Chương 5
“I was gone for forty minutes.”
“That’s it?”
“That’s it.”
“Where were you?”
“Getting groceries.”
I stared at him.
“You left?”
His expression hardened.
“I live here too, Emma.”
The guilt hit immediately.
“I didn’t mean—”
“I know.”
He rubbed his forehead.
“I know you’re scared.”
We walked upstairs in silence.
The apartment door was unlocked.
That small detail made my stomach turn.
Liam had always locked the door twice.
He said once was for normal people and twice was for people who grew up watching too many crime shows.
Usually, I teased him about it.
Now I was grateful.
Inside, nothing looked destroyed.
That almost made it worse.
The couch was in place.
The dishes were still in the sink.
The television remote was exactly where I left it.
But my bedroom door was open.
I always kept it closed.
Not because I was hiding anything.
Because after losing my parents, having one small space that belonged only to me had become important.
I stepped inside slowly.
The drawer beside my bed was open.
My clothes were folded differently.
My books had been moved.
The small wooden box where I kept my mother’s necklace was sitting on the floor.
I rushed toward it.
The lid was open.
The necklace was still there.
I touched it with shaking fingers.
“Nothing is missing,” Liam said from behind me.
“That we know of.”
He looked uncomfortable.
“There’s something else.”
I turned around.
“What?”
He hesitated.
That was not normal.
Liam was usually direct.
“What?”
“There was a picture.”
My chest tightened.
“What picture?”
“The one from your parents’ anniversary.”
I stared at him.
“That was in the box.”
“I know.”
My hand went to the necklace.
“Where is it?”
He reached into his pocket and pulled out a plastic bag.
Inside was a photograph.
The edges were bent.
I took it from him.
My parents stood in front of our old house, smiling at something outside the frame.
My father had one arm around my mother.
My mother was holding a paper cup of coffee.
A normal moment.
A moment nobody would have cared about except me.
Except someone had touched it.
Someone had removed it from the box.
Someone had looked at it.
“Why would they take this?”
Liam did not answer.
Because neither of us knew.
My phone rang.
Both of us looked at the screen.
Alessandro.
I almost let it go to voicemail.
Then I answered.
“Hello.”
His voice came immediately.
“Are you safe?”
The question caught me off guard.
Not Where are you?
Not What happened?
Are you safe.
“Yes.”
A pause.
“You don’t sound safe.”
I looked at Liam.
“Someone broke into my apartment.”
Silence.
Not empty silence.
Controlled silence.
The kind that came before a person decided what to do.
“Did they hurt you?”
“No.”
“Liam?”
“I’m fine,” Liam said loudly enough for Alessandro to hear.
Another pause.
“I’m coming.”
“No.”
The answer came too quickly.
“I said no.”
“Emma.”
“You cannot show up here.”
“Why?”
“Because I don’t know what happens when you show up.”
The silence returned.
Then Alessandro said quietly,
“That’s fair.”
I did not expect that.
“I need information,” he continued.
“I need to know what was taken.”
“Nothing.”
“Are you sure?”
I looked at the photograph.
“No.”
His breathing changed.
“Send me a picture of the room.”
“No.”
“Emma.”
“I said no.”
For a moment, neither of us spoke.
Then he said,
“You’re angry.”
“Yes.”
“Good.”
I frowned.
“What?”
“Anger means you’re not frozen.”
I did not know what to say.
“I’ll send someone.”
“No.”
“Emma.”
“No one.”
My voice cracked slightly.
“I don’t want more people involved.”
Alessandro was quiet.
Then,
“Okay.”
I closed my eyes.
Again, that word.
Okay.
“You keep saying that.”
“Because I’m trying to listen.”
The answer unsettled me.
A man like Alessandro was supposed to argue.
He was supposed to demand.
Instead, he sounded tired.
“I’ll call you later,” he said.
“Why?”
“Because you’ll need answers.”
“And you have them?”
“No.”
The honesty surprised me.
“But I know where to start looking.”
The call ended.
I stood there staring at the phone.
Liam crossed his arms.
“You trust him.”
“No.”
“That was fast.”
“I don’t trust him.”
“Then why do you sound disappointed?”
I looked away.
Because he was right.
I hated that.
I hated how easily people could see things I refused to admit.
“I don’t know what I feel.”
Liam nodded.
“That’s probably the most honest thing you’ve said today.”
That evening, we searched the apartment together.
Not because we expected to find answers.
Because doing something felt better than sitting still.
Liam checked windows.
I checked drawers.
We found small things that had been disturbed.
Nothing obvious.
Nothing that explained why someone had entered.
Around midnight, Liam found a mark near the window frame.
A tiny scratch.
“Was this here before?”
I shook my head.
“No.”
He crouched down.
“Someone opened it.”
“Through the window?”
“Maybe.”
I stared at the glass.
We lived on the third floor.
Not impossible.
Just difficult.
The next morning, I received an email from an unknown address.
No subject.
No message.
Only one attachment.
A scanned document.
My hands went cold before I opened it.
It was a copy of my birth certificate.
Not the one with my current name.
The original.
Elizabeth Rose Bennett.
My real identity.
The name I had buried after my parents died.
The name I had abandoned when I moved away.
I stared at the screen until the letters stopped making sense.
Liam noticed my face.
“What is it?”
I closed the laptop.
“Nothing.”
His expression changed.
“Emma.”
I almost laughed.
Of course.
The one person who could see through every lie was standing five feet away.
I turned the laptop around.
He read the document.
Then he looked at me.
“Elizabeth?”
I swallowed.
“I had a different name.”
“Why?”
The answer had lived inside me for years.
May you like
But saying it out loud made it real.
“Because my father was supposed to testify.”
