Mag-log inEthan's POVDaniel had taken me to a safe house nearly an hour outside Lake Como while we waited for the private jet to arrive. I still did not remember much and the missing pieces frustrated me more now because every answer created ten new questions but I remembered enough to know Lena was my wife and enough to know we had a son named Eli and another baby on the way. My daughter or at least I thought it was one daughter.The articles only said pregnancy everything else I learned through photographs and strangers and the realization still sat badly inside me because fathers are supposed to know these things.I stood near the window of the small house Daniel rented under a fake name while rain moved steadily over the trees outside. The place looked temporary it has bare furniture and one suitcase near the door and bottle of whiskey untouched on the counter.Daniel sat at the kitchen table with two phones and a laptop open in front of him while speaking quietly to somebody. "No, do not
Maya's POVPeople always assume obsession begins loudly they imagine madness appearing overnight and turning ordinary people cruel in a single moment but the truth is uglier because obsession grows quietly.It starts with wanting to be chosen then wanting to matter and then wanting somebody to look at you the way they look at someone else and eventually wanting turns into needing and somewhere between need and desperation you stop recognizing yourself.I used to think Ethan would love me when we were younger and Lena followed him everywhere after his parents took her in but later I thought if I stayed close enough and patient enough he would eventually see me then years passed and he never did because Ethan Carter loved one woman with a loyalty rare enough to make other people jealous.Lena it was always Lena even after arguments even after divorce and even after grief and the problem with women like Lena is they do not realize what it feels like standing beside them your entire life
Daniel's PovPeople think loyalty ends when somebody dies but I learned seven months ago that it does not. Loyalty becomes something heavier after death because suddenly you carry pieces of a person they left behind. Their family their secrets their unfinished work their wife and their children.I stopped sleeping properly the day we buried Ethan. No not buried because we buried an empty damn casket because nobody found enough of him to prove anything.I still remembered standing beside Victor while rain soaked through my suit and Lena stared ahead holding Eli in her arms. She looked pale that day everybody cried. Caroline nearly broke, John looked ten years older, Keenan drank himself sick afterward and Victor stayed quiet.Lena thanked people for flowers and I hated that most because women should not thank people at their husband's funeral while carrying a baby afterward she sat beside the casket long after everyone left. I remember because I stayed back she looked at the wood and w
Lena's POVPregnancy made nights harder lately because exhaustion settled into my body differently this time and no amount of sleep seemed enough. By afternoon I already felt drained and the baby had been moving almost constantly which usually meant my back hurt by evening.I sat in Ethan's office going through contracts while Eli slept on the sofa beneath a blanket. One of his tiny socks had somehow disappeared again and I already knew I would spend twenty minutes looking for it later only to find it inside one of Ethan's old shoes or hidden under a cushion.Children made strange decisions.The office looked less intimidating these days not because it changed because I had.Months ago walking in here felt wrong like I was touching pieces of Ethan that still belonged to him, but somewhere between grief and responsibility his desk became where I worked and his company slowly became something I stopped fearing.I hated admitting that sometimes because surviving without him still felt li
Ethan's povI spent most of the next day trying to convince myself that overhearing Maya's call meant nothing because people argue and they hide things and maybe Ryan was an old contact of Maya's and maybe the fact that he was in prison had absolutely nothing to do with me. The problem was that every explanation I gave myself sounded weaker the longer I sat with it because suspicion changes the way you look at people.Once doubt appears it spreads and I started to noticed everything now from the way Maya answered questions too quickly whenever I mentioned Lena the way every story about my past sounded rehearsed, almost polished and the way entire years of my life felt empty while emotions remained painfully strong.I remembered love without remembering who I loved I remembered grief without understanding what I lost and nothing made sense anymore.By breakfast exhaustion sat heavy behind my eyes because sleep had become frustrating lately. I either dreamed too much or not at all, and
Ethan’s POVSomething changed after dinner with Maya the previous night I noticed it sometime this morning while standing in the kitchen holding coffee that had already gone cold because I forgot to drink it. The feeling had been there before I woke properly sitting somewhere beneath my ribs like an itch I could not reach, and by afternoon I finally understood what it was.The realization unsettled me more than the feeling itself dor months Maya had been the only certainty in a life built almost entirely from missing pieces. She answered questions I could not answer for myself. She sat through nights where panic arrived without warning and left me struggling to breathe over memories that refused to surface. She explained gaps. Corrected timelines. Filled silence whenever confusion became obvious.Trusting her had become habit and questioning her felt wrong yet recently that wrongness had started changing shape. The villa felt different too.The routines had become impossible to ignor
Lena’s POVI wake up because my body hurts. It feels as if a train had hit me and for a few seconds I don’t open my eyes. I just breathe and try to figure out where I am. The air smells like rust, mold and saltwater all mixed together and my mouth tastes like metal.When I try to move my arms it hi
Ethan’s POV It’s been one full day. One day since Lena was taken and it already feels like a week have gone by. I don’t know what time it is half the time. I close my eyes for a few minutes and my body jerks awake like I forgot something important.There still was no leads or any real updates it w
Lena’s POVI don’t know why I can’t sleep but something inside of me feels wrong. as if my mind is telling me that danger is closing in. I lie on my side staring at the wall hoping that this feeling will go away. Keenan is asleep on the couch because he said he wanted to stay close to the front doo
Lena’s POVI’m in the kitchen pretending to focus on cleaning when my phone rings. John’s name flashes on the screen and my stomach drops before I even answer, because John does not call unless something is wrong.“Hey,” I say, trying to sound normal, even though my heart is already racing. “What’s







