Chapter 3 - THE PHOTOGRAPH THAT SHOULDN'T EXIST
Dante invited me to his office.
I refused.
Not because I wasn't curious.
Because I was frightened.
He didn't argue.
Instead, he offered to meet me at a public café the following afternoon.
I agreed.
Orion remained beside me until Dante gently called him away.
The dog resisted.
Whined.
Then finally followed his owner.
That night, I couldn't sleep.
I searched through the old photographs my mother had left behind.
There weren't many.
A few birthdays.
A school portrait.
A photograph of us standing outside our tiny apartment in Queens.
Then I found something I'd forgotten.
A small silver pendant.
My mother had kept it in a wooden jewelry box.
It was shaped like a crescent moon.
On the back were three tiny letters.
I.R.B.
Isabella Romano Bennett.
I stared.
My mother had never told me she'd used another surname.
The next afternoon, I brought the pendant to the café.
Dante arrived alone.
Orion was with him.
The dog immediately settled beside my chair.
Dante looked at the pendant.
His expression changed.
“Where did you get that?”
“My mother.”
He reached toward it.
Then stopped.
“May I?”
I nodded.
He turned it over.
His face went pale.
“This belonged to my mother.”
I stared.
“What?”
Dante looked up.
“My mother gave it to Isabella shortly before she disappeared.”
My stomach tightened.
“Why?”
He hesitated.
Then said, “Because Isabella was carrying something dangerous.”
I stared.
“What?”
Dante looked toward the street.
May you like
Then back at me.
“Evidence.”
