Page 38 of Mine Again
I’m sitting on a daybed on the private beach attached to our estate, watching Ari and Sienna splash and tease each other in the water.
It’s a little too cold for my liking, but those two never seem to mind. Neither do the tourists from colder parts of the world, grateful to escape to Sicily’s mild, almost warm, November air.
Over the past few weeks, the plan for my escape has taken shape. I’m so close.
Uberto arranged my new identity himself, which surprised me. He said he didn’t want me dealing in the darker corners of that world, and I was too grateful to argue.
We’ve communicated only through encrypted emails. Terse but precise. No names. No sentiment.
Still, something like trust has grown between us.
He left the documents exactly where I told him to; inside the cave at the end of the hidden tunnel that leads to the storage room beneath the stairs in our house.
Not that I ever mentioned the tunnel to him. That part I kept to myself.
What I did share with Uberto were pieces of my plan. Thoughts,fragments, ideas I wasn’t brave enough to voice to anyone else. Hopefully that wasn’t a mistake. Luca trusted him, and for now, that’s enough.
But I’ve told no one else. Not even Mari or Mia.
And that’s the part that gnaws at me.
The idea of leaving them behind completely.
No visits. No birthdays. No goodbyes.
It’s heavier than I expected.
The guilt is constant, sitting low in my chest. I imagine Mamma walking past my empty room, Mia sitting on this beach alone, and Mari wondering why I’m silent.
I know this is the only way. Clean. Untraceable. Final.
But the silence it demands is already eating me up inside.
Since Luca disappeared, Mamma and my sisters have been all I have. Can I really survive a life without any of them?
I glance out at the water where Ari and Sienna are still playing. Mia walks toward me, balancing a tray of drinks, the sunlight catching in her hair. Mamma’s voice floats through the air from somewhere in the house.
This is my world. My blood.
Some days I feel brave for choosing my escape plan. On others, it just feels like a betrayal in slow motion.
Mia sets the tray down on the table beside the bed and hands me a glass of freshly made lemonade before settling beside me with a soft sigh.
For a while, we just sit there, watching the girls chase each other through the surf.
“It feels strange without Mari here,” Mia says, breaking the silence.
“Yeah,” I sigh. “Though we should be used to it by now. She’s been gone for weeks.”
I miss her more than I care to admit. Of all my sisters, Mari has always been the one I’m closest to. My best friend.
“The way her life has changed is nothing short of a miracle,” Mia says wistfully. “I’m jealous.”
I hum softly in response. Truly, I’m thrilled for Mari, but a small part of me aches for the kind of happiness she’s found. The kind I once had.
“Yeah,” I murmur. “It’s wild how so much can shift in just a few weeks.”
But I already know how quickly life can turn. One moment I was soaring, the next I was in pieces.
