Page 209 of Phantom Mine

We hold each other as I banish the grief from my chest and place Adri back where she belongs, right in the middle of my heart. We hold each other as that final piece of me heals. We hold each other and we start to make up for lost time.

The tears flow continuously, joy and sadness and surprise combining into one emotion that pours overwhelmingly out of us. My hands are frantic as I explore every part of her, making sure she’s whole, making sure she’s safe, making sure she’shere.

Adri’s fingers thread through my hair as she cries.

“It’s solong,” she exclaims, a tear falling down her cheek.

“I never cut it,” I say, gripping her arms, needing her to understand what I can’t put into words. “I kept my promise.”

Her face screws up, her laugh turning into a hiccuping cry.

“I looked for you,” I tell her. “Everywhere. I lookedeverywhere, I tried everything to bring you home. I never stopped. I kept hoping, even when I thought—” I don’t vocalize the nightmares that were my reality for the past two years. Her eyes which were once so full of light and life are dark and cracked, silently speaking to the horrors she must have survived in that same time. “I never gave up.”

Adri cups my cheek, her hand shaking like she can’t quite believe I’m here either. “I know,” she whispers, smiling. She nods at something in the distance over my shoulder. “He told me everything you did for me, Leni.”

I turn to find Matteo framed in the doorway, leaning against one of the doors. His hands are buried in his trousers and his devastating stare is fixed on me.

Everything about his posture tells me he hasn’t moved in hours. That he’s stood there since he brought me to this house, watching protectively over our reunion without interrupting or inserting himself.

Emotion chokes the air out of my lungs. The weight of my gratitude presses down on my chest, like there’s too much of it and it’s overflowing out of the space.

He found Adriana for me.

He said he would, and he did.

My eyes burn. Emotion overwhelms me.

I keep opening my mouth to say something, but I can’t find what to say. The enormity of what he’s done for me is too vast to be expressed using words. I’m going to spend the rest of our lives thanking him for this.

“Thank you,” I mouth at him, hoping he knows how wholly underwhelming I find those simple words to be. Tears streakdown my face carrying the weight of everything else I can’t say in this moment.

As always, it’s enough for Matteo. His lips melt into a contented smile and my heart skips a beat. His eyes hold that same quiet, unwavering love that always makes me feel like I’m the only person in the world who matters to him. They soften, giving me a tender look he reserves just for me as his palm comes up to rest over his heart.

Gripping his chest, his fingers digging dramatically into his suit as if to reach in and grab his heart, he mouths something back at me. I only just make it out through the wall of tears blurring my vision.

“Time to plan the wedding,cara mia.”

My face splits into a wide smile as tears blur my vision once more. Adri squeezes my left hand, pulling my attention back to her. She plays with the ring on my fourth finger.

“Is he your husband?”

I shake my head. “My fiancé.” I cover her hand with mine. “He wouldn’t marry me until we found you. He didn’t want me standing at the altar without my sister.”

A hiccuping sob catches in her throat as her gaze moves past me and to Matteo. “Then he might actually deserve you, little sister.” Her eyes soften as he nods at her. “The way he talks about you, Leni...You found a good one.”

Clinging to my sister, I look back at my fiancé and smile. I have everything I’ve ever wanted and more. I’m the luckiest girl in the world.

"I found thebestone."

A crack of thunder erupts overhead. In some sort of cosmic twist of fate, it starts to rain.

Adri and I glance at each other. Incredulous, almost delirious laughter bubbles up our throats and bursts past our lips.

Of course it would rain.

Our heads tilt back and we open our faces up to the sky as the first drops hit our cheeks. My eyes flutter closed, my arms come up and my palms flip over in search of the rain. It dances resoundingly along my bare skin, drenching my hair and sticking the clothes to my body.

There’s something wonderfully cleansing about it.

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