Chapter 10: Night Four

I locked the apartment door behind me and leaned against it for a long moment before I trusted my legs to carry me further. The silence inside felt different now. Heavier. As if Elena’s voice had followed me home and settled into the walls.

Theo’s bedroom door was closed. I stood outside it for a few seconds and listened to the quiet sound of his breathing. He was asleep. For now that was enough. I walked to the kitchen, poured a glass of water I did not drink, and sat at the table with my phone face down in front of me.

The letter. The woman who was supposed to be dead. The debt that apparently still belonged to me. Every piece of information from the morning sat in my chest like something sharp. I kept replaying the calm way Elena had spoken about my father and the gaps in my own memory. The idea that there were nights I could not remember made my skin feel too tight.

I opened my laptop and typed her name the way I remembered it from the old photographs. Nothing useful came up. I tried variations. Still nothing. Whoever Elena was, she had been careful about remaining a ghost. That fact alone made her more dangerous.

My phone lit up with a message from Riven.

Tomorrow night will be different. Come prepared to answer questions. And Nora — do not try to research her. You will not like what finds you first.

I stared at the screen. He always seemed to know what I was doing even when he was not in the room. The thought should have made me angry. Instead it left a low, complicated heat under my skin that I refused to name.

I closed the laptop and went to bed. Sleep came in fragments. In one of them I was twelve again, standing in a hallway listening to my father argue with a woman whose face I could not quite see. In another I was writing something at a desk while someone stood behind me and guided my hand. I woke before dawn with my heart racing and the taste of panic in my mouth.

Theo was already awake when I entered the kitchen. He watched me carefully as I made coffee.

You did not sleep, he said.

I slept enough.

He set his mug down. That woman you met yesterday. I heard you talking to yourself about her when you came in. Who is she?

I kept my eyes on the coffee. Someone connected to Dad. That is all.

Theo’s expression tightened. Dad is dead. Why is someone connected to him still causing problems?

Because some debts survive the people who created them, I said. I need you to trust me a little longer.

He looked like he wanted to argue. Instead he nodded once and left the kitchen. The quiet he left behind felt heavier than before.

The day moved too slowly. I tried to work and failed. I tried to eat and failed at that too. Every time my phone buzzed I expected Riven’s name, but the messages were only from Mira asking if I was free to talk. I ignored them. There was nothing safe I could tell her yet.

When evening finally arrived I dressed in the same simple way Riven preferred and left the apartment before Theo could ask where I was going. The drive to the familiar building felt shorter than usual. My pulse was already elevated by the time I reached the door.

Riven opened it before I could knock. He looked the same as always — controlled, focused, dressed in black. The moment our eyes met the air between us shifted.

You came early, he said.

I wanted to get it over with.

He stepped aside. That is not how this works.

I walked into the room and heard the door close behind me. The space looked the same as it had on the first night, but everything about it felt different now that I knew Elena was watching from somewhere beyond it.

Riven walked past me and stopped near the window. He did not tell me to undress. He did not tell me to kneel. He simply watched me for a long moment.

Tell me what you thought about after you left Elena’s apartment, he said.

I thought about how many things my father lied about.

And?

I thought about the letter. And the gaps in my memory. And the fact that you knew who she was the entire time.

Riven nodded once. Good. You are asking better questions now.

I crossed my arms. Are you working for her?

I work with people when it is useful, he said. That is not the same thing.

It feels the same from where I am standing.

Then adjust where you are standing.

He walked toward me slowly. The closer he came the harder it became to keep my breathing even. He stopped just close enough that I could feel the heat of his body.

Night four is not about your body, he said. Not yet. Tonight is about honesty. Elena wants to know how much of the truth you can carry without breaking. So do I.

I held his gaze. And if I cannot carry it?

Then we will find out what happens next together.

He gestured toward the chair near the desk. Sit down. We are going to talk about the night you wrote that letter. And you are going to stop pretending you remember nothing.

I sat. My hands felt cold. Riven took the chair opposite me and leaned forward slightly, elbows resting on his knees.

Start with what you do remember, he said. Even the pieces that do not make sense.

I opened my mouth to tell him I remembered nothing. Then the first fragment surfaced without permission — the smell of cigarette smoke, a desk lamp, a hand resting over mine as a pen moved across paper. My stomach turned.

Riven watched the change in my face with quiet attention.

There, he said. That is the beginning. Keep going.

I stared at him while the room suddenly felt smaller and the past felt far too close. Somewhere outside this building Elena was waiting to see whether I would break under the weight of what I was about to remember. And Riven was going to sit there and watch every second of it.