The Three Fates of Ryan Love by Erin Quinn Page A

years later, sometimes never. The ones who emerged as grown women and didn’t know where they belonged anymore.
    He thought of the bruises on Sabelle’s skin, the cuts he’d seen before the explosion. The strangely wondrous look on her face as she sat at his table with Brandy at her feet and clothes on her body.
    He took her hands in his, his breath trapped in his chest. A hundred questions shuffled through his head, all too pointed, too horrible to ask.
    â€œWhat . . . how did you escape?”
    â€œI had help. A friend. She told me how to get away, where to go. She told me to come to you.”
    Her fingers felt icy. He rubbed them in the warmth of his.
    â€œWhy me?” he asked.
    â€œBecause you would’ve died if I hadn’t.”
    â€œHow do you even know me?”
    She stared at her hands, clasped in his. Ryan’s patience was thin and brittle, but he forced a bland expression. Inside, though, turmoil churned.
    â€œI’ve always seen you, Ryan,” Sabelle murmured. “Since before your brother and sister died. The first time, I mean.”
    He stood abruptly. He’d moved away before he even realized he’d intended to.
    â€œNo,” she said quickly. “You don’t understand. It’s why I’m so valuable.”
    â€œWhat’s why?” he demanded, the soothing tones lost in his anger.
    He’d known it from the start—that she was like the other lunatics who haunted Love’s looking for a glimpse of the infamous twins who’d cheated death so many times. But Reece was dead—the permanent kind of dead—and Roxanne gone, largely because of the stalkers who wouldn’t leave her alone. He’d pegged Sabelle as one of them in those first few minutes after meeting her. Yet she’d somehow won him over, made him forget.
    â€œI see things, Ryan,” she said urgently. “Things that haven’t happened yet. Things that are yet to come. Do you understand?”
    â€œNot even a little bit.”
    â€œI knew Love’s was going to blow up because I’m a seer.”
    â€œA seer,” he repeated, nonplussed. “You mean you’re a psychic?”
    â€œIn a way. A powerful one. I was held captive because what I see comes true.”
    â€œAnd you busted out of prison to come save me,” he said in tones so cold they made her flinch.
    He couldn’t help it. He was angry and confused. He wasn’t even certain what they were talking about anymore. He’d gone from thinking the worst to absolute bewilderment. What did any of this have to do with him? With his brother and sister? With Love’s exploding?
    â€œDo you know what it means to know the future?” she asked, her voice vibrating with her emotion. She pushed out of her chair and came to stand in front of him. “Do you understand the power that can be wielded by knowing what’s going to happen tomorrow? Next week? Next year ?”
    Her gaze was steady now; her voice no longer wavered. She stood tall and proud, and so fucking beautiful that he had to look away.
    â€œDo you?” she demanded.
    He nodded slowly. “I can guess.”
    â€œI see the future,” she said again, forcefully, angrily. “And I am never wrong.”
    â€œNever?”
    She shook her head. All the antsy body language had faded away, but the desperation . . . it was still there, glowing brightly in those baby-blue eyes.
    â€œI came to save you because I knew you would save me.”
    â€œBecause you saw it?” he said evenly.
    â€œBecause I see you. I know what kind of man you are. You wouldn’t, couldn’t , turn away a woman in need.”
    â€œDon’t count on it.”
    â€œI am counting on it. I’ve bet my life on it.”
    The impassioned words echoed in the quiet kitchen and Ryan felt the reverberation down to his soul.
    â€œYou saved my life so you could use me?”
    She