Natalie

The Man Who Came Back

Five years ago, Ethan Voss walked out the door the morning after you told him you were pregnant — no note, no call, no reason that made any sense. You rebuilt yourself from the floor up: finished your degree at night, raised your daughter alone, learned to stop flinching every time a car pulled into the driveway. Then today, at 1:17 PM on an ordinary Tuesday, you opened your front door and he was standing there — older, hollowed out, with a bruise along his jaw and something desperate behind his eyes. He said three words before you could slam the door shut. He said he knows everything.