Chapter 3
1336 Words
Chapter 3
Nathan got home later than he meant to.
The house was mostly dark except for the lamp in the living room and the soft hallway light Ava always left on now. He stood just inside the door for a second, listening. No cartoons. No Alex talking to himself while drawing. Just quiet.
He found Ava on the couch with her feet up, sketchbook closed on her lap, one hand resting on her stomach the way she did when she was half-asleep and didn’t realize it. She opened her eyes when she heard him.
“Hey,” she said, voice low.
“Hey.” He sat down on the edge of the coffee table in front of her and rubbed a hand over his face. “Alex asleep?”
“Yeah. Fought me about it for twenty minutes. Said the dragon needed to be on duty longer.” She studied him. “You look tired.”
“I’m fine.”
“You’re a bad liar when you’re actually tired.”
Nathan let out a short breath that was almost a laugh, then leaned forward with his elbows on his knees. “The guy who took the photo was a nobody. Paid through someone else. Didn’t know anything useful. Whoever’s behind it was careful.”
Ava was quiet for a moment. “So we don’t know who.”
“Not yet.”
She nodded slowly, like she was filing the information away instead of panicking over it. That was one of the things that still got to him, how steady she could be when things started tilting. Two years ago, she would’ve spiraled more. Now she just went quiet and practical.
“You’re increasing security again,” she said. It wasn’t a question.
“Yeah. Gallery and here. I don’t want you opening or closing alone anymore. Someone stays with you.”
Ava made a face. “I hate feeling like I need a babysitter.”
“I know.”
“But you’re still going to do it.”
“Yeah.”
She looked at him for a long second, then reached out and tugged lightly on the front of his shirt. “Come here.”
He moved to the couch. She shifted so her back was against his chest, and he wrapped an arm around her, hand settling over the small curve of her stomach. They sat like that for a while, not talking much. The house creaked once. Somewhere outside, a car went past.
“I got used to the quiet,” Ava said eventually.
“Me too.”
“I didn’t think I would. After everything. But I did.”
Nathan rested his chin on top of her head. “We’re not giving it up over one photo and a cheap note.”
“I know.” She paused. “Doesn’t mean I’m not scared, though.”
He didn’t say anything empty like 'don’t be'. He just held her a little tighter.
---
Morning came too early.
Alex was already awake and talking at full volume about how the dragon had “fought three bad guys in his dream and won.” Nathan made coffee on autopilot while Ava sat at the table looking half-asleep and mildly nauseous again. The early months had been worse, but some mornings still hit her.
“You want toast?” he asked.
She shook her head. “Not yet.”
Alex climbed into the chair beside her with his drawing. “Can the baby have a dragon, too? Or do they share mine?”
“They can share yours for now,” Ava said.
Nathan set a glass of water in front of her and kissed the side of her head. His phone had already buzzed twice with updates from Marco. Nothing solid yet. Just confirmation that Pell’s story checked out and that the money trail was deliberately messy.
He hated messy.
Messy meant professional.
---
He spent most of the day working from the house.
It felt strange. For two years he’d mostly kept the residual work away from home as much as possible. Now he didn’t want to be far. He took calls in the study, went over old lists of people who might still have a grudge, and kept checking the security feeds even when there was nothing to see.
Around two o’clock Marco came by in person.
They sat in the study with the door half-closed.
“Pell’s clean as far as it goes,” Marco said. “He really didn’t know who paid him. The middle contact used a dead drop and a prepaid phone that’s already been dumped. We’re trying to trace where the phone was bought, but it’s not looking promising.”
Nathan leaned back in his chair. “Someone wanted us to know they were close, but they didn’t want to leave a clear path.”
“Yeah.”
“That’s not a random threat. That’s a message.”
Marco nodded. “You thinking old enemies?”
“I’m thinking someone who waited until things looked settled.” Nathan rubbed his jaw. “Any noise from the usual places?”
“Nothing loud. A few people still watch what we do out of habit, but no one’s making moves. This feels outside the normal leftover noise.”
That didn’t make Nathan feel better.
After Marco left, he stayed in the study for a while longer, staring at the same list of names he’d already gone through twice. None of them felt right. The ones who hated him enough were either dead, in the ground, or too loud to pull something this clean.
Eventually, he gave up and went to find Ava.
She was in the bedroom folding laundry, which somehow made the whole situation feel even more surreal. Threats and photos and paid nobodies, and she was still doing laundry.
“You don’t have to do that,” he said from the doorway.
“I know. But if I sit still too long, I start thinking too much.” She glanced at him. “Any news?”
“Not really. Whoever it is covered their tracks well.”
Ava closed the drawer and sat on the edge of the bed. “So we wait.”
“For now.”
She looked down at her hands, then back up at him. “I don’t want Alex scared. If this turns into something bigger, we handle it without him feeling it the way he used to.”
“Agreed.”
Nathan walked over and stood in front of her. She rested her forehead against his stomach, and he put a hand in her hair. They stayed like that for a bit.
“I hate that this is starting again,” she said into his shirt.
“I know.”
“I really liked the boring mornings.”
He gave a quiet huff. “Me too.”
---
Later that night, after Alex was asleep and the house had gone still, Nathan stood at the bedroom window, checking the street out of habit. Nothing looked out of place. The extra security was in position. The feeds were quiet.
Ava was already in bed, half-asleep on her side.
“You’re doing it again,” she mumbled.
“What?”
“Watching the dark like it’s going to answer you.”
He pulled the curtain, crossed the room, and got into bed behind her. She shifted back against him immediately. His hand settled over her stomach the same way it had that morning.
“I’ll fix this,” he said quietly.
Ava’s reply was soft and already drifting.
“I know you will.”
Nathan stared at the ceiling for a long time after she fell asleep.
Someone had gotten close enough to photograph his pregnant wife and leave a note like a warning.
They’d been careful.
Patient.
And they clearly weren’t done.
He just didn’t know yet whether this was the start of something small…
…or the start of everything getting bad again.
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