Morning arrived without ceremony.
Ava woke to pale light filtering through the curtains, her body heavy with exhaustion she hadn't slept off. For a few seconds, she didn't remember why her chest felt tight why her jaw ached from clenching it in the night.
Then it came rushing back.
The photograph.
The call.
The pause before Hayden spoke.
She sat up slowly, pressing her feet to the floor as if grounding herself in the present. The apartment looked the same as it always had, yet everything felt subtly altered, like a familiar room rearranged in the dark.
Ava moved through her morning on instinct. Shower. Coffee. Silence. Her phone remained face down on the counter, untouched. She wasn't ready for messages not from Hayden, not from anyone.
Not yet.
At the café, the air smelled of espresso and warm bread. It was busy enough to feel alive, but not overwhelming. Ava chose a corner table near the window, watching people pass by outside, each of them wrapped in lives that felt impossibly distant from her own.
Hazel arrived ten minutes later.
She looked tired too, but her eyes softened the moment she spotted Ava.
"There you are," Hazel said gently as she slid into the seat across from her.
Ava tried to smile. It didn't quite work.
"You didn't answer last night," Hazel continued, careful not to sound accusatory.
"I needed quiet," Ava said honestly. "I didn't trust myself to talk."
Hazel nodded, understanding immediately. "That's fair."
They sat in silence for a moment before Ava reached into her bag and placed the envelope on the table between them.
Hazel's gaze dropped to it. Her expression tightened. "That's it?"
Ava nodded.
Hazel pulled the photograph out slowly, her eyes scanning it with a kind of stillness that made Ava nervous. She didn't react right away. Didn't gasp. Didn't frown.
Instead, she tilted her head slightly.
"This feels staged," Hazel said finally.
Ava blinked. "Staged?"
"Look at the angle," Hazel continued, tapping the edge of the photo. "Too clear. Too intentional. Whoever took this wanted you to see *just enough*."
Ava exhaled shakily. "Hayden says it's his sister."
Hazel looked up. "And do you believe him?"
"I believe that he wasn't lying," Ava said slowly. "But I also believe he wasn't telling the whole truth."
Hazel leaned back, one hand resting protectively on her stomach. "Those two things can coexist."
Ava met her eyes. "I don't want to become someone who doubts everything. But I also don't want to be naïve."
"You won't be," Hazel said firmly. "You're stronger than you think. You always have been."
Ava swallowed hard. Praise felt unfamiliar these days undeserved, almost. "What if this is a sign I should walk away?"
Hazel didn't answer immediately.
"Sometimes," she said carefully, "signs aren't telling us to leave. Sometimes they're asking us to slow down."
The words settled between them.
After the café, Ava walked instead of taking the bus. She needed movement, needed the city around her to remind her that life didn't pause just because her heart felt stuck.
Her phone buzzed.
Hayden.
She stared at the notification for a long time before slipping the phone back into her pocket unread.
Later that afternoon, Hazel called her.
"I don't want you to panic," Hazel said, her voice tight, "but I think someone's been watching me."
Ava stopped walking. "What?"
"Not following exactly," Hazel clarified. "Just… noticing. A man near my building yesterday. Again this morning."
Ava's chest tightened. "Did you tell anyone?"
"You," Hazel said softly. "And I'll call my doctor next. I just needed to hear your voice."
"I'm coming over," Ava said immediately.
Hazel protested weakly, but Ava was already hailing a cab.
By the time she arrived, Hazel looked calmer but Ava wasn't fooled. Fear sat just beneath the surface, quiet and dangerous.
They locked the door behind them.
"This is connected," Ava said. "The photo. The timing. You."
Hazel nodded slowly. "I think so too."
Ava pulled out her phone and finally opened Hayden's message.
Please let me help. Whatever this is, we shouldn't face it alone.
Ava hesitated, then typed back.
We need to talk. All of us. No more half-truths.
The reply came almost instantly.
I'm on my way.
That evening, the three of them sat together in Hazel's living room. The air was thick with tension, but also something else resolve.
Hayden looked tired. Honest. Nervous in a way Ava hadn't seen before.
"I should've told you everything from the start," he said. "About my sister. About my past. About the people who might still hate me for it."
Hazel crossed her arms. "Someone's trying to scare us."
Hayden nodded. "And I think I know who."
Ava's heart pounded. "Then we stop letting them control the story."
Silence followed but this time, it wasn't heavy.
It was deliberate.
Outside, the sun dipped low, casting long shadows across the room. Ava felt fear, yes but she also felt something else rising quietly within her.
Agency.
She wasn't the woman on the floor anymore, shaking over a photograph.
She was standing.
And whatever came next, she wouldn't face it blind.