Chapter 2 - The Name She Buried
Dante rented the only decent room at Bellweather’s small hotel.
By sunrise, three black vehicles were parked outside.
Anna noticed them while opening the grocery store.
Her coworker, Marcy, stared through the window.
“Your mysterious boyfriend brought reinforcements.”
“He’s not my boyfriend.”
“Fiancé, apparently.”
“Former fiancé.”
Marcy raised an eyebrow.
“You’re correcting the terminology now?”
Anna glared at her.
The bell above the door rang.
Dante entered alone.
“No bodyguards today?” Anna asked.
“They’re outside.”
“That’s comforting.”
“I told them not to enter.”
“You have people who need instructions not to enter grocery stores?”
“Yes.”
She studied him.
“What exactly do you do?”
“Import logistics. Construction. Restaurants.”
“And?”
Dante met her gaze.
“And things you wouldn’t approve of.”
“At least that sounds honest.”
“I’m trying.”
Anna pulled the emerald ring from her pocket.
“I remembered something else.”
Dante became still.
“A balcony.”
He waited.
“Music inside. You were angry.”
“What was I saying?”
“I couldn’t hear.”
“Anything else?”
“There was another man.”
Dante’s expression hardened.
“Describe him.”
“Older than you. Gray hair.”
“Scar?”
“I don't know.”
“On the right side of his neck?”
Anna stared.
“You know him.”
“Maybe.”
“Who?”
Dante didn't answer immediately.
Anna slapped the ring onto the counter.
“If you want me to trust you, stop deciding what I’m allowed to know.”
Dante looked at her.
“Victor Salvi.”
“Who is Victor Salvi?”
“My former adviser.”
“Former?”
“He disappeared the same night you did.”
Anna’s mouth went dry.
“Were we attacked?”
“I don’t know.”
“You've had four years.”
“I know.”
“And you still don't know?”
Dante leaned closer.
“I found your car at the bottom of a ravine.”
Anna went silent.
“There was blood inside,” he continued. “Enough that everyone assumed you were dead.”
“But no body.”
“No.”
“Why didn't police connect me?”
“Because Anna Reed didn't exist until two years ago.”
She stared at him.
“What?”
Dante placed a folder on the counter.
Anna didn't touch it.
“Your identification was created twenty-six months ago.”
“That’s impossible.”
“Birth certificate, Social Security record, everything.”
“You investigated me?”
“The moment I saw you.”
“That’s insane.”
“Yes.”
He didn't apologize.
Anna opened the folder.
There was a photograph.
She stopped breathing.
The woman in the photograph was her.
Longer hair.
Elegant black dress.
Both hands resting perfectly around Dante’s arm.
She looked happy.
Genuinely happy.
“That could be altered.”
“It isn't.”
Another photograph.
She was sitting at a piano.
Another.
Dante kissing her forehead.
Another.
Anna laughing beside an older woman.
Anna pushed the photographs away.
“Enough.”
Dante closed the folder.
She looked at him.
“If I was Elena, why can't I remember?”
“I don't know.”
“And what happened to my hand?”
“I don't know.”
Her voice sharpened.
“You keep saying that.”
“Because I won't lie to you just to make you feel better.”
The bell rang again.
An elderly man entered.
Dr. Samuel Voss, Bellweather’s retired physician.
He saw Dante.
Stopped.
Then immediately turned toward the door.
Anna noticed.
“Dr. Voss?”
He froze.
Dante looked between them.
“You know him?”
“He treated me when I first came here.”
Dante’s eyes sharpened.
“When?”
“Two years ago.”
Dr. Voss turned slowly.
“Anna.”
Dante stepped toward him.
“What condition was she in?”
“That’s confidential.”
“She was my fiancée.”
“She is my patient.”
Anna interrupted.
“Doctor.”
Voss looked at her.
“Did you know my name wasn't Anna Reed?”
Silence.
Anna’s face changed.
“Doctor?”
Voss whispered, “You need to leave Bellweather.”
Dante stepped forward.
“Why?”
Voss looked toward the window.
The color drained from his face.
A gray sedan had stopped across the street.
He whispered:
May you like
“Because they found her.”
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