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He gave you false information about why he was going to Italy and now he’s fallen off the grid. There’s no evidence of foul play or that anything illegal has happened. I know this isn’t what you want to hear, but in my professional opinion, it looks like he wanted to disappear.”
    My face became hot as I listened to Agent Stokes shoot down my hopes at finding Gil. I didn’t know if I wanted to scream or cry. Seeing I was visibly shaken, he said, “But if you have a recent picture of him, I’ll send it over to our attaché office in the US Embassy in Rome and ask them to keep an eye out.”
    â€œBut they won’t do anything?” Tiffany asked for me.
    â€œI don’t have any evidence to indicate that he’s disappeared under suspicious circumstances. I’m sorry.”
    â€œI understand.” I took the picture of Gil I printed out and handed it to the agent. “I appreciate you being willing to do this much.”
    â€œI wish I could do more. This is my direct line here.” Agent Stokes pulled out his business card and handed it to me as Tiffany and I stood up. “If anything else comes up, please don’t hesitate to contact me.”
    I took a deep breath and extended my hand to shake his. “Thank you for your time.”
    He escorted us back to the lobby, we thanked him again, then walked back out into the Florida sunshine. I immediately crumpled up his card and threw it in the trash.
    I didn’t say anything as Tiffany drove us back to my apartment. My mind was too busy working out my only option. By the time we walked through the door, I had made my decision. It would be the stupidest, or the bravest, thing I’d ever done, but I didn’t have a choice.
    I sat down at my kitchen table while Tiffany poured lemon-lime soda into two glasses filled with ice.
    â€œWell?” She sat down and pushed a drink in front of me.
    I knew what I had to do. “I’m going to Italy to find my brother.”

Chapter 3
    I began tossing clothes into a small suitcase at random. I went for versatile jeans and T-shirts, and even my one fancy black dress—when I found Gil, I was going to make him take me to a really expensive restaurant to apologize for making me travel halfway around the world. I tossed in the strappy pair of heels I’d worn with it to graduation two years ago, too.
    â€œYou cannot go to Italy, Vic!” Tiffany said sternly from the bedroom doorway.
    â€œWhy not?” I challenged, still throwing clothes from my dresser into my suitcase.
    â€œYou know you’re going to have to get on a plane, right?”
    â€œI know that, Tiff.”
    â€œAnd you know you’re going to have to break into the cash that was only for emergencies, right?”
    â€œThis is an emergency.”
    â€œAnd you know you have no idea where he is or even where to start, right?”
    â€œAre you going to continue stating the obvious or are you going to be a supportive friend?” I darted from the closet to the bathroom to the suitcase on my bed.
    â€œI am being a supportive friend. Vic, listen.” Tiffany took me by the arm and stopped my feverish movement. “What about asking Agent Stokes if he can give you a contact in Italy who will help you?”
    â€œAgent Stokes already said there was nothing he could do. If the shoe were on the other foot, Gil would drop everything to come find me. He already proved that when he rearranged his whole life so I didn’t have to keep living in foster care. I have to do the same for him.” Tiffany conceded and let go of my arm.
    I walked back into the closet and pulled down the small, fireproof safe Gil and I kept all of our important documents in. I pushed aside our birth certificates and our parents’ death certificates and reached for my passport. Three months before it expired. Thank God for the family cruise to the Bahamas a month before the crash; otherwise