The file made Luca Donovan look easy to hate.

Breaking and entering. Aggravated assault. His ex-girlfriend, Jenna Reed, telling police she had never asked him to come over. Her current boyfriend leaving the apartment in an ambulance after Luca kicked the door in and put him on the floor.

By the time I was led into the interview room, I had already built a version of him in my head.

Then Luca stood up.

He was taller than the booking photo suggested, lean instead of bulky, with wavy dark hair and blue eyes ringed so heavily with sleepless shadows that he looked like he had been awake for a month. He wore a worn jacket over a plain shirt. Nothing about him looked polished. Nothing about him looked particularly sorry.

"Valerie Quinn," I said, taking the chair across from him. "I am your public defender."

"Lucky you."

I ignored that. "Start with why you were at Jenna's apartment."

"She called me."

His answer came too quickly to sound invented, which annoyed me.

"She told police she did not."

"She was scared."

"Of you?"

That finally got a reaction. His eyes lifted fully to mine.

"No."

He told me the call came after two in the morning. Jenna sounded frightened. He heard a crash, the call ended, and she stopped answering. He drove over. The door was locked. He heard shouting inside and forced it open.

I wrote everything down without letting my face change.

"You understand how convenient that sounds."

"I understand how it sounds."

"If Jenna says you were not invited, I have a jealous ex forcing his way into her apartment and beating her boyfriend."

"You have whatever is in the report."

"And what do I actually have?"

For a second I thought he might finally try to sell himself to me.

Instead, Luca leaned back.

"I do not need you to think I am a good man, Ms. Quinn. I need you to find out what happened."

It was irritatingly reasonable.

It was also the first moment I looked at him and wondered if I had been too quick.

I spent the rest of the afternoon pulling what records I could get. Near midnight, one finally came through.

Jenna's number.

A call to Luca at 2:13 a.m.

Seven minutes before the first emergency call from the apartment.

I stared at the timestamp until my screen blurred.

The file had given me every reason to doubt him.

The first thing I checked for myself gave me a reason not to.

The phone record changes the whole case. Would you trust Luca yet, or would you still keep your guard up? ❤️