The Girl With The Map

at Inferno we

d them that way - steady, uneventful. The kind of nights where nothing tr

t didn't f

dn't shake. Not music. Not voices

er's tablet pinged. Reservation list. We didn't always check it - m

Fake-sounding. Until

eo C

stopped

r

incidence. Cruz was

as dif

the letters would rearrange themse

s that Matteo...

is uncle Casemiro trusted him more than most. I remembered him - not because he was loud or flashy,

Spirales now...

here for

here

the tablet and l

me since the night my world cracked open. I thought the Guecos would

e map wasn'

I wasn't

hallway, glancing o

Lights dim. M

regular

t it

od?" Rosa aske

I said t

sh it. I love

he bar, and started serving drinks again lik

glancing

g...Wa

r whatever

louder than usu

e nervous teeth. But none of it mattered. I wasn't listening.

n't ta

mple dark blazer. Black jeans. His eyes scanned the room

eo C

and just as cold

the corn

ed like the damn devil in a tailored jacket

osa I'd

pron and walked over, he

said, voice s

le soft, like we

d. "Still goin

ped, but I didn

ng or just here to st

t amused. "I'll take whiskey. Nea

move, Not

ought it back. When I set it down, he t

Disappearing like that. New na

t?" I

your father's eyes. Trouble is, I don'

th leave my bod

till. "You wa

aid, sipping the whiskey. "You

"If you came he

. "The past has a way of showing up...

liding something

apk

crawled in black ink. But it wasn't

ready walking away. By the time

like

. No sec

ut into the night... le

kin in my pocket,

nates were

the real sites on my back. Almost like

ff room, and unzipped the back of my dress just e

l th

ll

ot fo

l in my pocket when

his stride. Like he wasn't two steps away from

need to wipe, trying to breathe like a norm

unter like he owned

said, not

olish with th

ou always show up whe

t the sense I'm

a drink wit

tudied me like I was a math pro

hrough a few thing

fr

ed a shru

e five years ago. That's rare.

n't reach my eyes. "M

" he said, his voice lowering.

e. I could smell the gin, the aftershave, t

id. "What are yo

ond, I al

o, the blood on that marble floor. The child I

in in my pocket... and r

ng anything,"

me. I could see it

ck. Let the s

There's talk going around. Cruz

art s

iting for a crack.

esn't sc

nto his coat pocket and slid a fol

d, then un

map... a

he said. "My father still

sy lines. They were

e, right?" he adde

p. He wasn

"Whoever swapped it... knew

ped th

how me

d it," he said, voice low and

gain - same way as always. Smoo

ime, he di

pped into M

ning out of w