Chapter 2 - The Secret Hidden Inside My Coat
The message stayed in my hand.
Don’t trust my brother, Tessa.
I read it again.
Then again.
As if staring at the words long enough would make them become something else.
A joke.
A warning about someone else.
A misunderstanding caused by Gemma’s tendency to turn ordinary problems into dramatic mysteries.
But it didn’t change.
The handwriting remained hers.
The fear inside my chest remained mine.
Dominic Costa stood across from me in the darkness of his sister’s apartment, watching the piece of paper like it had become a weapon.
And maybe it had.
Because five words from Gemma had done something no one else had managed to do.
They made me question the one person in the room who seemed to have answers.
“You knew.”
The words escaped before I could stop them.
Dominic’s eyes lifted.
“No.”
“Don’t.”
My voice sharpened.
“Don’t give me another half-answer.”
The rain slammed against the windows behind him.
For a moment, neither of us moved.
Then Dominic slowly stepped closer.
“I didn’t know she left that message.”
“But you knew she was afraid.”
His silence was enough.
My stomach tightened.
“How long?”
“Tessa.”
“How long did you know Gemma was scared?”
His jaw flexed.
“Three weeks.”
The answer landed harder than I expected.
“Three weeks?”
“Yes.”
“And you said nothing?”
“I was trying to find out why.”
I stared at him.
“You mean you were investigating her.”
“No.”
“It sounds exactly like that.”
Dominic looked toward the floor.
“She’s my sister.”
“That doesn’t mean you own her.”
Something flashed in his expression.
Not anger.
Something closer to guilt.
“I know.”
The quietness of his answer surprised me.
I had expected him to defend himself.
Men like Dominic Costa probably always defended themselves.
But he didn’t.
He just stood there accepting the accusation.
That somehow made it worse.
Because it meant he understood.
“You have no idea how terrifying that is.”
His eyes met mine.
“What?”
“Knowing someone has been watching your life without your permission.”
I tightened my grip around the receipt.
“You know where I work.”
No response.
“You know where I live.”
Still nothing.
“You know my schedule.”
His expression darkened slightly.
“Tessa—”
“No.”
I stepped back.
“I don’t care if you had a reason.”
The words came faster now.
“I don’t care if you thought you were protecting Gemma.”
A pause.
“I don’t care if you thought you were protecting me.”
The apartment became silent.
“People always say that when they take away someone’s choice.”
For the first time, Dominic looked like he had no answer.
And that scared me.
Because I was beginning to realize something.
The most dangerous thing about Dominic Costa was not his power.
It was the fact that underneath all of it, there was a man who genuinely believed he was doing the right thing.
Those were always the hardest people to understand.
The ones who didn’t think they were villains.
“I didn’t want to scare you.”
I laughed softly.
“You broke into my life before I even knew you existed.”
“I didn’t break in.”
“You knew everything about me.”
“Yes.”
“That’s worse.”
The honesty hurt.
Because he didn’t deny it.
Dominic looked toward the receipt again.
“Give me the paper.”
I immediately pulled it closer.
“No.”
His eyes moved back to mine.
“Tessa.”
“No.”
“That message may not mean what you think.”
“And what do I think?”
“That I’m the person you need to fear.”
I stared at him.
“Shouldn’t I?”
The question hung between us.
Dominic didn’t answer.
That was the first time I saw uncertainty in him.
Not the calculated silence of a powerful man.
Real uncertainty.
Like he didn’t know how to convince me.
Before either of us could speak, something moved behind us.
A small sound.
A soft scratch.
We both turned.
Macaroni appeared from behind the velvet sofa, walking slowly across the floor.
The orange cat stopped near my feet.
In his mouth was something small.
A piece of fabric.
I crouched down carefully.
“Macaroni?”
The cat dropped it.
I picked it up.
It wasn’t fabric.
It was paper.
Folded.
Hidden inside the lining of a small piece of cloth.
Dominic moved closer.
“What is that?”
I unfolded it.
My heart stopped.
Another message.
This time, longer.
My hands shook as I read it.
Tessa, if you found this, it means I was right. Someone is watching me.
I swallowed.
Dominic read over my shoulder.
The handwriting continued.
I don’t know who I can trust anymore.
A chill moved through me.
Then the next line.
Not even Dominic.
I looked up.
Dominic’s expression changed.
The pain in his eyes was immediate.
Not anger.
Pain.
Gemma’s words had hurt him.
And somehow that made everything more confusing.
Because if he was the person she feared, why did he look like her warning had broken his heart?
The note continued.
But I know one thing. If anything happens to me, find Tessa.
My breath caught.
I looked at the page again.
She is the only person who never wanted anything from me.
My eyes burned.
Gemma.
Even now.
Even missing.
She was still trying to protect me.
The final line was written smaller.
Like she had hesitated before writing it.
The truth is hidden where she would never look.
I frowned.
“Where she would never look?”
Dominic took the paper carefully.
He studied it.
“What?”
He didn’t answer.
“Dominic.”
His eyes lifted.
“She gave you something.”
“What?”
“I don’t know.”
“That’s not an answer.”
He looked at my coat hanging near the door.
Then at me.
“Did Gemma give you anything recently?”
I thought about it.
Sunday.
The pharmacy.
Her strange behavior.
Her cream-colored coat.
Wait.
The coat.
“She gave me her coat.”
Dominic’s expression changed instantly.
“When?”
“Two days ago.”
“Why?”
“She said she didn’t need it anymore.”
Dominic walked toward the coat.
Slowly.
Like approaching something dangerous.
“What?”
He touched the fabric.
“Gemma doesn’t give away things she cares about.”
I frowned.
“She gave me plenty of things.”
“Not like this.”
I watched him.
“You think she hid something.”
“Yes.”
The certainty in his voice returned.
I hated how often he was right.
I grabbed the coat from the chair.
My fingers searched the pockets.
Nothing.
I checked the inside.
Still nothing.
Dominic watched carefully.
“Feel the lining.”
I looked at him.
“What?”
“Near the left side.”
I ran my fingers along the fabric.
At first, nothing.
Then—
A small bump.
My heartbeat changed.
I looked at Dominic.
“What is that?”
“I don’t know.”
I grabbed a small pair of scissors from the kitchen drawer.
Carefully, I cut the inside seam.
Something slipped out.
A small plastic device.
A memory card.
Neither of us spoke.
Because we both knew.
Gemma had not given me that coat because she didn’t need it.
She gave it to me because she needed me to find something.
Dominic stared at the card.
Then quietly said:
“She knew someone would come looking.”
I looked at him.
“And she knew they would look at you first.”
A shadow crossed his face.
“Yes.”
I held the memory card tightly.
“Why me?”
Dominic looked at me.
And for a moment, the powerful man disappeared again.
There was only Gemma’s brother.
A man who had lost his sister.
A man who was terrified of losing someone else.
“Because Gemma trusted you.”
I shook my head.
“That’s not enough.”
“No.”
He paused.
“She trusted you because you were the one person in her life who never wanted something from her.”
The words hit me.
Because they were true.
Gemma had always been surrounded by people who wanted her money, her connections, her family name.
I was the person who knew her before any of that mattered.
The girl who shared lunch with her in elementary school.
The friend who listened to her complain about terrible dates.
The person who knew she cried during sad commercials even though she pretended she didn’t.
I was just her friend.
Maybe that was exactly why she chose me.
Dominic reached for his phone.
“What are you doing?”
“Calling someone.”
“Who?”
“Someone who can open this safely.”
I looked at the card.
“No.”
His eyes narrowed.
“No?”
“If we open it, we find out what Gemma was hiding.”
“Yes.”
“And if someone else knows about it?”
“They already do.”
The answer was immediate.
Too immediate.
I looked toward the dark apartment.
The missing friend.
The warning.
The hidden message.
The powerful man standing in front of me.
And suddenly I understood something.
This wasn’t about finding Gemma anymore.
It was about discovering why she disappeared.
Dominic looked toward the door.
His expression changed.
“What?”
He didn’t answer.
“Dominic?”
His voice dropped.
“Someone is outside.”
The apartment became silent.
Again.
But this time, I knew the silence.
I knew what came after.
A knock.
Slow.
Deliberate.
Three times.
And then a voice from the other side of the door.
“Tessa.”
My blood froze.
Because I recognized it.
It was the same voice from the phone.
The voice that knew my name.
The voice that knew about the coat.
The voice that knew Gemma’s secret.
May you like
And now…
It was standing outside my door.
