Chapter 1

    This is my first day off, and I preferred to spend it in the countryside, far from traffic, pollution, and many other disadvantages of the city of Rome. Working as a secretary is very hard to take a vacation, but it seems that I succeeded. I woke up around 10 o'clock and went downstairs to have breakfast alone because my brother was at work. He was a doctor at the emergency room in a town located 12 km away from the village, and today he was on duty. From the note left by my father on the refrigerator, I understood that he went with my grandmother to visit some relatives, and they would return in the evening. Great! They keep telling me that we should spend time together as a family, and then they disappear from home.

    Getting bored to death at home, I decided to take a walk. I like to walk when I'm in the countryside; people are very sociable compared to the cold people in the city. Suddenly, it starts to drizzle. How strange. It was so beautiful outside. I was about 15 minutes away from home; I had to take the shortcut to avoid getting wet.

     I enter a street near the edge of a forest and continue towards home; I'm not far now. Meanwhile, the rain intensifies, and it's hard to see anything. I think I'll catch a bad cold.

     Out of nowhere, I see that not too far from me, a black van stops. What is a van doing here? This shortcut is not used by many people. Driven by curiosity, I hide in a place where I have visibility towards the van. Two people get out of the van, take something out, and throw it at the edge of the forest. I waited for the van to exit from where I entered the street, and then I came out of hiding. Maybe they are people from the village who came to dump garbage.

    I resume my way home, but I hear a whimper. Lord, maybe it's a wild animal that wants to kill me! Lord, please help me not to die! It sounds even louder, but this time it's the scream of a man. I approach the place where the sound is coming from, and my heart starts beating very fast. I follow the trails of blood and approach the victim, who seems to be losing consciousness from the blood loss. I rush to the man who seems to have a large cut between his ribs.

-I need to call the police!

-Police? No, please!

   "What the hell is a stranger doing here? This is the last thing I need to end up in jail. God, what have I done to you!?" Without wasting any more time, I take my scarf off and stop his bleeding. Thinking that I might worsen his condition, I try to lift him, but he is too heavy.

    My house was 5 minutes away; I had to leave the street near the forest and enter another one that led to the backyard. I went home, grabbed a wheelbarrow, and came back. It seems the bleeding has stopped. I struggle to lift him into the wheelbarrow and cover him with my jacket so as not to raise suspicions. The rain still hasn't stopped, making the journey home even more difficult. Is this some kind of sign from God that what I'm doing is wrong?

    He was still unconscious. I struggled to drag him up the stairs to my room. I went to my brother's room and found a first aid kit and some IVs that I knew he used for our grandmother, saying they were good for when you feel weak. He always had them at home in case of emergency.

    I put him in bed, unbuttoned his blood-stained shirt, disinfected and bandaged the wound. It seems he will have another scar among the many on his chest. What could he have done? Is he a gangster? No, he seems too young; I think he's a few years older than me. Hmm... From the way he looks, he seems to be thirty years old.

   I change his blood-stained and muddy clothes to some "borrowed" from my brother and put an IV on him.

-Eleanor, are you home?

   Oh no! I fell asleep. How did I get into bed? Where is the guy from the bed? I look around, not even the muddy clothes are there anymore. Was it a dream? I go downstairs and meet my father and grandmother. I go out into the yard to check if there are any bloodstains on the wheelbarrow. There aren't any. It couldn't have been a dream.

Ten months later

   It seems it's time for me to leave work. Today has been an exhausting day because I had to organize tomorrow's meeting with an investor. When I get home, I change, eat a bowl of soup, and go to bed.

The next day

    It seems everything is going well, so I have to be grateful to some employees who took their lunch break to help me prepare the conference room for the meeting. My only source of worry is the presentation I will give in front of the investor and my boss. I would lie if I said I'm not nervous, even though I've done this countless times; I always get nervous.

    I see my boss heading towards the conference room with our hopeful future investor. If everything goes well, I've been promised a vacation.

-Eleanor, let me introduce you to Lucas Tate.

  Lucas extends his hand, and I shake it gently with mine. The contact of our hands makes me feel as if an electric current has invaded my entire body. He seems very familiar, but I don't know from where.

    Throughout the presentation, he didn't take his eyes off me. Even when I turned to the screen where the presentation was projected, I felt his gaze burning into my back. He didn't smile; he just nodded and looked at me intently. I would give anything to know what's going through his mind or at least why he's looking at me like this. Did I say something wrong during the presentation and didn't notice!? I don't think so.

   I finish the presentation, and my boss retreats to his office with the investor. I hope everything will be fine.

  Three hours later

    I just left work, and I'm very happy. After finding out that the investor will invest in the company, I immediately asked for a one-month vacation, and to my surprise, my boss offered it to me without any further comments, unlike the times when I asked for a one or two-week vacation, and he would come up with all sorts of excuses, only to end up working overtime that day.

    Even though I leave work in the evening, my apartment is 10 minutes away, so I usually walk. What am I going to do tomorrow? Hmm. I think I'll spend my vacation in the countryside with my family. I want to relax.

    I enter the alley where the back entrance of the building is located. If I wanted to enter through the front, I had to go around the neighborhood, which only led to wasted time. A car approaches me, and I move to the side to let it pass because the alley is very small. Suddenly, the back door of the car opens, and I feel pulled inside.

    I start to panic, struggling to kick the person who pulled me into the car. I feel a sting in my  left shoulder and try to struggle harder, gradually feeling my muscles go numb, and my vision blurs.

-Shht, my love. Calm down, everything will be fine! These are the last words before I fall into a deep sleep.