Chapter 3

I went back to bed, put in my earbuds, and shut out the rest of the house.

That night, I slept hard.

Maybe because I had finally stopped waiting for them to turn around.

I was up before dawn the next morning. I went to my desk, pulled open the bottom drawer, and started taking things out one by one.

The first layer held a ring of keys and access cards. East Wing. Underground garage. Training hall side entrance. The black card that opened the family elevator without question.

Luca had given me those.

He used to say that as long as I lived there, no door in that house would ever be closed to me.

The second drawer held a black folder. Inside were flight clearances, gala invitations, and a few emergency travel papers.

Those were from Matthias.

He used to say that if I ever wanted to leave, he could have me anywhere in the world by morning.

At the bottom sat a small metal box.

Inside were the things Enzo had pushed into my hands over the years without comment. A backup phone. Car keys. Cash. A tracker.

He always said I might never need any of it. I still had to keep it close.

I shoved everything into garbage bags and dragged them downstairs.

I had just dropped the last one beside the bins when I heard footsteps behind me.

“Nerina, what are you doing?”

I turned.

All three of them were standing on the steps.

Luca’s eyes went straight to the bags. Matthias came down first and ripped one open. Keys, cards, the folder, the phone, all of it spilled across the stone.

For a second, no one spoke.

Enzo crouched, opened the metal box, and looked at me.

“You’re throwing these out?”

Matthias flipped through the folder, his expression changing page by page.

“Do you understand what any of this means?” he asked. “Those clearances keep you under our protection.”

Enzo looked up. “You don’t throw away a tracker and every access card you have unless you mean to walk out for good.”

Luca still hadn’t said anything. He only came closer, watching me.

I did not answer. My eyes had already gone to what he was holding.

A new access band.

A fresh key card.

The chip had not been activated yet.

I looked at it, then back at him.

“For her?”

The three of them went still.

No one answered.

I reached out and touched the edge of the card.

“I thought that meant the old ones could go.”

Luca pulled his hand back at once.

Matthias recovered first. “Viola is staying in the house for a few days,” he said. “She needs access.”

Enzo stood up. “She cannot stand outside every locked door waiting for someone to let her in.”

I nodded.

“I see.”

Matthias closed the folder. “Don’t turn this into something it isn’t. She’s here temporarily. None of this changes anything for you.”

Luca finally spoke.

“Your place here hasn’t changed.”

I bent down, gathered the keys and cards from the floor, and dropped them back into the bag.

“Got it.”

Then I threw the bag into the bin and turned away.

Viola was waiting for me at the turn in the corridor.

She had clearly seen all of it. The satisfaction on her face was almost impossible to hide.

She raised one arm and let the new access band catch the light.

“See?” she said. “The doors that used to open for you open for me now.”

I looked at her once and kept walking.

Back in my room, I locked the door.

She didn’t follow, but a few minutes later her voice drifted up from downstairs, bright with excitement.

“They really gave me full access?”

“I can use the elevator too?”

“I can come and go on my own now?”

Each question came sharper and happier than the last.

Then came theirs, lower, softer, answering her, indulging her, reassuring her.

I knew those tones too well.

They had used them on me for years.

I lay back on the bed and stared at the ceiling.

If the surgery erased them completely, what would they do?

Would they miss me at all?

Or would they go on exactly like this, making room for Viola until there was nothing left of me in that house but the memory of someone who used to live there?