Chapter 2: The Number That Stopped Her Breathing
Part 2
They stayed in that little tea shop for nearly an hour.
Arthur talked.
Natalie listened.
And slowly, carefully, he began to let things slip.
He had a daughter.
Her name was Caroline.
He hadn't spoken to her in six years.
"She decided I was too much trouble," he said quietly.
"After her mother passed."
Natalie set down her cup.
"I'm sorry."
"Don't be.
She has her own life." He said it the way people say things they've practiced saying so many times the pain barely shows anymore.
Then his phone buzzed on the table.
He glanced at the screen.
Something changed in his face — just for a second.
He turned the phone face-down without answering.
"Everything okay?" Natalie asked.
"Fine." But his hands weren't steady anymore.
She looked at the phone, then back at him.
"Arthur."
He was quiet for a long moment.
Then he said, almost to himself, "I didn't think they'd move this fast."
"Who?"
He didn't answer.
Instead, he reached into his jacket and slowly pulled out the passbook again.
He opened it to the last page and slid it across the table toward her.
Natalie looked down.
The number made her breath stop.
Before she could speak, the door of the tea shop opened.
A man in a sharp suit stepped inside, scanning the room.
When his eyes landed on Arthur, he didn't smile.
Arthur looked at Natalie and said very quietly, "I need you to trust me for just a little longer."
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What was inside that passbook — and who just walked through that door?
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The truth Arthur has been hiding is bigger than anyone expected.
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