But I don’t move. I’m paralyzed, watching this. Seeing this ghost.
“Nikita’s right, Sophie.” I take a breath and close my eyes. “I knew what I was doing back then, and I knew there would be consequences for you if we got caught… And I didn’t try to stop it.”
Sophie opens her eyes, and Nikita slowly gets up and backs away when she swipes at him. She faces me and sighs. “I knew the consequences too. I knew whatIwas doing. You didn’t manipulate me, you pushed me to do what I already wanted.” She moves her eyes to Nikita. “I’m stronger than all of you give me credit for.”
Nikita’s jaw tenses, but he doesn’t respond.
Sophie looks back to me. “I didn’t want to marry you, Settimo. And even after everything that happened, I’m glad we didn’t choose that path.”
“You are?”
She nods. “It hurt to leave home.” She glances at Nikita. “And it hurt being away from my brother, but I was free. I hitchhiked and was homeless for a while, but I made my way to Georgia, and I got a job on an orchard and met a man whorespectsme. We adopted a child together. Everything they tried to take from me, I took back for myself. I’mhappy.”
I shift off my knees and sit on the floor, bringing my knees up and resting my hands on them. I can’t believe what I’m hearing. It feels like a dream, and any minute now I’ll wake up. I glance over at Alex, and she’s watching us intently. She gives me a small smile that I latch onto. Several of us in this room might be about to die, but I can’t feel the fear or the regret, not as long as Alex is safe… and happy. There’s a part of me that wants her to take the freedom Sophie had instead of staying in this world.
If we all died, maybe she could really live.
“I forgave you a long time ago,” Sophie says, bringing my attention back to her. Her lips are pulled into a frown, and it deepens when she looks at Nikita. “And I forgave you too.”
Something I never thought I’d see comes over Nikita’s face, and he moves his eyes away from her, away from everyone. Shame. That’s what he’s feeling.
“Do you honestly think I don’t know you’re the one who told Dadmaz TRR;……?” She shakes her head as her gaze wanders around the room. “This is as much about your guilt as it is about your hatred for Settimo.Let it go.”
“Why didn’t you tell me you knew?” he asks.
“Because Iloveyou. And I understood, even at the time, why you did it. Wealldid what we thought was the right thing.”
“No.” Nikita shakes his head, and the shame is gone. In its place is a lifetime of bitterness and hatred. He raises his gun and aims it at me. “Not him. This changes nothing.”
“No!” Alex screams. She pushes out of her seat and sprints toward us.
It all happens so fast, and yet, in slow motion.
A gun fires, and it takes my eyes from Alex. Ivan has the gun in his hand raised, but his throat is slashed. His eyes are wide and full of fear, knowing he’s about to die. Lorenzo is beside him with a knife in his hand.
My eyes dart back to Nikita. He’s looking at Ivan instead of me, and the anger is replaced with surprise. It’s just a second’s worth of distraction, but it’s enough. I lunge at him and tackle him to the ground, the gun blast ringing in my ear. I brace for the pain, but it doesn’t come. He missed.
I wrestle the gun from his hand, and it slides across the floor. I lift onto my knees, straddling him and bring my fist down on his face, again and again, my knuckles wet with blood.
A set of hands pries at my shoulders, and the muffled screaming reaches my consciousness, but the ringing from the gunfire drowns most of it out.
I expect the hands to belong to Sophie, but the scent of lilacs reaches my nostrils and mixes with blood.
My fist lingers in the air as I look over my shoulder and spot Alex, tears streaking her face.
“That’s enough,” she says, taking my face in her hands. “Please.”
I blink and slowly lift off Nikita. Ivan is dead on the ground and Lorenzo stands a few feet from me. His arms are wrapped around Sophie, holding her back.
Paolo is gone.
I slowly stand, and the ringing eases enough for me to hear Nikita’s groans.
Paolo appears in the doorway of the church, and he strides up to us.
“All dead,” he says, referring to the men outside.
Mymen.