Luca's POV
Dinner with Elena Chen was not what I'd expected.
I'd expected interrogation. Careful and sustained. The kind of scrutiny that came from a mother who'd watched her daughter carry something difficult for years and wanted to know who was responsible.
What I got was her cooking.
She fed people the way some people talked. Constantly. Precisely. With complete attention to what each person needed on their plate. She watched Aria's bowl and refilled it before Aria noticed it was low. She watched me take a second piece of bread and put the basket closer without comment.
It was the same quality of attention Maya had.
I understood something then about where it came from.
"The house," Elena said. "Tell me about it."
"1920s construction. Prewar bones. The previous owner let it go fo
