They Never Saved Me A Seat So I Built My Own Table Chapter 06
Matteo rushed home and threw open Alessia’s bedroom door.
Half the closet was empty.
Her laptop, her IDs, and all her favorite clothes were gone.
But in the drawer, the gifts they had once given her were lined up neatly.
Matteo picked up a chipped hair clip, suddenly remembering he had saved up his allowance to buy it for her tenth birthday.
She had worn it for years.
Then Bianca came to live with them, and he bought her a whole box of new hair accessories.
After that, no one ever mentioned the old clip again.
Bruno found the bracelet in the very back of the drawer.
He clenched it in his fist, the tendons on the back of his hand standing out white.
“Where did she go?”
No one knew.
Nico scoured the Instagram accounts of all their mutual friends.
Matteo called her professors.
Bianca sat to one side, sending Alessia message after message.
[Cousin, where are you?]
[We’re all so worried.]
[Please come back.]
There was no reply.
Until Nico suddenly remembered Alessia mentioning a job offer in Austin.
They rushed to the airport.
The last flight to Austin had departed twenty minutes earlier.
Standing outside the terminal, Bruno called Alessia’s number over and over.
For the first time, the automated voice on the other end of the line filled him with genuine panic.
“How could she just leave without saying a word?”
Matteo stared out at the dark tarmac, silent.
Because Alessia *had* told them.
She had said she wanted to go to Austin.
They were the ones who had told her to stay.
But when they said *stay*, they had never actually included her in their plans.
Bruno lowered his head and opened his chat with Alessia, his thumbs flying as he typed out a long, angry message.
He deleted it all, word by word, until only one sentence remained.
[When are you coming back?]
A red notification popped up almost instantly.
*Not Delivered.*
Bruno froze.
She hadn’t just left.
She had blocked him.