Chapter 12: Every Page

I took my hand out of his.

"Say that again."

Kieran lifted his head.

His eyes were red.

"I read them," he said. "Every page."

"You said you didn't know."

"I lied. To you, to the bank, to everyone."

Odile, in the doorway, closed her eyes.

The white room was so quiet I could hear the rain start on the window.

"Why?" I said.

It was not really a question.

"Four days before the anniversary, Victoria showed me a message on her phone," Kieran said. "A thread between her and you."

"I never wrote to her."

"I know that now."

He took out his phone with a shaking hand.

"I photographed it because I couldn't believe it. I didn't know why."

I looked at the screen.

It was a conversation in my voice, from a number I had never owned.

"I can't keep doing this. I love him, but I'm tired of being invisible."

"Can you help me find a quiet way out?"

Under it, Victoria had answered, "Of course. Whenever you're ready."

Then, from me, "Please don't tell him. I'd rather he not watch me go."

I read it twice.

I felt oddly calm.

"And you believed it."

"It sounded like you," he said. "You'd been quiet for a year. You never asked me for anything, so I thought you didn't need to."

"I asked you for one thing, in a letter."

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