Chapter 13 - ELENA’S LAST LETTER
The microSD contained a personal letter I did not read until months later.
I was afraid.
Not of a secret.
Of Elena being more alive on the page than I could manage.
Eventually I opened it alone.
Raffaele,
If you are reading this, I am probably gone, which means you are doing the thing where you turn grief into management.
Accurate.
Then:
Do not make Lucy into the reason you never trust anyone again.
I stopped.
Then:
She needs a father, not a sentry tower.
That sentence became one of the hardest instructions I ever followed.
Elena wrote about Celeste too.
Celeste is not evil. She is loyal in the wrong direction when Marcus is involved. I hope she tells you before this becomes larger than it needs to be.
She had still hoped.
Then:
If she does not, judge what she actually does. Do not invent more because you are hurt.
Again.
Specific responsibility.
Then one line I hated:
You are very good at becoming dangerous when frightened.
She knew.
Then:
Learn something new.
I laughed and cried at the same time.
My wife died and still managed to insult me.
Then Lucy.
Tell her I loved her before she had language for it. Tell her nothing she remembers imperfectly is betrayal.
I folded the printed copy.
Did not frame it.
Did not turn it into scripture.
May you like
Kept it in my desk.
Some dead people should remain voices, not governments.
