The Girl With The Map

a's

I'd convinced mysel

ck it away and bury it under routine. I'd done it before-with pai

are colder. My steps are sharp

aw the tired in my face, handed me a cold drink, and went

was

oved between tables like I was floating-polite, quick, and distant. But every time

wasn'

come back

if I was relieved.

ght, I caugh

ith low light. One of the smaller booths where we usually

led low. He didn't order anything fancy. He j

eyes wer

ances. Not bo

ng...T

tried to focus on a drink order. But when I

im... it itched at a

back and asked Rosa, "Have yo

Didn't notice him come

ut my stoma

in here. Not wit

ut halfway down the hall I paus

as g

like

und. No glass left be

een that face before. Not clearly, though. Not recently. But somewhere in the dark par

asn'

e rememb

ting the piec

in t

leep after

with the lights off, legs folded beneath me, staring at nothing. Waiting f

did

one that held the pieces of the girl I used to be. Alexandria Moretti. Daughter of Marcini. The gi

ndkerchief he'd always kept in his pocket-stained now, the red fade

here

sk

-the map. My father's hidden legacy. It was almost childlike in how h

slowly, letting m

s when it

in the

t just w

oking for

k

verything..

he past wasn't d

en my phone buzzed. A

Just a

y, and when it

employees could access. And on the metal surface,

the in

zoomed in. There was no mistaking it. That was my

with shaking hands. I was halfway to the doo

run

ag

timing. Someone was poking the hornet's nest... a

a burner contact I had

still i

came almos

ever

s went

h

r

s? Someone from

s worse t

se knew ab

e remembere

n't just watc

ere wa

haunted me f

d tried to keep moving. My instincts said to run-far an

t

ho was pulling the

ind the bar restocking vodk

That invisible pull, like your body knows something

oked

u

gy. He didn't walk in like a man trying to make an impression. H

how righ

said, his voic

e bottles, wiping labels that didn't need cleaning

a barstool. "But then again...

the way that

ri

do you

resting his arms

ld and sharp.

swe

second. Just half

not

k much about y

e there's not

ou're hidin

then, fully.

t didn't reach h

. It was clean and quiet...fit for the atmosphe

left without

to make it

k it's si

d his head. "I'd like

e knot in my c

't just flirting. He was getting invested.

ooking," I said, m

hy

ut who I really am, yo

took another slow sip

ng again. Not loud. Not obvious. Just the q

on't you have pla

d a few bills on t

d smell the cologne on his skin, that fami

ke it her

alke

pulse hammering... wi

e the

just close

lose to

cl