By the following day, Matteo had stopped pretending he was curious.<\/p>\n
He wanted answers.<\/p>\n
He called Rafael into his office and told him to find out everything he could about Liana.<\/p>\n
Rafael had been with Matteo long enough to understand the difference between a request and an order.<\/p>\n
He nodded.<\/p>\n
"How far back?"<\/p>\n
"Far enough."<\/p>\n
Rafael paused at the door.<\/p>\n
"And if there's nothing?"<\/p>\n
Matteo looked at him.<\/p>\n
"Then you come back and tell me there's nothing."<\/p>\n
Rafael left without another word.<\/p>\n
I stayed behind.<\/p>\n
Matteo stood beside his desk, turning a small object between his fingers.<\/p>\n
It was a photograph.<\/p>\n
I could not see the picture from where I stood, but I noticed the way he held it.<\/p>\n
Carefully.<\/p>\n
Like something that could cut him if he gripped it too tightly.<\/p>\n
"Do you think she knows who I am?" he asked.<\/p>\n
"Everyone knows who you are."<\/p>\n
"That's not what I meant."<\/p>\n
I understood.<\/p>\n
He wanted to know whether Liana knew the man behind the reputation.<\/p>\n
Whether she had seen something in him that the rest of us had learned to ignore.<\/p>\n
"I don't know," I said.<\/p>\n
He slipped the photograph into a drawer.<\/p>\n
"Find out."<\/p>\n
I almost reminded him that Rafael was already doing exactly that.<\/p>\n
Instead, I left him alone.<\/p>\n
The house felt different that afternoon.<\/p>\n
Nobody said anything openly, but everyone had noticed the change in Matteo.<\/p>\n
He no longer watched Noah alone.<\/p>\n
He watched Liana, too.<\/p>\n
If she entered a room, his attention followed her.<\/p>\n
If she left, he noticed.<\/p>\n
He even began asking questions about ordinary things.<\/p>\n
Where had she worked before?<\/p>\n
Who had recommended her?<\/p>\n
How long had she been in the area?<\/p>\n
Liana answered what she could.<\/p>\n
She never argued.<\/p>\n
She never offered more than necessary.<\/p>\n
That made Matteo more suspicious, not less.<\/p>\n
I watched the two of them from a distance and wondered how long it would take before one of them finally said what they were both avoiding.<\/p>\n
Then something happened that changed the atmosphere completely.<\/p>\n
Noah became upset while Matteo was holding him.<\/p>\n
It started with a small whimper.<\/p>\n
Matteo shifted him higher against his chest.<\/p>\n
The baby turned his face away.<\/p>\n
A second later, the crying began.<\/p>\n
Matteo tried to soothe him.<\/p>\n
He walked slowly across the nursery.<\/p>\n
He spoke in a low voice.<\/p>\n
He offered the toy Noah usually liked.<\/p>\n
Nothing helped.<\/p>\n
Liana appeared at the doorway.<\/p>\n
She stopped when she saw them.<\/p>\n
For a moment, she did not move.<\/p>\n
Matteo looked at her.<\/p>\n
"Come here."<\/p>\n
She approached carefully.<\/p>\n
He held Noah out.<\/p>\n
The baby reached toward her before Matteo had even finished moving his arms.<\/p>\n
That was the part I remembered.<\/p>\n
Not the crying.<\/p>\n
Not Matteo's expression.<\/p>\n
The reach.<\/p>\n
A tiny child making a choice without understanding the consequences.<\/p>\n
Liana took Noah.<\/p>\n
He settled almost immediately.<\/p>\n
Matteo lowered his hands.<\/p>\n
They hung at his sides for a moment before he curled them into fists.<\/p>\n
"Why?" he asked.<\/p>\n
Liana looked at him.<\/p>\n
"Why what?"<\/p>\n
"Why does he do that?"<\/p>\n
She glanced down at Noah.<\/p>\n
"I don't know."<\/p>\n
"Don't do that."<\/p>\n
Her eyes lifted.<\/p>\n
"Do what?"<\/p>\n
"Give me an answer you don't believe."<\/p>\n
She went very still.<\/p>\n
Noah rested his head beneath her chin.<\/p>\n
Matteo took one step closer.<\/p>\n
"Tell me the truth."<\/p>\n
For several seconds, Liana seemed to consider it.<\/p>\n
Then she said, "Some children need time to trust people."<\/p>\n
Matteo's face hardened.<\/p>\n
"He's my son."<\/p>\n
"I know."<\/p>\n
"Then why won't he settle with me?"<\/p>\n
She swallowed.<\/p>\n
"I can't answer that for you."<\/p>\n
It was an honest answer.<\/p>\n
It was also the wrong one for a man who had spent his life expecting every question to have a useful answer.<\/p>\n
Matteo turned away.<\/p>\n
He told her to take Noah upstairs.<\/p>\n
She obeyed.<\/p>\n
I followed him into the corridor after she had gone.<\/p>\n
"You can't force a child to trust you," I said.<\/p>\n
He stopped.<\/p>\n
"I didn't ask for advice."<\/p>\n
"No. You asked why."<\/p>\n
He looked at me with the kind of anger that was really frustration wearing a different face.<\/p>\n
I should have stopped there.<\/p>\n
Instead, I added something I regretted almost immediately.<\/p>\n
"Maybe the baby isn't the only one who needs to feel safe."<\/p>\n
Matteo said nothing.<\/p>\n
But his eyes changed.<\/p>\n
I knew I had reached something he did not want touched.<\/p>\n
That evening, he called me back to his office.<\/p>\n
The photograph was on his desk.<\/p>\n
This time, he turned it around.<\/p>\n
It showed a woman standing outside a building.<\/p>\n
Her hair was darker than I remembered, and the picture was old enough that the edges had begun to curl.<\/p>\n
I recognized her anyway.<\/p>\n
Alessia.<\/p>\n
For a moment, I could not speak.<\/p>\n
She had been part of Matteo's life before she disappeared.<\/p>\n
Not an employee.<\/p>\n
Not a distant acquaintance.<\/p>\n
His wife.<\/p>\n
The woman everyone had believed was gone for good.<\/p>\n
Matteo watched my face.<\/p>\n
"You remember her."<\/p>\n
It was not a question.<\/p>\n
"Of course."<\/p>\n
He tapped the photograph.<\/p>\n
"Look at it properly."<\/p>\n
I did.<\/p>\n
There was nothing unusual about the picture itself.<\/p>\n
Alessia stood with one hand at her side and her head slightly turned, as though someone had called to her just before the camera took the photograph.<\/p>\n
But there was something about her expression.<\/p>\n
She looked worried.<\/p>\n
Not frightened of the camera.<\/p>\n
Frightened of whoever stood beyond it.<\/p>\n
"Where did you get this?" I asked.<\/p>\n
"It was among the things I kept."<\/p>\n
"Why are you showing me now?"<\/p>\n
He leaned back in his chair.<\/p>\n
"Because Liana reminds me of someone."<\/p>\n
I looked at the photograph again.<\/p>\n
"Alessia."<\/p>\n
He nodded once.<\/p>\n
The name sat between us like an accusation.<\/p>\n
I had heard many stories about what happened when Alessia vanished.<\/p>\n
Some said she had betrayed Matteo.<\/p>\n
Others believed she had run because she could no longer live with his enemies circling their family.<\/p>\n
Nobody had ever produced an explanation that satisfied everyone.<\/p>\n
Matteo had never spoken about her for long.<\/p>\n
Whenever her name came up, he closed the subject.<\/p>\n
I had assumed he was protecting his pride.<\/p>\n
Now I wondered if he had been protecting himself from a question he could not answer.<\/p>\n
"Do you think Liana knew her?" I asked.<\/p>\n
"I think Liana knows more than she's telling us."<\/p>\n
He returned the photograph to the drawer.<\/p>\n
Then he locked it.<\/p>\n
I remember the sound of the key turning.<\/p>\n
It was small.<\/p>\n
Ordinary.<\/p>\n
But it made me think of all the things Matteo believed he could keep safe by locking them away.<\/p>\n
The next morning, Rafael returned.<\/p>\n
He had found some information about Liana, but nothing that explained her connection to Alessia.<\/p>\n
Her history appeared incomplete.<\/p>\n
There were gaps.<\/p>\n
Names that led nowhere.<\/p>\n
Details that could not be confirmed.<\/p>\n
Rafael placed his notes on the desk.<\/p>\n
"She hasn't been living under the same name for very long," he said.<\/p>\n
Matteo read the page without speaking.<\/p>\n
"Who was she before?"<\/p>\n
"I haven't established that."<\/p>\n
"Then keep going."<\/p>\n
Rafael nodded.<\/p>\n
Before he left, he looked toward the closed office door.<\/p>\n
"There's something else."<\/p>\n
Matteo raised his eyes.<\/p>\n
"What?"<\/p>\n
"She reacts whenever anyone mentions the chapel."<\/p>\n
The room fell silent.<\/p>\n
I looked at Matteo.<\/p>\n
He looked at Rafael.<\/p>\n
Nobody asked him to explain.<\/p>\n
We all knew the chapel had become a place Matteo avoided whenever he could.<\/p>\n
It was connected to his marriage.<\/p>\n
To Alessia.<\/p>\n
To the last time anyone remembered seeing her before she vanished.<\/p>\n
Matteo pushed the notes aside.<\/p>\n
"Find out why."<\/p>\n
Rafael left.<\/p>\n
I stayed where I was, trying to make sense of what we had learned.<\/p>\n
Liana knew how to calm Noah.<\/p>\n
She seemed to recognize the fear behind his crying.<\/p>\n
She reacted to Alessia's name.<\/p>\n
And she was frightened of the chapel.<\/p>\n
One clue could have meant nothing.<\/p>\n
Together, they were becoming difficult to ignore.<\/p>\n
Later that afternoon, I found Liana in the nursery.<\/p>\n
Noah was asleep in her arms.<\/p>\n
She sat beside the crib, looking at him as if she were memorizing his face.<\/p>\n
I stood in the doorway.<\/p>\n
She noticed me but did not move.<\/p>\n
"Has Matteo asked you about Alessia?" she said.<\/p>\n
I had not expected the question.<\/p>\n
"Why do you ask?"<\/p>\n
Her eyes stayed on the baby.<\/p>\n
"Because I know he has been looking at me."<\/p>\n
I could have lied.<\/p>\n
I could have told her that Matteo was only being cautious.<\/p>\n
Instead, I said, "He wants to know who you are."<\/p>\n
Liana closed her eyes briefly.<\/p>\n
"And if he finds out?"<\/p>\n
I looked at Noah.<\/p>\n
His little hand rested against her chest.<\/p>\n
"That depends on what the truth is."<\/p>\n
She finally turned toward me.<\/p>\n
For the first time since I had met her, her calm expression completely disappeared.<\/p>\n
What remained was a woman who had been carrying something heavy for a very long time.<\/p>\n
"I never wanted to hurt him," she whispered.<\/p>\n
I did not know whether she meant Matteo or Noah.<\/p>\n
Perhaps she meant both.<\/p>\n
Before I could ask, the baby stirred.<\/p>\n
Liana adjusted him gently, and he settled again.<\/p>\n
Then she looked at me.<\/p>\n
"Please don't let Matteo bring everyone to the chapel."<\/p>\n
I felt a chill move through me.<\/p>\n
"Why?"<\/p>\n
She looked down at Noah.<\/p>\n
"Because some things should have stayed buried."<\/p>\n
By the following day, Matteo had stopped pretending he was curious. He wanted answers. He called Rafael into his office and told him to find out everything he could about … <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":39093,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-39095","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-insightdrama"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39095","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=39095"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39095\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":39105,"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39095\/revisions\/39105"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/39093"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=39095"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=39095"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=39095"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}