Sienna
My phone keeps losing reception and I’m lost. It doesn’t help that the rain’s picked up again and it’s cold enough that the roads are slippery.
It’s been ages since I’ve driven a stick shift and never with my left hand.
The gears scream as I shift to drive up the next hill, trying to load the map on my phone again, my attention split.
It happens so fast, the turn coming out of nowhere, the rain at its heaviest, the boulder on the side of the road. I look up and it’s too late, I know it even as my foot instinctively slams the brakes.
The tires screech, the car slips and swerves.
I scream, clutching the steering wheel, realizing I’d never put on my seatbelt as the SUV collides with the boulder, the sound of metal crushing and my own screaming all I hear as something pops and my forehead collides against the windshield, the pain sharp and instant just before I lose consciousness.
——-
Giovanni
The car’s stopped moving.
She’s not much farther, but I’m stuck, cursing as I wait for the shepherd to clear the herd of sheep across the road. It’s a fucking eternity before he does and gives me a friendly wave I’m unable to return.
I hit the gas, the Rover lurches forward and I take the turns faster than I should, but I don’t care. She’s still not moving and I have a bad feeling.
A car honks its horn as I narrowly miss sideswiping him when I take the turn off to where, according to the tracker, Sienna should be. As soon as I’m over the hill, I see it.
“Sienna!”
I stop the Rover, pull up the parking brake and leap from it. I don’t even close the door. Rain pelts me as I run to the smashed SUV, and I don’t see her. Not until I get to the driver’s side.
There’s blood on the cracked windshield and she’s slumped over the steering wheel, passed out.
“Sienna!” I call out, but she can’t hear me.
The door’s locked, they all are. I run back to the Rover and open the trunk. Inside, I find a toolbox-this Rover is so old I imagine Declan has to stop often to make repairs. From inside it, I take the biggest wrench I can find and when I’m back at the rental, I check on Sienna once more. She’s still out.
I walk to the back seat opposite where she is, raise the wrench over my head and smash the window in. It shatters on the first hit, but it takes another to clear the glass enough to unlock the door. I ignore the cutting shards as I reach around to unlock all the doors then run back to the driver’s side.
“Sienna?”
She groans and relief floods me as I gently draw her upright.
Blood streaks her forehead and she’s going to have a hell of a bump, but she looks at me, blinking, lifting her hand to touch her forehead. She looks at the blood on her fingers like she’s not quite registering what it is.
“Giovanni?”
“Are you okay?” I ask her, looking her over.
She blinks. “What happened?”
“You crashed.” I pat her arms, her legs. I don’t think anything’s broken.
“My head,” she starts as I slide my arms underneath her and lift her out. “It hurts.”
“I’ll get you home. We’ll get a doctor out there.”
At that, she seems to remember what she was doing. Why she’d left.
“No,” she starts, trying to get free of me. “I need to go.”
“Where are you going to go?”
She looks up at me and I see into the cabin of the car at her tote on the floor of the passenger side. The papers there.
“Sienna?” I ask her.
But her eyes roll back and her head lolls into my chest as she passes out again.
——–
Sienna
I’m lying on a bed when I open my eyes. I don’t know exactly where right away, though.
But then I see him.
Giovanni.
He must have been standing nearby because he’s coming over now. His hair is disheveled, and he looks tired.
I look at his shirt, at the blood on it. And I remember. I remember the papers I found. I remember the messages on my phone.
“I need to go,” I start, but as soon as I try to sit up, pain like nothing I’ve felt before has me on my back again.
“You put a crack in the windshield with your head,” he says. “You’re in no condition to go anywhere.”
“How long have I been out?”
“Most of the day.”
I shift my gaze to the far window, realize it’s dark out.
“Deirdre,” I say.
“Deirdre?”
“Sean…” How will I explain? “I need to get to the shop.”
I try to sit up and Giovanni comes to my side. “Lie back, Sienna. You’re not going anywhere.”
“You don’t understand.”
“I understand more than you know.”
“Deirdre’s in trouble.”
“Who’s Deirdre?”
“The woman who works with me. Sean… He said if I didn’t meet him… He said he’d hurt her.”
“Sean Williams won’t be hurting anyone. Axel picked him up the other night.”
“What?”
“He went looking for you. I’ve had a man on the shop.”
“Because of those pictures you found. The reports.”
He knows. God, he knows all of it. Shame fills me as tears blur my vision.
Giovanni studies me and before he can answer, there’s a knock on the door.
“Come in,” Giovanni say. James pushes the door open and peers around the door. “Come inside, James.”
He’s wearing striped pajamas and is barefoot. In his arms is a worn teddy bear. His eyes grow huge as he looks at the bandage on my forehead and I think he’s going to cry.
“It’s all right,” Giovanni say, going to him, taking his hand. “Sienna’s fine. And she’ll tell you herself you’re not the reason she left. Sienna?”
I look up at him. “What?” Why would you think that?” I ask him as Giovanni lifts him up to sit on the bed.
“You hurt yourself because of me and then you had to lie to protect me.” He sniffles.
“Oh, sweetheart,” I reach out to touch his face, wipe away a tear. “No, that’s not why I left. Not at all.”
“And she shouldn’t have left like she did, should you have, Sienna?” Giovanni adds.
I look up at him and I see a firmness in his eyes, hear it in his voice. I turn back to James.
“No, I shouldn’t have. I’m sorry you thought it was your fault, James. It wasn’t, not even close.”
James smiles and a moment later, he throws himself into me and I feel every bruise as he hugs me hard and I hug him back, loving this little boy already.
“Go on to bed now, James. If your father finds out you’re out wandering the halls at night, you know he won’t be pleased with you.”
“All right, Uncle Giovanni.”
“Shall I take you back?” Giovanni asks.
“No, that’s all right,” he says, sliding off the bed. “You stay with Sienna.” He turns to me. “I’m glad you’re home, Sienna.”
His words strike me and all I can do is watch him walk away in his striped pajamas and little bare feet.
The door closes and Giovanni returns to my side, looming over him, hands folded across his chest.
“You and I need to talk.”