Chapter 2: The Name She Didn't Want Me to Hear
She was asleep.
Not hiding.
Not threatening.
Just…
collapsed against my side, still wearing her cleaning uniform, a mop bucket tipped over near the door.
I didn't move.
Emma's breathing was slow and shallow, her cracked hands curled against her chest.
She hadn't meant to fall asleep here.
She'd probably meant to rest for one minute and her body had simply given out.
I should have woken her.
Should have called someone.
Instead I lay there in the dark, listening to her breathe, and felt something I hadn't felt in two years.
Stillness.
In the morning, she jolted awake before I could say a word.
"I'm so sorry — I didn't mean — I'll go, I'll go right now—"
"Emma."
She froze.
"When did you last sleep more than two hours?"
She didn't answer.
That was answer enough.
Then Luke appeared in the doorway.
He looked at Emma.
He looked at me.
Something shifted in his expression — something careful and calculated — and he said quietly, "Mr.
Caruso.
You have a call.
It's about the Carter family account."
Emma went completely still.
I looked at her.
"You know that name."
She wouldn't meet my eyes.
"Emma.
Look at me."
When she finally did, I saw it — not fear of me.
Fear of something else.
May you like
Something she'd been carrying long before she ever walked through my door.
"What aren't you telling me?"
