LOGINLeaf had been sitting inside his parked SUV across the street for nearly an hour, yet he hadn't noticed the time passing. His eyes never left the bakery. A weathered wooden sign hung above the entrance, gently swaying with the ocean breeze. Through the large glass windows, he could see customers coming and going, laughter spilling onto the sidewalk every time the door opened. And there she was. Sahara. She moved gracefully behind the display counter, greeting every customer with the same warm smile that had once brightened his darkest days. She laughed softly at something an elderly woman said before carefully boxing a cheesecake and handing it over with both hands. "Thank you, Mrs. Dawson. Tell your husband I added his favorite cinnamon rolls." The older woman smiled fondly. "You always spoil us, sweetheart." "You've been supporting my bakery since the beginning," Sahara replied with a grin. "It's the least I can do." Leaf watched every little movement. Every smile. Every
Sahara wasn't prepared for what she saw when she opened the front door. The smile on her face disappeared instantly. Her breath caught. Her entire body froze. Standing on her porch were four familiar men. Klent. Sancho. Slye. Stryker. For a long moment, no one spoke. It felt as though five years had disappeared in the blink of an eye. Sahara's fingers tightened around the doorknob as her heart pounded painfully against her ribs. "...big brothers?" Her voice came out as nothing more than a whisper. She looked from one face to another, hoping—praying—that she was imagining everything. She wasn't. They were really here. Five years. She had managed to stay hidden for five years. And now...they had found her. Her eyes slowly shifted toward Klent. "You told them..." It wasn't a question. Klent lowered his head. "I'm sorry." The guilt in his voice was unmistakable. "I couldn't keep lying to them anymore." Sahara closed her eyes. A thousand emotions crashed into her
Leaf didn't know what he was supposed to feel anymore. Relief. Anger. Hope. Regret. All of them crashed into him at once until he couldn't tell where one emotion ended and another began. For five long years, Sahara had vanished without a trace. Five years of chasing dead ends. Five years of hiring the best private investigators money could buy. Five years of waking up every morning with the same question haunting him.Where are you, doll?And now... He finally had his answer. His private investigator had found her. Leaf leaned back in his chair, unable to tear his eyes away from the photographs spread across his desk. His fingers hovered over one picture before carefully picking it up, almost afraid it would disappear if he touched it too roughly. "There you are..." he whispered. His voice was barely audible. Sahara. His wife. The woman who had walked away without saying goodbye. She looked...different. Not because he no longer recognized her. Because she look
Five Years LaterFive years. Five long years had passed since Sahara disappeared without a trace. Not a single day went by that Leaf didn't think about her. Every morning, he woke up hoping that somehow there would be news about his wife. Every night, he fell asleep wondering where she was, whether she had eaten, whether she was safe, or whether she was smiling somewhere far away without him. He had searched everywhere. He hired one private investigator after another, refusing to give up no matter how much it cost him."I don't care how much you charge," he would always tell them. "Just find my wife." Every investigation ended the same way."I'm sorry, Mr. Morgan," they would say. "We've exhausted every lead. It's as if Mrs. Morgan disappeared from the face of the earth."The words never became easier to hear. It was almost impossible to believe. He was one of the country's most influential businessmen. He had money, connections, and resources beyond what most people could imagine,
Five Years Later.The warm Hawaiian breeze danced through the swaying palm trees as the morning sun cast its golden glow across the shoreline. Five years. Five long years had passed since Sahara quietly disappeared from Leaf's life. Five years since she had walked away from the house that had become nothing more than a prison built from unrequited love. Five years since she chose herself. Now, life was different. Peaceful. Simple. The sound of waves crashing against the shore had replaced the countless nights she used to cry herself to sleep. The silence that once terrified her had become her greatest source of comfort. And every morning, she woke up no longer wondering whether someone loved her. She only wondered what adventure awaited the little boy waiting outside her bedroom. "Mama!" A cheerful little voice echoed through the beach house. Sahara smiled before she even opened the door. "I'm here, sweetheart." The moment she stepped outside, a chubby boy with to
The line rang once. Twice. Three times. Leaf tightened his grip around his phone, his jaw locked so hard that the muscles in his face twitched. "Come on..." he muttered impatiently. On the fifth ring, the call was finally answered. A calm, familiar voice greeted him. "Hello?" Leaf didn't waste a second. "Where's Sahara?" There was a brief pause on the other end. "...Excuse me?" "I said," Leaf repeated through gritted teeth, "where is my wife?" Klent let out a quiet sigh. "I figured you'd be calling sooner or later." Leaf's eyes narrowed. "So you do know something." "I didn't say that." "Don't play games with me, Klent Charlson." His voice dropped into a dangerous growl. "I know you're the closest person to her. If she ran away from me, she'd run straight to you." Klent chuckled bitterly. "You think you know Sahara that well?" "I know enough." "No." Klent's tone became firmer. "You don't." Leaf fell silent. "You never really knew your wife." Those w
Sahara sat quietly in the passenger seat, staring out the window as the city blurred past. Her mind felt exhausted. Beside her sat the man who was now legally her husband.Her husband.The word still felt strange. Neither of them had spoken since leaving the courthouse. The silence inside the car w
The next morning. Despite everything that had happened the day before, Sahara still woke up early. She quietly got out of bed and headed downstairs to prepare breakfast before her husband left for work. There were no household staff in the house, so she handled everything herself—from doing the
Sahara was already tired of this little family get-together. The noise and the laughter and the constant teasing, it was getting to be suffocating. All she wanted was to get away somewhere quiet and breathe. So she sneaked out Behind their house was her old human-sized playhouse. It was built fo
"Mom, look at them! They're teasing me again!" Sahara stomped her foot, glaring at the three men standing in front of her.Seriously. Did they have nothing better to do? She crossed her arms and shot them her best annoyed look, but her brothers only grinned back. It has always been like this growin







