Chapter 1
1085 Words
Chapter 1
The coffee had gone cold again.
Nathan stood at the kitchen counter, staring at it like it had done something to him. He’d poured it almost half an hour ago, taken two sips, then forgotten it existed the second Ava sat down at the table with her sketchbook. One of her hands kept drifting to the small curve of her stomach without her noticing. She did that a lot now.
Four months along.
Two years of quiet before that.
Some days, he still didn’t fully trust it.
Alex was on the living room floor surrounded by colored pencils, tongue poked out the side of his mouth as he worked on another drawing. He’d announced earlier that it was “a dragon that sits on the roof and scares bad people away.”
But so far, it looked like a fat lizard with uneven wings, but Nathan wasn’t about to be the one to say it.
Ava glanced up and caught him watching her.
“You’re doing that thing again,” she said, voice still rough from sleep.
“What thing?”
“Staring at me like I might vanish if you look away too long.”
He didn’t bother denying it. Just walked over, left the cold coffee behind, and placed his hand over hers on her stomach. No kicking yet. Still too early. Didn’t stop him from checking every morning like the rules might’ve changed overnight.
“I keep waiting for the other shoe,” he muttered.
Ava leaned her head against his arm. “We’ve had two years. That’s more than we thought we’d get.”
“Doesn’t mean I trust it.”
Alex looked up from his drawing. “Is the baby awake?”
“Not yet,” Ava said.
“Tell it I already finished the dragon. So it’s safe.”
Nathan let out a short breath that was almost a laugh. “You hear that?” he said to her stomach. “You’ve got a dragon. No being difficult.”
Ava smiled, tired but real. The first trimester had been rough, nausea that wouldn’t quit, exhaustion that hit her like a wall, the constant low-grade worry that came with carrying a child in their world. She’d gotten past most of it now, but some mornings still showed on her face.
His phone buzzed on the counter.
Then again.
And again.
Ava’s eyes flicked toward it. “You gonna get that?”
“It’s probably nothing.”
“You only say that when it’s something.”
He kissed the top of her head, grabbed the phone, and stepped out into the hallway. Marco’s name was on the screen.
“Talk.”
Marco’s voice was low and careful. “We got a package at the gallery. No return address. Staff didn’t touch it, called me first.”
Nathan’s free hand curled slowly into a fist. “What’s in it?”
“Black envelope. And a photo.”
He already knew he wasn’t going to like the next sentence.
“Of what?”
Marco paused. “Ava. From last Thursday. She’s locking up the gallery. Whoever took it was close. Too close.”
Silence sat heavy for a second.
“And the envelope?” Nathan asked.
“Almost empty. Just one line written inside.”
“Read it.”
Marco cleared his throat.
“‘She looks happy. That won’t last.’”
Nathan closed his eyes and exhaled through his nose.
Behind him, he could hear Alex asking if dragons could swim, and Ava answering with the kind of patience that still caught him off guard sometimes.
He opened his eyes.
“Lock the gallery down,” he said quietly. “Nobody in or out until I get there. Double the watch on the house, quietly. I don’t want Alex noticing anything.”
“On it.”
Nathan ended the call and stayed in the hallway a moment longer than he needed to, staring at the wall.
Two years.
They’d actually gotten two years.
Apparently, that was the limit.
He put the phone away, fixed his expression, and walked back into the kitchen.
Ava looked up immediately. She always knew.
“What happened?”
Nathan reached for her hand and brushed his thumb across her knuckles, trying to keep his voice even.
“Nothing we can’t handle.”
The words tasted like ash.
Because someone had gotten close enough to photograph his pregnant wife.
And they wanted her to know it.
---
He spent the next twenty minutes finishing breakfast with them like nothing was wrong. Alex showed him the finished dragon. Ava made him take two more bites of toast even though he had no appetite. Ordinary things. Small things. The kind of things he’d never expected to care about this much.
When he finally stood to leave, Ava followed him to the door.
“You’re lying to me,” she said under her breath so Alex wouldn’t hear.
Nathan looked at her for a long second. Then he rested his hand on her stomach one more time.
“Someone’s watching the gallery,” he admitted. “I’m going to handle it. Stay in today. Please.”
She searched his face, then nodded once.
“Be careful.”
“Always.”
He kissed her, short and firm, then left before he could change his mind and lock the entire house down instead.
---
The gallery was quiet when he arrived.
Marco met him at the back entrance with the envelope already bagged. Nathan didn’t touch the photo longer than he needed to. It was clear, taken from across the street. Ava’s face was half-turned as she locked the door, the small curve of her stomach just visible under her coat. Whoever took it had been close enough to see the exact expression on her face.
The note was worse in person.
*She looks happy. That won’t last.*
No signature. No demand. Just the message.
Nathan stared at it for a long time.
Two years of quiet.
A baby on the way.
And someone had just walked up to the edge of their life and knocked.
He folded the note once, slid it back into the bag, and looked at Marco.
“Find out who got this close,” he said. “I don’t care what it costs.”
Marco nodded.
Nathan looked at the photo one last time before putting it away.
Someone wanted him to know they could reach her.
They were about to learn what that actually cost.
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