Page 88 of In Every Lifetime
Sarah
The rain poured down around us, hitting the windshield and streaking down the glass like tears. Levi was gripping the steering wheel with all his might, his knuckles turning white from the exertion.
I had tried reasoning with him back in the office, explaining there was no way he would get away with any of this, that he would be found. I had tried appealing to him as we climbed through the window and walked across the campus, promising I would come with him willingly and that I wanted to go with him, especially if it kept Fai safe.
“Levi?” I asked quietly. We had another ten minutes until Fai was supposed to be here. Ten minutes to get him to leave Fai alone. I needed a plan—any plan—but my mind was struggling to think clearly, my fight-or-flight response rearing its head.
Levi glanced at me quickly and then back at the road. “What?” His voice was clipped but not angry. He seemed more as if he were losing control… of me? Of the situation? I wasn’t sure.
“Why me?” I asked. “Why do you want me?”
He swallowed hard, glancing at me and then back at the road.
“You don’t remember me?” I racked my memories, trying to put it together, but finally shook my head. He sighed deeply. “I assumed you didn’t. We were just kids. It was in Montana, in a hospital there.”
I tried to remember, but I had only been to Montana twice before. I had guest lectured a few years back, and the first time was in graduate school. I was an intern for a local psychologist who was assisting on a case in Montana—a man who had murdered his own mother. We were there to assist the prosecution in determining if he was fit to stand trial. But that man couldn’t have been Levi; he was in his thirties nearly fifteen years ago.
“You didn’t notice me, but I noticed you,” Levi continued, his eyes glazing over as he reminisced. “When I saw you… I knew you were the one. But I was there for another decade.” He scoffed. “Court-ordered. Ridiculous.”
“Why did you wait five years, then, to find me again?” I asked.
Levi sighed. “I didn’t know your name, you see. It took me time to find the records I needed to find you.”
“Why go through Fai?”
“Because you loved him, and I wanted… no, Ineedyou to love me,” he explained, his voice growing fervent—as if he were desperate for me to understand.
I shuddered at the thought, terrified of the lengths he was willing to go to make it a reality in his mind. “If you wanted me to love you, why did you pretend to be Gabriel? Why pretend to be Fai?”
“It was stupid…” he muttered under his breath and swallowed deeply before turning to me, his dark green eyes lacking any life.How had I not noticed it before?“If I could figure out what made you love him, I could use it to make you love me.”
“That’s why you invited us out there? To learn about him?” I asked.
Levi nodded. “It should have been simple. I spent a few days trying to understand him and what made him tick. I figured I could learn enough before Fai had an… accident. The bastard was faster than me,” he began muttering, his tone growing harsh and his grip tightening on the steering wheel once again. “The hike should have been his end…”
“You were going to kill him in Montana?” I asked, shocked.
Levi rolled his eyes. “Why would you have cared? It would have finally given us our chance—the one we deserved.”
“Why would I have cared? You were planning on killing my husband!” The words burst out of me. I could handle a lot… but I couldn’t handle the idea of losing Fai like that. Not after all we had gone through… he had gone through.
“He’s your ex-husband,” Levi seethed.
I shook my head. “He’s not. He’s my husband. He’s on his way now; he’ll prove it to you.”
“No!” Levi yelled, the sound reverberating through the small cabin. “I saw the divorce papers with my own eyes.”
“Those papers mean nothing. My soul—my heart—is irrevocably tied to him. Fai is my husband in my heart and mind. The paperwork means nothing,” I insisted and was met with a slap across my face. The force took my breath for a moment. I cupped my cheek with a shaking hand and did my best to hold back any tears.
“Get out,” Levi instructed, reaching across me and pushing the door open. I obliged, climbing out onto the bridge, with the sound of the river rushing below us. Levi jumped out as well, his gun back in his hand and his eyes wide and crazed. I was soaked in seconds as the rain fell heavy onto the pavement.
“What’s the plan?” I yelled over the sound of the river and the rain pounding us. “What are you going to do to Fai?”
Levi raised a brow. “That’s the thing—you told me exactly what I needed to do. You just didn’t realize.”
He reached into the bed of the truck, pulling back a tarp I hadn’t noticed before, and retrieved a bottle of whiskey.
“I thought about it… I thought I could be him. I tried to be him, but you wouldn’t accept it,” Levi continued, closing the distance between us and pressing the gun into my side. “And you’re right—he’ll never let us be. So I need him gone…”
