Chapter 4 - THE FIRE THAT KILLED MY FAMILY
I was nine when the fire happened.
My mother had been making dinner.
My little brother, Luca, was six.
He was sitting at the kitchen table drawing dinosaurs.
I remembered the smell of garlic.
The sound of rain.
The way my mother laughed when Luca insisted his dinosaur needed wings.
Then someone knocked.
A man stood outside.
I couldn't see his face.
My mother opened the door.
They argued.
Quietly at first.
Then louder.
I remembered one sentence.
"You promised this would be over."
The man said something I couldn't hear.
My mother began crying.
Then he left.
Twenty minutes later, the house caught fire.
I survived because I'd gone upstairs to retrieve a book.
My mother and brother didn't.
The official report called it an electrical accident.
I believed that for years.
Until I found a letter hidden among my mother's belongings.
A letter addressed to someone named Spedaro.
Tomaso stared at me.
"What letter?"
I swallowed.
"The one my mother wrote before she died."
His face drained.
"Where is it?"
I hesitated.
"Safe."
He stood.
"Anna, listen to me carefully."
My stomach tightened.
"That letter could be dangerous."
I stared.
"Why?"
He looked toward the door.
May you like
Then whispered:
"Because your mother's death wasn't an accident."
