"You? In a Place Like This?" She Said Before the Manager Bowed

CHAPTER 2 - A NAME FROM THE PAST

Daniel Reyes.

The name struck Elena harder than Camila's insult ever could.

She followed Martin into the private salon because her legs moved before her thoughts did. Behind her, Camila insisted on coming too, suddenly sweet, suddenly eager, as if meanness could be folded away like a glove.

The private room was quiet and gold-lit. Velvet trays waited on a walnut table. Necklaces, earrings, and antique brooches from Elena's late mother's estate had been restored for auction. The pearls at Elena's neck were the only piece she had kept for herself.

Daniel looked around with polite uncertainty. "I think there's been some mistake," he said. "We're not here for a private showing."

"You are now," Camila said quickly, touching his arm. "Elena always liked attention."

Elena ignored her. She was studying Daniel's face. The scar. The gray eyes. The careful way he stood, as if he had learned not to take up too much room.

"Have we met before?" she asked.

Daniel frowned. "I don't think so."

Camila gave a short laugh. "Trust me, if you had, you'd remember."

Martin entered with a folder for Elena's signature. On top of it lay a photograph he had taken from the archive box by mistake. Elena saw it at once.

An old picture.

Two girls on a front porch. One ten, one seventeen. And between them, a little dark-haired boy with a bandage above his eyebrow.

Daniel reached for the photo before she could stop him.

He went pale. "Where did you get this?"

Camila looked from him to Elena. "What is that?"

Elena's pulse thudded in her throat. "That was taken thirty years ago in Seabrook."

Daniel's hand shook. "My adoptive mother told me I was brought from Seabrook after an accident."

Camila stared. "Adoptive?"

He didn't even look at her.

Then he turned the photograph over.

On the back, in Elena's mother's handwriting, were five words:

For Rosa, until he is safe.

Camila whispered, "Who's Rosa?"

Elena closed her eyes for one second.

Rosa was her sister.

The sister everyone believed had run away with stolen money.

And Daniel was somehow tied to the night she vanished.