Chapter 3

After the night we saw each other at the healing cottage, Julian stayed away for seven days.

He messaged me every day, saying there was trouble on one of the trade routes and he would come home once the accounts were settled.

The staff brought flowers and hot soup as usual. I ate regularly, took my medicine, packed my own account books, and settled my personal expenses.

There were only three days left until my departure.

Elder Vittorio called to say the final verification required the original bond certificate.

It was still locked in the safe at our old apartment.

Julian had always said we would live there again when we were old. That was why we had left the most important keepsakes from those years untouched.

I arranged to meet the building manager so I could collect the documents and make arrangements for my belongings.

When we reached the apartment, the door was ajar.

I heard Mia laughing inside.

“Didn’t you tell your wife no one else was allowed in here?” Mia asked.

Through the gap, I saw Julian lift her onto our old dining table and bend to kiss her neck.

I had helped him choose that table.

On our last anniversary, he had held me in that same room and told me he wanted a child.

The mark on my neck began to sting. I steadied myself against the wall without touching the door.

The building manager had heard them, too. She stopped awkwardly behind me.

I stepped back. “This isn’t a good time,” I said quietly. “We’ll come back later.”

“Mrs. Marchetti, would you like me to call someone?”

“No, thank you. Just hang on to the paperwork for me.”

I walked to the stairwell landing and stopped to catch my breath.

Julian hurried after me. His shirt wasn’t fully buttoned.

“What are you doing here?”

His gaze flicked toward the manager, then back to my face.

“Did you... see anything?”

“I came to pick up some old documents.”

I hadn’t answered his question. He seemed to take that as permission to straighten my scarf.

“Mia says someone’s been following her. I brought her here until things settle down. Don’t read into it.”

“I’ll leave once I have my things.”

I stepped aside, avoiding his hand.

A crash came from the apartment behind us.

Glass scattered across the stairwell. Then Mia screamed.

Thick smoke poured through the doorway, carrying the acrid smell of fuel.

Julian spun around, then grabbed my arm.

“Who did you bring here?”

For a moment, I didn’t understand. Then I realized what he was accusing me of.

“Just the building manager.”

“You knew Mia was in there!”

His grip made me wince. The manager spoke up quickly. “Sir, we only just got here. We haven’t touched anything!”

Another blast cut her off.

Julian released me and ran into the apartment. I gripped the railing and heard Mia calling his name.

The manager hit the fire alarm and pulled me toward the stairs.

But flames spreading up the outside wall had already swept through the window on the floor below. A burning window frame had fallen across the stairs. The door to the roof was jammed shut by stored clutter.

I covered my nose and mouth and retreated to our floor.

There was a fire escape at the far end of the apartment. I had lived there for years. I knew the way.

“Follow me. We can use the back door.”

The manager helped me through the entrance hall. The bedroom was beside the back exit. There were no flames inside yet, and the low cabinet containing the safe was within reach.

I hesitated.

The certificate could be replaced. But the old pendant that had helped my parents find me was in there, too.

I crouched, turned the combination dial, and took out the document envelope and the little box on the top shelf.

“Hurry!” the manager called from the back door.

I stood with them clutched to my chest, just as Julian came toward us from the bathroom, supporting Mia.

“Serafina? Why are you still here?”

“The stairs are blocked. We can get out the back.”

Before I finished speaking, a burning beam in the entrance hall gave way.

Julian instinctively wrapped himself around Mia and lunged toward the fire escape.

The manager yanked me aside, but a falling piece of timber struck my left shin. I dropped to my knees as broken glass pierced the back of my shoulder. The document envelope fell open.

I ignored the little box as it rolled away and pressed a protective hand over my belly.

“The baby...”

Smoke choked off the words.

Ayla tried to help me rise, but silver dust in the wound sent her recoiling in pain.

I grabbed the manager’s outstretched hand, barely managing to gather the envelope at my feet and hold it against my chest.

Through the smoke, I saw Julian carrying Mia out the back door.

He turned and called my name. His voice faded in and out beyond the fallen timbers.

Then a patrol warrior rushed in from the fire escape.

Even as he lifted me, I kept my hand over my belly.

This time, Julian wasn’t the one I was afraid of losing.