Chapter 11
What the Rain Revealed
The rain had stopped sometime before dawn.
Ethan knew because the silence outside the window had changed.
During the night, the storm had battered the town relentlessly—rain against glass, wind through the old trees, thunder rolling across the hills like something enormous moving in the darkness.
Now there was only dripping.
Slow.
Steady.
Almost peaceful.
Ethan opened his eyes.
For a few seconds, he didn't remember where he was.
Then the memories returned.
The hotel.
The envelope.
Amara.
Five years.
The photograph.
And the terrible possibility that the story he had believed for all this time had never been the whole story.
He sat up slowly.
The room was cold.
Grey morning light seeped through the curtains, turning everything colorless.
