Chapter 3 - THE PHOTOGRAPH IN THE BLUE FOLDER
The message remained on the screen between us.
DON'T TRUST THE MAN BESIDE YOU.
My first instinct was to move away from Luca.
My second was to ask who had sent it.
Instead, I asked the question that frightened me most.
“Who is Chloe?”
Luca stared at the phone.
“I told you.”
“No.”
I held it up.
“You told me a woman died.”
His eyes met mine.
“She was my wife.”
“Was?”
His silence answered more than words could.
I opened the blue folder again.
There were photographs I had never seen.
Chloe outside the hospital.
Chloe holding newborn Fiona.
Chloe sitting inside a car.
Chloe beside an older man I recognized immediately.
Luca's father.
I looked at the date.
The photograph had been taken nearly a week after Fiona's birth.
My stomach turned.
“Your father knew she was alive.”
Luca nodded.
“Yes.”
“And you?”
“I knew she was alive for nine days.”
“What happened on the ninth day?”
His expression hardened.
“She disappeared.”
“Because of your father?”
“No.”
“Because of you?”
“No.”
“Then who?”
Luca looked toward the bedroom door.
“I don't know.”
I hated that answer.
But I could see the pain behind it.
“What did the police say?”
“They said she left voluntarily.”
“Did you believe them?”
“No.”
“Why didn't you report her missing?”
“I did.”
He took a breath.
“The report was filed under another name.”
I frowned.
“Why?”
“Because someone inside the department was giving information to whoever was looking for her.”
I stared at him.
This sounded impossible.
Yet the documents were real.
The photograph was real.
The message was real.
“What happened to the investigation?”
“It disappeared.”
I looked at him.
“You're telling me the police report disappeared?”
“Yes.”
“Luca, this is insane.”
“I know.”
“Then why marry me?”
His face fell.
The question had hurt him.
“Because I love you.”
I shook my head.
“That's not enough.”
“I know.”
He looked at the trunk.
“I wanted to give you a normal life.”
“You built our marriage on a lie.”
“I built it around protecting Fiona.”
That stopped me.
“From what?”
He didn't answer.
Then something fell from the blue folder.
A small photograph slid across the floor.
I bent down.
It showed Chloe holding Fiona.
Behind her stood a black sedan.
On the windshield was a parking permit.
I recognized the emblem.
Moretti Holdings.
But there was something written underneath.
A handwritten letter.
M.
Luca saw it.
His face changed.
“That wasn't supposed to be there.”
“What does M mean?”
He didn't answer.
I turned the photograph over.
There was a sentence written in Chloe's handwriting.
IF ANYTHING HAPPENS TO ME, ASK DAMIAN.
“Who's Damian?”
Luca looked away.
“My older brother.”
I stared at him.
“You never told me about him.”
“I told you I had a brother.”
“You said his name was Marco.”
His expression changed.
“Marco is my younger brother.”
“And Damian?”
Luca sat on the edge of the bed.
“Damian was my father's first son.”
I waited.
“He died.”
“When?”
“Twenty years ago.”
I looked at the photograph again.
The man beside Chloe was not Luca's father.
It was Damian.
Alive.
Or at least alive when the photograph was taken.
“That's Damian.”
“Yes.”
“He wasn't dead.”
“No.”
“Then why did you tell me he was?”
“I didn't.”
“You let me believe it.”
“I never talked about him.”
That was true.
And somehow worse.
I returned to the photograph.
“What happened to him?”
Luca rubbed his forehead.
“He disappeared too.”
Two missing people.
One family.
One locked trunk.
I suddenly understood why Luca had been afraid.
But another question remained.
“Why would Chloe write his name?”
“I don't know.”
I looked at the black phone.
“Then we're going to find out.”
“No.”
The firmness in his voice surprised me.
“You don't understand.”
“I understand that my husband has been lying to me for three years.”
“I lied because people around me were dangerous.”
“And now?”
“Now they know you're my wife.”
His words chilled me.
Before I could respond, footsteps sounded in the hallway.
We both turned.
Fiona appeared in the doorway.
She was rubbing her eyes.
“Daddy?”
Luca immediately stood.
“Baby, why are you awake?”
“I heard voices.”
She looked at me.
Then at the photograph in my hand.
Her expression changed.
“That's Mommy.”
I knelt.
“Yes.”
She came closer.
Then pointed at the man beside Chloe.
“That's Mr. Damian.”
My heart stopped.
“Fiona, have you seen him?”
She nodded.
“Where?”
She looked toward the window.
“Outside.”
“When?”
“Sometimes.”
Luca went completely still.
“How long?”
Fiona shrugged.
“He comes when Daddy isn't home.”
I looked at Luca.
He looked at me.
Then Fiona said the words that changed everything.
“He told Mommy not to trust Daddy.”
Silence.
Luca's face went white.
“What did you say?”
Fiona frowned.
“Mr. Damian said Daddy didn't know the whole secret.”
I looked down at the photograph.
The black sedan.
The letter.
Damian's name.
Then Fiona reached into the pocket of her pajamas.
She pulled out a tiny silver bracelet.
“I found this in the box.”
Luca stared at it.
His expression collapsed.
“That belongs to Chloe.”
Fiona held it toward me.
“There was a note.”
“What note?”
She looked confused.
“I gave it to Daddy.”
Luca stared at the bracelet.
Then whispered,
“No.”
I stepped closer.
“What?”
May you like
He looked at me.
“That bracelet was buried with Chloe.”
