Chapter 69

ACEIA'S POV

I woke up to a fairly normal workday with very little on my schedule. Driven by the need to give priority to the things that really mattered, I made an unusual decision. Choosing to stay at home, I made the most of my unexpected free day by spending it with my kid. As we explored the simple pleasures of reading aloud, making cookies, and playing games,

Following our different adventures, Alison fell into sleepiness and went to bed. Driven, it seemed, by an ongoing restlessness, I sat in the soft light of my laptop, expecting to lose myself in the routine work of checking files.

A distant memory emerged as the room filled with the quiet hum of the laptop: a USB card placed in my bags. After getting it back, I started looking for files in its small memory. But somewhere among the things in my bag, I found a strange calling card—something to remember from the mysterious stranger who had passed me by the day before.

The card was silently inviting me to inquire as it settled in