Adrian remained standing under the shed.
His fists were clenched at his sides.
People kept moving past him.
He walked to the corner to check.
He almost bumped into an old man before looking down the street.
More people and cars passed, but no woman wearing a veil was in sight.
She was gone if she had been there at all.
“Boss.”
Calvin, Adrian’s assistant, had come and followed him from the car.
He was tall and lean, wearing a dark suit.
His eyes swept the streets once, then came back to Adrian.
“What are we looking for?” Calvin asked.
“Is there something wrong, Boss?”
Adrian opened his mouth, but no words came.
What could he possibly say?
‘I chased a dead woman down the street because I saw her.’
He ran a hand over his face and sighed.
“No,” he said.
“It’s nothing.”
Calvin frowned.
“But you jumped out of a moving car, Boss.
Did you see something suspicious?”
“I know what I did, Calvin.” His voice came out even as he forced himself to calm down.
“It’s nothing.
Forget it.”
Calvin didn’t press.
Ever since the madam had died, Adrian had never been the same.
He just stood there and waited for Adrian’s next move.
Adrian ignored the look his assistant was giving him.
Sarah was dead.
The proof was still in his possession.
He found it in the trash bin in his hospital room.
His mother must have discarded it, thinking it would help him forget Sarah once he recovered.
It was all that was left of her from the wreck.
A dead woman couldn’t sit at the bus stop in a busy street.
He supposed it was because of the date.
The seventh death anniversary had gotten under his skin.
The grief and loneliness decided to play tricks on him.
They put the face he’d wanted to see in the street that couldn’t be there.
A trick.
His mind playing cruel tricks on him.
He almost believed it.
Almost.
“Should we get going, Boss?” Calvin asked, bringing Adrian back to reality.
“Yeah,” Adrian replied, already turning to walk back to the car waiting for them.
The door shut with a heavy thud, and Adrian fell silent.
In the front seat, Calvin looked at his boss in the rearview mirror.
He didn’t speak, but motioned to the driver to go.
The sedan pulled out into traffic.
He shut his eyes and leaned his head against his seat.
The city passed outside in a blur.
***
Across the city, a bus hissed to a stop at the last station of its route.
Sarah stepped down onto the sidewalk.
Two children followed her lead and looked around.
“Mom, do you know where to go from here?” the little girl asked.
“Yes, dear.
It’s right down this street,” Sarah replied.
“Can I help?” Abby asked.
“I’m good at reading street signs, Mom.
Alec taught me!”
Sarah smiled.
“Did he?”
Alec, who was walking alongside his sister, grinned.
“Abby could already count the numbers from 1 to 100, Mom.
She can also read better, so I taught her how to read addresses.
Just in case she gets lost, she knows how to come home.”
Pride lit her son’s boyish smile, so like his father’s.
“That’s so kind of you, Alec,” she told him.
“But don’t forget, in case you get lost, don’t just talk to any stranger who offers you help.
It’s better to go to the authorities.”
The twins nodded and continued walking.
Abby figured out the odd numbers ran up one side of the street and the even ones up the other.
“125… 127… 129…” Abby continued to count.
“There it is, Mom!”
The young girl pointed to a small apartment building to their left.
They entered the compound, and Sarah knew this place.
“It’s unit 9,” Alec added.
“Since there are 5 units per floor, it must be on the second floor.”
He then glanced at their mother.
“Mom, do you need help with the bag?”
“It’s okay, sweetie.
Mom can handle it just fine,” Sarah answered.
Abby counted the steps as they took the stairs while Sarah walked behind them, taking one step at a time.
She had crossed an ocean with her two young children for a reason.
They came to ask for help, hoping for a place to stay before they moved again.
Sarah’s hands shook.
She prayed everything would go well tonight.
She couldn’t have her children sleeping outside in the cold.
“Number 9,” Abby read the number on the blue-painted door.
“This is it.”
Alec tiptoed to the door to reach the doorbell and rang it twice, even before Sarah could decide to change her mind.
He stepped right back beside his sister, right next to Sarah.
Inside, they heard slow, gentle steps, followed by a heavy lock turning.
The door opened slightly.
A chain held the door, keeping them apart.
An old woman stood behind the door, peeking through the small opening.
Her long white hair was tied at the nape of her neck.
She saw the two children first, then her eyes moved to the woman in a veil standing with them.
She opened her mouth, but no words came out.
The towel she was holding slipped from her fingers and fell to the floor.
Her eyes filled with tears.
Her hand trembled on the chain.
“Oh, my god… It can’t be… It can’t be…”
Sarah slowly lowered the veil, revealing her face.
The scar, the familiar features.
She gave Laura a bitter smile.
“It’s been a long time, Laura.
I hope we aren’t disturbing you.”
Laura was her nanny from day one.
Whenever Sarah’s parents were away, Laura took care of her.
However, before Sarah turned eighteen, Laura had to retire early because of a knee injury from an accident at the De Luca garden.
Sarah had chosen to come to Laura after arriving in Costa Verde because her place was the nearest one at the port.
Laura covered her mouth with both hands.
After giving Sarah a good look, she stepped forward and pulled her into a tight embrace.
“Emy.
It’s our Emy,” Laura cried as her shoulders shook, her voice breaking.
“Emy, is it really you?
Is it really our little princess?”
Sarah laughed as tears slid down her face.
No one had called her Emy for over ten years.
To the world, she was Sarah.
But to the De Luca family—to Laura—she had always been Emy.
“It’s me.
You see, I’m not little anymore, Laura.
In fact, I’ve got my own little ones.”
Laura pulled back slightly, her eyes turning to the young children watching them.
Her expression went soft and gentle.
“These little ones?”
Sarah smiled.
“They are mine, Laura.
They’re everything I have.”
Laura broke into a smile and hugged Sarah again.
The twins stood close, watching their mother cry happy tears for the first time in their lives.
They had found shelter.
But Sarah knew the past could still find her.
The Morettis were still out there.
And somewhere in the city, the man she’d left behind was trying to convince himself he hadn’t seen her at all.