanied by a full moon and several hopeful stars.
Ours are out there somewhere.
Giulio’s gaze locks on my left hand and mine falls there too when I realize what it represents. I swallow hard, so loudly that I swear he hears and is bound to witness my heart protrude out of my chest any minute now.
The tension between us is thick. It opens new wounds I’ve been attempting to compress ever since Thursday night. It’s the early hours of Monday morning now and the abrasion to our love is bleeding. Giulio takes my hand in his with an aching sigh, and his thumb brushes over the patch of skin my wedding ring used to be.
How do you respond to this?
What do I say when my heart has been taken away by murder?
There are too many questions. Too many thoughts. The intruder was the man who attacked Giulio and so Seattle Police are on the case. What if somebody heard the gunshots? What if whoever Giulio hired didn’t cover up everything? What if the countdown of soon is in response to Addilyn?
I recoil in a pit of lethal illusions the second Giulio looks at me, his pupils glimmering in the moonlight. His voice is soft and still affects me. “Telling you my father committed suicide was the only lie I’ve ever told you. I wish there was a way to take back what I did. To take away all the pain. I didn’t mean to hurt you. I didn’t mean for it to go this far. There are a million things I want to say to you because I know an apology isn’t going to fix this. I’m not that man. I’m not a gangster. I know you’re scared and you have a right to be…this is all my fault, Valencia.”
“I’m not angry at you. I’m angry at myself because I knew something would happen to jeopardize us but I let myself love you all over again anyway.”
Giulio’s lips meet my ring finger and I snap my eyes shut at the long kiss.
No. No there is no coming back.
“Goodnight, Valencia.”
“Goodnight.”
I think it’s safe to open my eyes after counting to five, but it’s not. His regretful features linger until I step back. “How can I make this right? Please. I will do anything.”
I miss him.
Strong. Be strong.
“Goodnight, Giulio.”
He nods in defeat. As Giulio turns towards my driveway, his entire body freezes. His perfect jaw drops and that leaves my mouth gaping at the sight before us.
“My car…my car! It’s not here…the twins…OH MY GOD!”
My heart aches for something I already know the answer to. “Giulio, please do not tell me that you brought the kids with you…” His lack of response kills me. Somebody stole his Porsche with Oscar and Slonne inside. No. Please, no. I can’t go through this again! Please, God. No! Nothing can brace me for the eeriness that takes over once the distressed scream escapes me, one I cannot control as my body begins to tremble. “Why would you leave them in there? Why didn’t you bring them inside?”
Giulio tugs at the ends of his hair, cursing along with every breath. “I thought something happened to you and I didn’t want to risk it. They were asleep and I didn’t want to wake them. I thought it would be okay for a split moment.”
“Giulio!”
“I didn’t think somebody would…Fuck!”
“Oh my god, I cannot believe this! This isn’t real! It can’t be!”
There’s no luck for us as our feet slap against the asphalt driveaway and continue looking around our street in panic for any evidence of our twins or the car. We break in front of each other, tears accompanying our every heartbeat. This is our worst nightmare come to life again.
This can’t be happening for the second time in my life.
Somebody stole our children.
All three.
I’m the one to make the 911 call on Giulio’s phone. After explaining everything, the female operator ensures us that police will be here shortly.
We head back inside the house to the kitchen after our search leads us nowhere. From all the commotion between us, Helena comes out of her room clutching the center of her dusty pink robe. “Guys! What on earth is going on?”
“Somebody stole his car with the twins asleep in it!”
“Tell me I didn’t hear that right. Tell me.” One look at our faces confirms it. She shakes her head, tears welling in her eyes. “How the hell did it happen?”
The weight of the agitation I feel is so crushing, that I’m glad Giulio takes over to explain.
“You left the engine running?” My sister screeches. “Why would you do that?”
“I was so worried something would happen to Valencia that I
