Dreadful (Tattered Curtain)

by Greer Rivers

“Sev, your ankle. I’m too heavy—” “I want to carry my woman, Tallie. Don’t worry about my pain. I’m only concerned with making yours go away.”

“My woman”😍

“I’m claiming you, Talia. You’re mine now. Your burden is my burden—” He punctuates each point with long plunges. “Your dreams are my dreams. Your goals are my goals. Your family is my family. Your heart is mine. My heart is yours.”

“You’re mine, Talia. We will have a future together, a happy ever after waiting for us after this. I swear to you that we’ll get these bastards, but it will not be the last thing we do.”

Hemlock, snakeroot, oleander, nightshade. That last one—nightshade, or atropa belladonna—is the one I bet Claudio ordered for Antonella.”

“Don’t worry. I’ll take care of you.”

“I keep hearing that, but you know, life is a funny thing. Sometimes it takes wanting to die to realize you deserve to live. That’s what you did all those awful nights. You made me want to die. But the next morning, the boy in the room next to me helped me remember that I wanted to live.”

“I believe her because I believe the innocent. I believe her because I believe survivors.

“Forgiveness is for the worthy. You’ve never been worth anything more than my revenge.”

“Seconds without you is a lifetime. I’ve lived one without you once already, and I never want to again. Say you’ll come with me to Italy, Tallie. Say it, or I’ll kidnap you again and have no regrets.”

“You’re mine, and I’m yours.”