Chapter 2: The Man Who Was Never Supposed to Return
The groceries hit the ground and scattered across the path.
The woman didn't move to pick them up.
She couldn't.
Her eyes were locked on the man in the blue suit, and all the color had left her face.
Lena looked from her mother to the man, then back again.
"Mommy?
Do you know him?"
Her mother's mouth opened.
Nothing came out.
The man took one slow step forward.
His voice was quiet.
Controlled.
But his hands were shaking.
"Sarah."
That one word hit like a stone dropping into still water.
The woman — Sarah — flinched as if she'd been struck.
"You're supposed to be gone," she whispered.
"I was told you were g0ne."
"Gone?" His voice cracked.
"I spent four years looking for you.
Four years, Sarah.
They told me you d*ed in the accident."
Lena's head snapped toward her mother.
"Mommy — what accident?"
Sarah's eyes filled.
She took one step toward her daughter, then stopped.
Her gaze dropped to Lena's face — really dropped, the way it does when you're seeing something for the first time that was always right in front of you.
The man saw it too.
He looked at Lena.
At her eyes.
At the shape of her jaw.
His voice came out barely above a breath.
"How old is she?"
Sarah said nothing.
"Sarah." His voice broke.
"How old is she?"
Before Sarah could answer, a car pulled up slowly along the park road behind her.
The window rolled down.
A man in the driver's seat leaned out — older, well-dressed, watching the three of them with an expression that wasn't surprise.
It was something closer to calculation.
May you like
Sarah saw him.
And for the first time, she looked truly afraid.
