Chương 6
Children often did.
They trusted adults with things adults did not deserve.
Inside the car, Blaire sat in the back seat with Fiona.
Luca sat across from them.
Not beside her.
Another small thing she noticed.
He was giving her space.
The city moved past the windows.
New York was louder than Chicago.
Faster.
Less interested in anyone’s problems.
Blaire watched people crossing streets with coffee cups and headphones.
Everyone looked like they were going somewhere.
She wondered when she had stopped feeling like one of those people.
“You can ask,” Luca said.
She looked over.
“Ask what?”
“You have been staring at me like you are trying to solve a puzzle.”
Blaire looked away.
“I am trying to understand why you are helping me.”
“That is fair.”
“Is there a complicated answer?”
“Yes.”
She looked back.
“And the simple one?”
He thought for a moment.
“The simple one is that someone helped me once when they had no reason to.”
Blaire waited.
He did not continue.
She noticed.
“You do not tell the whole story.”
“No.”
“Why?”
“Because I do not know you well enough.”
The answer was unexpectedly respectful.
She looked out the window again.
After a while, she asked, “Does everyone know about your family?”
“My family?”
“The name.”
Luca was quiet.
“Not everyone.”
“But enough people.”
“Yes.”
“How do you handle that?”
He smiled slightly.
“Poorly.”
She looked at him.
“I expected a different answer.”
“Most people do.”
“What is the real answer?”
“The real answer is that money solves certain problems and creates others.”
“That sounds like something rich people say.”
“It is.”
She laughed softly.
The sound surprised both of them.
It was the first genuine laugh she had made in days.
Luca noticed.
He did not comment.
She appreciated that too.
The car eventually stopped outside a quiet apartment building in Queens.
Blaire looked up.
“This is not Emma’s building.”
“No.”
Her guard immediately returned.
“Where are we?”
“A temporary apartment.”
She looked at him.
“I said I was going to my cousin’s.”
“You are.”
“Then why are we here?”
“Because your cousin called my assistant.”
Blaire froze.
“What?”
Luca looked uncomfortable.
“She contacted the number on my business card.”
“I do not understand.”
“She was worried.”
Blaire reached for her phone.
Three missed calls from Emma.
Her chest tightened.
She had been so focused on David that she had ignored everything else.
She called immediately.
Emma answered on the first ring.
“Oh my God.”
Blaire closed her eyes.
“Emma.”
“Are you okay?”
“Yes.”
“Fiona?”
“She is fine.”
A breath.
Then silence.
Blaire knew her cousin.
That silence meant anger was coming.
“You were going to show up here alone after everything that happened?”
Blaire looked down.
“I did not want to burden you.”
Emma sighed.
“You are my family.”
“I know.”
“No, you do not.”
The words were gentle.
That made them harder.
“You always think needing something makes you weak.”
Blaire swallowed.
Because it sounded too close to the truth.
“I am sorry.”
“I do not need an apology.”
Emma paused.
“I need you to stop disappearing when you are hurt.”
Blaire looked at Fiona, who was now playing with Captain the rabbit in the back seat.
“I am trying.”
“I know.”
That was the part that almost broke her.
Not anger.
Not criticism.
Understanding.
After the call ended, Blaire sat quietly.
Luca looked away, giving her privacy.
“You heard?”
“Not intentionally.”
She believed him.
That was becoming inconvenient.
“You have a habit of doing that.”
“Doing what?”
“Making it difficult to distrust you.”
A small smile appeared.
She laughed again.
Then immediately looked guilty.
“What?”
“Nothing.”
“You laughed.”
“I know.”
“That is allowed.”
“I know.”
But she said it like she was reminding herself.
They entered the apartment building together.
The place was simple.
Clean.
Temporary.
There were no flowers.
No expensive decorations.
No signs of wealth.
Just a quiet apartment with a small kitchen and a couch.
Blaire looked around.
“This is yours?”
“No.”
“Then whose?”
“A company apartment.”
She nodded.
That made more sense.
A place for employees.
Executives.
People who needed somewhere to stay.
A place that did not belong to her.
That mattered.
“Thank you,” she said.
Luca nodded.
“You are welcome.”
He turned toward the door.
Blaire looked up.
“You are leaving?”
“Yes.”
She hesitated.
“Why?”
“Because you need space.”
The answer was immediate.
Simple.
Blaire looked at him.
“Most people would stay.”
“Most people are not always right.”
The door opened.
Then his phone rang.
He glanced at the screen.
His expression changed.
Not fear.
Concern.
“Luca?”
He looked at Blaire.
“I need to take this.”
He stepped outside.
The door closed.
Blaire stood there with Fiona.
For the first time all day, everything became quiet.
Then her own phone buzzed.
Unknown number.
She almost ignored it.
Almost.
Then she saw the message preview.
It was a photograph.
Her old apartment.
The locked door.
And beneath it, a message.
You should ask Luca why David was already afraid of him before today.
Blaire stared at the screen.
Because suddenly the stranger who had helped her was no longer just a stranger.
And she had no idea what part of the story she was still missing.
Blaire stared at the message until the screen dimmed.
The photograph remained visible for only a few seconds before her phone locked.
But she had already seen enough.
The apartment door.
The exact scratch near the handle from when Fiona’s stroller had hit it last winter.
The small blue sticker Fiona had placed there after a preschool project.
David had not just found the building.
He had been inside.
Her fingers moved automatically.
She reopened the message.
The number was gone.
Deleted.
No contact.
No trace except the image.
Blaire looked toward the door where Luca had stepped outside.
The first thought that came was not about him.
It was about herself.
May you like
How quickly she had accepted comfort.
How quickly she had believed that because someone was kinder than David, they must be safe.
