By the time Monday rolled around, I couldn’t decide which emotion was winning: anxiousness or curiosity. Andie was still at work but as promised, Travis came over to support me during my meeting with the FBI. I sat on the couch in silence next to him, watching the time tick by slowly on my phone. Absentmindedly, I picked at a loose thread on the couch cushion.

‘It’s going to be fine, Liz,’ he said consolingly, giving my forearm a friendly squeeze.

I took a deep breath. ‘I know, I know. It’s just weird, right? Like what could my family possibly be connected to that the FBI would want to talk to me about? I know my mom broke some laws when she was young, but do you think there’s another criminal in my family? Or maybe my mother did something way worse than a drug charge.’ I bit my thumbnail, hoping that last comment was not the case.

‘Don’t jump to conclusions. There seem to be other options in your family tree, right?’

‘Not really. At this point, there’s only Adam and Cris on the Dominio side. I guess Adam could have children that I don’t know about. Or it could be about someone on my father’s side but I don’t even know his name to investigate. Cris said he never met him and my grandfather only called him “that boy”.’

I rubbed my eyes, feeling the prickling of a headache forming behind them. I noticed streaks of black eyeliner across my fingers as I pulled my hands away. Damnit, now I probably look like a raccoon. Great. Quickly bringing up the camera on my phone to assess the damage and wipe the smeared liner from under my eyes, I took another deep, steadying breath.

‘I don’t know how much help I’m even going to be since I’ve only met Cris at this point. My connection to my family tree is pretty sparse.’

‘I don’t know,’ Travis said, slipping his own phone back into the interior pocket of his blazer. ‘But if they ask anything that could get you into trouble, I’ll step in. Don’t worry Liz, I got your back, okay?’

‘Thanks, Trav,’ I replied, giving him a grateful smile.