After He Watched Me Drown, I Built My Empire novel · Chapter 5 of 24

Chapter 5: Drafting Set

I did not tell Cesare about the pill case, and I did not tell anyone.

The old man was dying, and I was angry at him, and I was sorry for him, and I could not make those feel like one person.

I went back to the cottage in the afternoon, because my father's drafting set was still in the closet.

Remo drove me and waited at the door of my room with his arms folded.

He did not come in, and I was glad.

The closet shelf held the wooden case my father had carried to every bridge he ever built.

I lifted it down.

Inside were a brass compass, steel dividers, a set of pens gone dry, and a roll of vellum tied with string.

On the inside of the lid, in his square pencil capitals, he had written: FOR SILVIA, WHEN YOU BUILD YOURS.

I had not opened that case since the funeral.

My hands were not quite steady, and I stood there until Remo spoke from the doorway.

"Take your time."

"I'm fine."

"I know. Take it anyway."

I packed the case into my duffel, with my laptop and the last of my clothes.

Footsteps came down the hall quickly.

"Silvia."

Cesare stood in the doorway beside Remo and did not look at him.

He had changed his shirt again.

His eyes were red, and I wondered whether he'd worked at that or whether it had come by itself.

"Can we talk? Just us?"

"Say it here."

"Fine." His voice cracked. "I panicked. Fiora was crying, and she said it was a harmless tradition, and I froze. I thought the patrol would pick you up in a minute. I would never have let you drown."

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