“This is Sophie Shaw,” Adam said, averting his gaze from mine.
“The artist,” Gloria replied.
“That’s the one. She’s going to stay here for a while. I’m hoping you can help her get adjusted to everything.”
“It would be my honour. Please, come in.” Gloria opened the door wider for us to enter.
“Thanks,” I said. I had Adam’s hand clutched in mine and I wasn’t nearly ready to let him go yet. After everything I’d been through tonight, the feel of his skin against mine was the only thing keeping me remotely sane.
The apartment was much larger than I’d expected. In fact, it seemed to be the entire floor plus, according to the staircase in front of me, at least the floor above us as well. A safe house in the sky.
“So, breaking all the rules now, are you, Adam?” Gloria asked with a smile.
“Seem to be.”
“I told you she’d be a keeper.”
That caught my interest. “You told him that?”
“I did. When he was younger Adam showed me the sketch of you he always keeps in his pocket. I told him one day you would be together romantically. That you’d know he was the one for you the moment you saw him.”
Adam studied the floor. “It wasn’t like that, Gloria.”
“No,” I agreed. “The moment I first saw him, his buddy, Harris, was slapping me around.”
Her eyebrows went up. “Oh my.”
“It took me another twenty minutes before I knew Adam was the one for me,” I finished, then smiled at her.
Gloria laughed. “See? Like I always say, fate’s a pain in the butt but sometimes it’s not so bad.”
“How did you know?” I asked her. “About me and Adam?”
“Because I’m a seer,” she said. “Or, at least I used to be. But the auditors . . . they twist what we tell them. They change things to make it pure and perfect. Life isn’t perfect – it changes and undulates as we grow and move and breathe. There is not only one destiny for us all to hold true to. Fate can shift depending on our decisions. Believing differently will result in the necessity for places like this –” she waved a hand at her surroundings “– where those who have been rejected from their time, whose lives are in danger from those who wish to control our destinies, can come and know they still have the chance at a real future.”
“Thank you for letting me stay here.”
“My pleasure.”
“I must leave,” Adam said suddenly. “I’ve done all I can. I hope you can forgive me, Sophie. I never meant to ruin your life.”
He turned and walked to the door. I ran after him and grabbed the sleeve of his coat, forcing him to look at me.
“You didn’t,” I said, fighting against the lump in my throat. “Yousavedmy life.”
“You didn’t have to say that before. About knowing I was the one for you.”
“I don’t say things I don’t mean.”
“It’s too fast for you. I mean, for me it’s been twenty years, but for you –”
“For me it’s been twenty-fiveyears.” I placed my palms flat against the firm planes of his chest. “Because I know you’re the man I’ve waited my entire life to find.”
“I’m an assassin.”
“Still?”
“No, but—”
