I was still half asleep when the knocking started.
Loud. Repetitive. Urgent.
For a moment, I thought I was dreaming.
Noah didn’t move. He was still asleep beside me, breathing evenly, completely unaware.
I pulled myself out of bed, threw on a sweater, and walked to the door, slightly annoyed… but also uneasy.
Something didn’t feel right.
When I opened it, I stopped cold.
A man stood there.
Tall. Well-dressed. Around sixty. The kind of presence that makes you straighten your posture without realizing it.
But it wasn’t how he looked.
It was his eyes.
Serious. Heavy. Like he had been carrying something for a very long time.
“Good afternoon,” he said.
“It’s… morning,” I replied, confused.
He nodded slightly, like it didn’t matter.
“I know this is unexpected,” he said carefully. “But I’ve been searching for your husband for years.”
My chest tightened.
“What are you talking about?”
He held out an envelope. Thick. Worn at the edges.
“There’s something he needs to know. Please… read what’s inside.”
My mind immediately went somewhere dark.
Secrets. Lies. Things I wasn’t supposed to find out.
Before I could react, I heard movement behind me.
“Lena?”
I turned.
Noah was there, sitting in his wheelchair, still waking up.
“Who is it?”
The man looked at him—
and everything changed.
His face broke.
Shock. Recognition. Emotion all at once.
“Noah…?” he said under his breath.
Noah narrowed his eyes, studying him.
“I know you,” he said slowly. “I don’t know how… but I know your face.”
The man’s voice cracked.
“I’ve been trying to find you for so long.”