TER

Your Body

essandro on the driv

n't as

r disappear. His mother was supposedly dead. His brother was supposedly dead. My childhood memories were c

rner and my shoulder struck the door, Aless

ure was

what made

e, but his body still remembe

way from

let

the windows. I watched them pass and trie

Mor

kissed benea

ently sent me message

I had promised him

fingers again

appened th

ing it make me feel as if I were ab

sandro got out first. He came arou

tretched hand and

ark windows, expensive furniture, and enough security cameras to m

m instructions befo

raight to t

we need

at the

he truth. Talking

ession t

you are

ould be

room and dropped

ul for them. I don't know whether your mother is alive, whether your brother is dead, or whether

hook towar

ted

e me feel vulnerable when I was

losed the do

I don't know who sent those messages, and I don't know what happened in

d withou

your lies were painful just be

oked

t night, he seemed to

have felt

, I fel

ard the bathroom, but

ll

aus

thing I nee

ned s

the fire. You were barefoot and covered in blood. You

oat ti

d you t

he wa

h

t was what

wall

you ever remembered what happened that

h o

s sat be

hundred questions,

me before w

lifted

e

thought I wa

ok a

lla. I knew exactly who you were. I just

t in a way I co

. The nights he held me when I couldn't sleep, the way he remembered how I

love

hat was the part I

bathroom and l

front of the mirror, looking a

ring caught

it around

took

ounter and waited fo

did

tie loosened and his hair falling over his forehead. He had looked nervous, which was ri

ed me if I

d and pulled

d never been more c

mory wa

ew i

m for making m

k sounded o

nt to talk

asking

low, close to

o know if you

d at th

said h

her

laughed

mo

ed with steam. I stood beneath it for a long time, trying to wash aw

a black silk robe, Alessandro w

was be

riefly caught on my bare leg

ve found it

little flutter it c

about betrayal. It didn't ask whether a man deser

ardrobe and took

ep in the othe

nod

ri

cted him to a

ed tow

t's

ou want m

know. So

ng the ring bet

at from me before. I want to promise I'll never lie to

ring on the

ou the space you asked for, and when you're

ques

es met

on I know th

a perfec

onest one he had g

d toward

ssa

sto

anation that would make everything hurt less. A reason to believe

the question I

ack, would you

lders st

e

f I ch

rned

wer cross his fac

ause you loved him,

pau

inced you that I was the enemy, I wo

f you are

he looked genu

he no

ould deserve whate

fore I cou

d and stared at

d him to fi

tell me that he wo

given me the f

urt more than i

he ring

e I had fo

t ready to deci

ning, I gave up p

tanding by the window, his sleeves rolled to his

oked

long day, but the kind that settled into a per

e and put th

n't s

ok my

out a ch

the chair bes

we listened

d him about

ed back

u wouldn't ask

ted in what you

nod

a family gathering. Luca and I were there, along with several p

how

en d

red a

en d

my father had them working on the wrong leads. When yo

foun

di

eemed to g

er

he c

looked at

were holding his hand. When I entered, you looked at

were

urs. I don't

on't

ings they shouldn't have been, but I didn't understand everythi

wh

oked

ave

lt c

die tha

o's jaw t

n away. I neve

let everyone be

father sa

believ

nted

wer was

to breathe through the pre

other might be alive. He had married me knowing I might remember

ad said

think I des

ry

didn't

o

h

at me for

I was

t expec

d before I

me, Bella. You stood beside me when everyone warned you not to. I thought if I

a bitt

rotecting you and keeping

red a

d

now the

ess like the powerful Alessandro Moretti and

to reac

d to ha

d ne

ad, I

ng back

moved aside

hed the hallway w

re is some

sed m

rse th

ut stopped a care

My father spent years looking for it. Whatever it

ned a

d Luca

er fou

down at

, like the beginning of a memory try

mething small and cold

ke

not

ri

ed up

o was wat

t i

ain I wore beneath it. I had owned it for years, long before I met

small pendant hidde

led i

n't a

kened with age, its clasp

dro wen

id you

it to me when

t as though it

take

h

spent sixteen year

it ti

is inside must

e, I pressed my thumbn

icked

raph of two children sta

scar through h

irl w

, written in a child's uneven

e you forge

d it

oked at A

otograph with an express

r,

it was som

gnit

out this, I

his hea

o

ook like you've j

he locket, then

know that

e is

lifted

ur

mach d

ying to reconcile the neat little l

en the mess

d someone

t someone would

eft myself

faced, sharp enough

of me, holding the lock

Bella. No matter what happ

tears runnin

asked him

come ba

ed his foreh

wa

he edge of

ard me, but I lifted

t

fro

he photograph

ned the lo

on the inside of the clasp

na

Lu

lessa

A

red a

miliar, but I co

he engraving and swo

it mean?

dn't

ssa

saw the truth in his fa

of the girl who

ok my

id my mother die

e

name inside a lo

oked

wasn't your m

m went

couldn't hear the hum of the refrige

hear was my

photograph of

I had writt

nside a locket that had been hangin

the one thing that

s your

red a

ver had

was what my fat

, if Luca had known her and I had forgotten her, then

happened to the

brated on t

nown n

mess

lessandro why your sister was wearing

oked

d read it ove

had known him, my husband

fire, whatever they had taken from me, the worst

out which sist