Chapter 2: Tell Her to Stay Quiet
Rachel set the patch down carefully.
"Has he tried to contact her before tonight?
Anything unusual in the last few weeks?"
Ivan hesitated.
"She called me ten days ago.
Said she'd been feeling dizzy.
Thought it was stress."
"Did she mention Luca?"
He looked at the wall.
"She said he'd been distant.
That he'd taken out a large insurance policy on her in March."
Rachel didn't write that down.
She already had.
Down the hall, Jessi was awake.
She hadn't spoken to the nurses.
But when Ivan stepped into the room, she grabbed his wrist with both hands and pulled him close.
"He put it there," she whispered.
"I felt him do it.
I thought it was a nicotine patch.
He said it was for my nerves."
"Jessi—"
"There's a woman." Her voice cracked.
"I found the messages three weeks ago.
She's twenty-six years old and Luca has been paying her rent for eight months."
Ivan kept his face still.
"He doesn't know I know," Jessi said.
"But I think—" She stopped.
Her eyes filled.
"I think he got tired of waiting for me to find out on my own."
Ivan squeezed her hand.
Then his phone buzzed.
It was a text from an unknown number.
May you like
Four words.
*Tell her to stay quiet.*
