Untangle Me

Chapter 25

Vincenzo

I am so confused as to what is happening I can't even play it off.

When Giada fell asleep mere minutes after getting into the car I wasn't surprised. It was clear as day that the whole evening had tired her out which is exactly why we left so early. What I really wasn't expecting was for the woman to have a full seizure or something while we were on the fucking highway.

Not that the road is busy at this hour. Whereas it might've been uncharacteristically soon for me to leave the gala, three am is not a time most people are driving somewhere. So here we are, parked at the edge of the street, both of us staring at the other as if we were a ghost.

"I was where?" I finally ask her as I pull my mind out of the gutter. God, it's embarrassing how much I lose my cool each time something goes wrong with her. I mean, she's obviously not dying or dead so I need to get my shit together.

"The- the accident. You- we flipped. And my dad- I- I met your mother? And you were there and smiling and your arm-" I barely understand a thing the frantic woman is explaining. She's still breathing too hectically and her voice shakes more than a leaf in the wind.

And I don't know what the hell to do.

"Just calm down first, Giada, okay? You're fine. There's no accident," I say, trying to sound calming somehow. It's easier than expected to comfort her, like slipping into an old coat, and I have to force my hands to stay on my side of the car instead of reaching for her.

I haven't treated anyone this way in over half a year. It shouldn't feel so natural. Especially not with her.

Not after what she did.

But then I look at her again, see the woman I used to care about so much hyperventilate right beside me and an invisible weight drops onto my chest.

"Giada, breathe. Hey, listen to me. Breathe," I try again, this time more sternly.

But she isn't fucking listening to me. Of course, she isn't.

"I know you! I've known you all this time and you didn't tell me! I don't understand. You need to tell me," she finally snaps, turning her head to look at me with wild eyes.

Her words don't make sense and it's so frustrating.

"Please tell me," she begs more desperately. Her expression falters slowly, her eyes watering as she clenches her shaking hands in her lap.

Seeing her this way is enough for me to rethink everything again. The accident she's talking about, a flipping car.

My stomach drops as I realize she's talking about what happened eight months ago. Our accident.

But why would she ask about it? And even more infuriating, why would she call it an accident when she knows damn well it wasn't.

I can feel the familiar burn of my rage churning somewhere deep within me and it's almost comforting.

Still, before I give into the dark urges it whispers to me, I want to focus on the task ahead. Now that the fog of emotions is dissipating and my mind is settling I can focus and figure out what is going on.

So, Giada is freaking out over our "accident". What else has she mumbled... something about me being there? Don't need to be a detective to remember that fact. She knows me, which again, is stating the obvious.

I'm at a loss. This isn't news to anyone, certainly not Giada, so why is she freaking out.

"Okay, are you having a déjà vu?" I ask slowly only for her to blow out a deep breath and shake her head repeatedly.

"No. No, no, no! I'm remembering. Why don't you understand? Why aren't you explaining? I don't know, Vincenzo, please!" Like always, the way she says my last name is like salt to the wound.

She didn't use to call me that. Not until I got her back.

But I never really got her back at all, did I? Sure, she was Giada Monti and to my utter surprise, she was alive and well. She just wasn't my Giada Monti.

She didn't look at me the way she used to, didn't call me what she used to, didn't even call herself her own name. Worst of all, she acted like she didn't know me.

Like we had never happened.

Like our history had been erased completely.

And suddenly, my heart stops as all the pieces click together. I suck in a breath, my lungs nearly caving under a whole new pressure when I meet the girl's eyes. She's holding my gaze as I try to confirm or deny my conclusion but it's hopeless.

Absolutely hopeless since I'm looking for a girl that isn't there, am I not?

I nod to myself, gathering the courage to say the next few words out loud. Giada is staring at me expectantly, her own chest rising and falling with uneven breaths beneath my jacket.

Here it goes, I think with the last little shimmer of hope I can muster. I'm wrong. Maybe I'm wrong and she'll deny it.

She'll tell me I'm being ridiculous, that I'm wrong. That my actions were justified and I'm not the monster I unwillingly turned myself into.

Not beyond redemption.

"You don't remember?" I ask, my voice a lot unsteadier than I'd hoped.

The girl's eyebrows furrow, the crease deepening between them as she studies me intently. Then she shakes her head.

"No. I mean, not much of the months or years before the accident," she whispers.

And despite me having guessed it, her words hit me like a fucking plane.

Because it means more than that she's forgotten all about me, about us.

It means that I've been punishing her for something she can't even remember.

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Guys... things are clearing up for our two mcs...

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