Chapter 12
The Place He Left Behind
Ethan didn't remember leaving the café.
One moment he had been sitting across from Amara, staring at the woman who had once been the center of his entire world.
The next, he was standing outside beneath a sky still heavy with clouds.
His bookstore waited at the end of the street.
For years, it had been the one place that never asked him questions.
The one place he could return to when everything else became too complicated.
His father had built it.
Ethan had inherited it.
And now Amara was telling him that the missing letter—the letter his father had supposedly left for him—was hidden somewhere inside.
He looked at her.
"How long have you known?"
Amara wrapped her arms around herself.
"Five years."
The answer hurt more than he expected.
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