The Daughter They Erased Came Back Untouchable novel · Chapter 17 of 24
Chapter 17: Forty-Eight Letters
I did not open the crate in the kitchen.
I carried it up the back stairs against my chest, and I set it on the camp bed in the piano room.
Hanna woke when the bed creaked, and she took one look at my face and walked out, closing the door behind her with great care.
Fiammetta stayed on the floor with her eyes shut.
She was not asleep.
I untied the kitchen string.
The top envelope was dated the first of the month after I had left, in Nonna's handwriting, and the flap had never been lifted.
I slid my thumb under it.
"My dear Nerina," I read, in a whisper, to the empty room. "They have told you I am dead, or ill, or ashamed. I am none of those things. I am sitting on the landing where I was sitting when your sister fell, and I am writing to say I saw your hand close on her sleeve."
My eyes blurred, and I had to stop.
"Keep this letter. Keep every one. One day you will be asked who loved you in this house, and you will be able to answer."
I pressed the page flat against my knees.
"Do not write to your father. Do not ask him for anything. Count. Count the ships, the hours, the days until you are sixteen. You will see how short it is."
Fiammetta's voice came out of the dark, hoarse.
"Is it bad?"
"No."
"Is she angry with me?"
"She doesn't say your name."
"That's worse."
"No," I said. "It isn't."
I took the last envelope from the bottom of the crate.
It had been written in June, in a hand that wobbled badly.
Keep reading free with an account. Start The Daughter They Erased Came Back Untouchable from Chapter 1, then sign up free to read the rest of this chapter.
← Chapter 16 · All chapters · Chapter 18 →
Want to keep talking to characters like these? Chat with AI romance characters: AI Boyfriend · AI Girlfriend · Dark Romance · Fantasy Romance · BL (Boys’ Love) · Billionaire Boyfriend · Mafia Boyfriend · Possessive Boyfriend · Hockey Boyfriend · Older Boyfriend · K-Drama Boyfriend · Anime Boyfriend · Vampire Boyfriend · Werewolf Boyfriend · Demon Boyfriend · Fae Romance · GL (Girls’ Love) · Anime Girlfriend · Goth & Alt Girlfriend · Gamer Girlfriend · Tsundere Girlfriend · Fantasy Girlfriend