The envelope

Adrian didn't sleep and long after the lights of the city had dimmed, he remained in his study with a glass of untouched whiskey sitting beside his laptop.

Adrian eyes weren't on the screen anymore, they were fixed on the wall ahead, but his mind was trapped five years in the past.

Victor had met Serena that day and that much was no longer a question but the question was why.

His grandfather had warned him to stop investigating, yet the security footage only made him want answers even more.

A soft knock broke the silence. "It's open."

Daniel stepped inside carrying a tablet and another folder. "I apologize for the late hour, sir."

"If you've found something, the hour doesn't matter."

Daniel placed the folder on the desk. "I spoke with the apartment building's former manager."

Adrian straightened in his chair. "And?"

"He retired two years ago, but he remembered your case."

"What did he say?"

"He found it strange."

Adrian frowned. "Explain."

"The day Miss Hayes disappeared, several people requested access to the building's surveillance system."

"Who?"

"The police weren't involved, so he refused to release the recordings."

Adrian's eyes narrowed. "Then how were they accessed?"

Daniel took a slow breath. "Someone from the Ashford family legal department arrived later that afternoon with signed authorization."

Adrian's expression darkened. "My family's legal department?"

"Yes."

"I never approved that."

"The authorization wasn't signed by you."

A heavy silence settled between them as Daniel slid a document across the desk. "The signature belongs to Mr. Victor Ashford."

Adrian stared at the paper, his grandfather had ordered access to the surveillance system on the very day Serena vanished.

"What happened to the recordings?"

"According to the manager, copies were made before the originals were removed from the archive."

"Removed?"

"They disappeared the following week."

Adrian slowly leaned back. "So someone wanted to erase that day."

"That's what it looks like."

He looked at Daniel. "I want every employee who worked in that building questioned."

"It was five years ago."

"I don't care."

"Many have moved away."

"Find them."

Daniel nodded. "There is one more thing."

"What?"

"The maintenance worker who unlocked your apartment for Miss Hayes."

Adrian's heartbeat quickened. "What about him?"

"He resigned three days later."

"Did anyone speak to him?"

"We're trying to locate him."

Adrian closed the folder. "When you find him, I want to be the first person he sees."

"I understand."

Daniel turned to leave. "Daniel."

He stopped. "Not a word of this reaches my grandfather."

"Yes, sir."

The office fell quiet once more and Adrian opened his wallet.

The old photograph of Serena was still there, he traced the edge with his thumb. "If you didn't leave me..." he whispered, "who took you away?"

Morning sunlight spilled through the apartment windows and the smell of pancakes drifted from the kitchen.

Noah sat at the counter swinging his legs while carefully arranging blueberries into the shape of a dinosaur. "It needs a bigger tail," he declared.

Serena laughed softly as she placed another pancake on his plate. "I think your dinosaur already has the biggest tail in history."

"No."

He added another blueberry. "Now it does."

Ethan walked into the kitchen, rubbing the sleep from his eyes. "I see breakfast has become an art project."

"It has," Noah replied proudly.

Ethan poured himself a cup of coffee. "I don't suppose my breakfast comes with dinosaur decorations too?"

"No."

"Why not?"

"Because you're old."

Serena burst into laughter and Ethan clutched his chest dramatically. "I've been insulted before I've even had coffee."

"You have gray hairs."

"I have wisdom."

"You have old."

Ethan looked at Serena. "Whose side are you on?"

She raised both hands. "I'm staying out of this."

The laughter faded as quickly as it had come but Serena instinctively glanced toward the window and the curtains shifted slightly in the breeze.

She walked over and looked outside as cars passed and people hurried along the sidewalk, nothing seemed unusual yet the uneasy feeling remained and Ethan noticed.

"You've checked that window four times."

"I know."

"You still think someone's watching us?"

"I don't think it."

She lowered the curtain. "I feel it."

He walked over. "There isn't anyone out there."

"There wasn't anyone outside the hospital either."

"But someone still found us."

Neither of them spoke and Noah looked between the adults. "Did I do something wrong?"

Serena immediately smiled. "No, sweetheart."

"Then why are you sad?"

"I'm just thinking."

"Thinking makes people sad?"

"Sometimes."

He climbed off the stool and hugged her around the waist. "You should think happy things."

She kissed the top of his head. "I'll try."

Later that afternoon, Ethan left to pick up a prescription from the pharmacy while Serena stayed behind with Noah, the apartment felt unusually quiet and Noah was sitting on the living room floor building a city from colorful blocks. "Mama."

"Yes?"

"Mr. Rex needs a house."

"Then you'd better build him one."

"I'm making him a castle."

"I think he'll like that even more."

The doorbell rang and Serena frowned because Ethan had taken his keys and he wouldn't ring the bell.

She walked quietly toward the door without making a sound, looking through the peephole, she saw no one and her pulse quickened.

She waited another few seconds before unlocking the door, the hallway was empty but a large brown envelope rested neatly against the welcome mat and her stomach tightened.

She looked both ways, there was no footsteps or elevator sounds.

She picked up the envelope and quickly shut the door, Noah looked up from the floor. "Who was it?"

"No one."

She opened the envelope carefully and several photographs slipped onto the coffee table.

The color drained from her face because they were pictures of Noah, one showed him feeding ducks at the park, another captured him laughing while chasing pigeons.

Someone had indeed followed them and watched her son, her mind immediately went to the SUV and with trembling fingers, she turned over the final photograph and it was a message written in black ink.

You can't hide him forever, soon a loud crash echoed from the kitchen and Serena jumped.

She rushed toward the sound but the kitchen window was wide open and the flowerpot that had been sitting on the windowsill now lay shattered across the floor.

The curtain fluttered in the wind meaning, someone had been there, inside her home.

Her breathing turned ragged and she ran back into the living room. "Noah!"

The room was empty and the colorful blocks were scattered across the rug. Mr. Rex lay on his side near the couch but Noah...

Noah was gone.