“Your new neighbor seems… intense.”
Mrs. Harlan’s smile vanished. Camille held her smile, but her gaze sharpened.“I only want what’s best for him,” she said sweetly. “For Elias’s health, keep your distance — or the paperwork will come and he will vanish.”
Gabriel’s jaw flexed. “Stop talking about me like I’m not standing here.”
A week passed.
Gabe and I kept our conversations private, sitting on my back porch where nobody could see. He was careful — until a black sedan idled at the corner, lights off, engine ticking. We knew Camille was watching us.
“I only want what’s best for him.”
One day, he brought me an old photograph, one we’d taken in his basement just before the fire. We were grinning, arms around each other, the matching tattoos on our forearms.
A matching infinity symbol — because we wanted to last forever.
“I kept this,” he said, voice soft. “It was the only thing that was mine. They took everything else. I didn’t know who you were for a long time because of the amnesia.”
“I don’t know what to say, Gabriel.”
“There were days I’d remember flashes — your laugh, the garage, the tattoo. Then they’d switch doctors, change the rules, tighten access. I’d lose ground again. This photo kept me going.”
“They took everything else.”
I took the photo, tracing the edges with my thumb.
I looked at him, searching his face for the boy I loved. “Did you ever try to run?”
He nodded.
“The first year, I tried twice. They found me both times. After that, I was always watched. Even as an adult, someone was always there — a nurse, a caregiver, someone from the family.”
A lump rose in my throat.
“And you just… accepted it?”
“I stopped fighting when they told me you were married.”“Did you ever try to run?”
“Gabe, you need to stop living under her thumb. It’s been 30 years of this nonsense.”
He shook his head, rubbing the scar on his arm. “You don’t know Camille, Sammie. She’s gotten worse than you remember. She has lawyers, money, connections everywhere. She’s been controlling everything for so long, I —”
I reached across the table. “Then let’s fight. Together.”
