ked in the library for hours, surrounded by half-read reports and a cup of cold coffee. His father's portrait hung over the

e she wa

en

a Ri

ena T

hate

yet she walked the halls as if time hadn't passed. As if it hadn'

his teeth and pi

research some

assistant as

er screen, his gaze fixed, his

estigate someone," he sai

apers have been i

ief silence on

ion to her o

everything about her, Lucía: where she's been, who she

e faltered f

you want to kn

f not knowin

ghts flickered like warnings. A feeling burned in her st

taly. Three

k in a messy bun. She walked quickly along Via dei Servi, glancing back every so often. N

drawing class?" a classmate

rced a

n yesterday

history. Or her country. She had become someo

mber that was her name now. But it was better than goin

ised her in the middle of the night. She was in the greenhous

d. She knew he was be

ed being the p

steps, without taking

o are y

trembled in her hands. "Sometim

been tending since she arrived. It was ab

there's no public record of that. Your signature changes. You use different initials. In some pla

Her eyes weren't af

investiga

I should have do

asn't tense. It was dense.

't inter

he apo

go. Santa L

ing a sealed envelope fr

Read it when

bag and walked out to the parking lot, whe

sister asked, gripping th

hook he

want to k

pe days later, alone, in a

g was the

ro insisted. "It's not just fear. There's s

leaving the wateri

ever. I thought you hated me. That

asked bluntly. "Di

nic?" he asked, his voice sharpening. "Becaus

ked at hi

you kn

o didn't

used a middle name. Then you disappeared from the system. There

pa

othing to d

with an ancient despair. "You left me not knowing if you were alive, i

e," she finally blurte

stepped ba

what w

er gaze. She couldn

the guest room, Ele

la

king about staying there longer. But somethi

you have

to me... if anyone mentions the name 'Benedett

a fr

oes that family ha

had alread

reopened the envelop

was labeled "Confidential M

en it, but it

rd req

re to himself than anyone else. And as the storm

the bottom of i