Chapter 22 – The Unlocking
The phone sat in Maya's palm like it was made of lead.
She didn't know how it had ended up on their floor. She hadn't heard the door. There'd been no knock. But there it was—cracked, dusty, and terrifyingly real.
Elisa's phone.
Liam hovered beside her. "We have to turn it in."
"No," Maya said softly. "Not yet. We need to know what's on it."
He hesitated. "It could be illegal."
"So is stalking," she snapped, then softened. "I just… I need to see."
She pressed the power button. To her surprise, the screen lit up. The battery was at 43%. Someone had kept it charged.
There was no passcode.
Just a swipe to unlock.
That, more than anything, made her tremble.
Someone wanted her to see this.
The home screen was a photo of Elisa smiling beside a tall man—blurred, but unmistakably the same man from the alley.
Her brother.
Maya's breath caught.
Liam leaned closer. "Start with the messages."
She opened the texts app. Dozens of conversations appeared, but one name appeared more than any other:
"R"
Maya tapped it.
R: Don't go to the exhibit alone.
Elisa: I have to. It's the only way I'll see her.
R: If she recognizes you, everything unravels.
Elisa: I don't care. She needs to know what happened.
Maya stared at the screen, her heart racing.
Liam frowned. "Recognizes you?"
"Me," Maya whispered. "She meant me."
R: You're not thinking clearly. What if she talks?
Elisa: Then it's out. Finally.
R: You're not ready for that. Neither is she.
Elisa: That's not your decision anymore.
The last message was timestamped the night Elisa disappeared.
October 28, 10:03 p.m.
Just forty minutes before Maya found the girl in the alley.
There were photos, too. Hundreds of them.
Some were of paintings, some of random street corners in Florence, but one set of images made Maya's skin crawl.
They were taken from a distance—behind windows, across sidewalks, through café glass.
All of them were of her.
And some… were from back home.
Weeks ago.
Elisa—or someone else—had been following her long before the letters started.
"I think she came here," Maya whispered. "I think she's been here all along."
Liam shook his head. "But if that's true… then where is she now?"
Maya opened Elisa's last video, dated the morning of her disappearance.
Elisa stood in a sunlit apartment, face pale but determined.
"If anything happens to me, it's because I tried to tell the truth. I can't live with what happened. She has to know. Maya has to know."
The screen cut to black.
Maya sat frozen.
She'd tried to forget Florence. Tried to bury the fear, the doubt, the pieces that didn't make sense. But now it was crashing back like a wave she couldn't outrun.
Liam rubbed his hands over his face. "We have to go back."
"What?"
"To Florence. If we want answers. If you want to fix this."
Maya looked down at the phone.
Elisa's words echoed in her ears.
She has to know.
"Okay," Maya whispered. "We'll go."
By morning, they had one-way tickets booked and their bags packed.
They left the apartment under the watch of Detective Serrano, who promised to keep their location secret and their gallery secure.
But as they boarded the plane, Maya couldn't shake the feeling of eyes on her.
Watching.
Waiting.
She clutched Elisa's phone tightly, heart pounding in her chest.
For the first time in over a year, she was going back.
Back to Florence.
Back to the truth.