56 The Letter

- LUCIANO -

This is the first time I've left Rory in the car without waiting to help her out. She waves me on, noticing my apologetic expression through the windshield when I cross in front of the car toward my parents' front door. 

Ignoring all the men in the entryway who greet me, I rush straight for my mother who is sitting, slouched over the dining room table. She looks exhausted—face drawn, eyes rimmed in red. She hasn't been sleeping, of course. None of us have. 

"Where is it?" 

She hands the letter over without a word. While I skim over Vanessa's handwriting, my father's voice booms from another room. He's on the phone with someone, explaining why the intense search for my sister is now so suddenly being drawn back.