Chapter 6: Whispers Between Pages

The soft groan of wood rang out in the quiet bookstore as Lena turned over the last sign on the door: **CLOSED**. Outside, the city drew a breath, illuminated by amber streetlights and the quiet rumble of passing cars. Within, the world held its breath. Warm. Intimate. Holy.

Lena closed the door, her hand skimming the edge as if shutting a holy vessel. She did not rush to turn off the lights. Rather, she walked between the shelves, letting her fingertips trace worn spines and whitened covers, breathing in the scent of paper and years. The bookstore was her sanctuary. Her cathedral.

She slouched into her best corner chair—stuffed, tufted velvet in tired blue—pullding out a book from her tote. A quiet night's reading before bed was now her ritual, and for tonight, she opened what was familiar and comforting: *The Light Between Oceans*. The book always bore its imprint on her. Loss. Forgiveness. Breaking and binding decisions. She opened to the top of it, and the world disintegrated.

Somewhere in the city—several stories above, in a steel and glass building—Julian Blackwood lay in his dark, sleek bedroom, staring at the book she had given him.

He'd never intended to keep it. When Lena Carter had offered it to him—those gentle words, that thoughtful crease between her eyebrows—he'd intended to refuse. But something in her eyes had taken away his intention. It was neither flirting nor pretense. It was genuine. Silent. Generous.

He hated kindness. It broke things open.

Julian gazed down at the book. The cover was unadorned, the title in gold print: *A Man Called Ove*. He remembered Lena's words:

*""It's about someone who's lost everything. But finds his way again."*

At the time, he had scoffed to himself. No book could fix what was broken within him.

And yet, here he was. Three a.m. and awake, insomnia gnawing at his chest like it had a tendency to do. He had poured himself a glass of scotch—his second—and sat in the armchair by the window. The book was next to him, not opened.

The city stretched below like a painting, but it was cold. Dead. Like him.

He opened the cover.

The first few pages were dull. He scanned more than he read, unengaged. But when the story got underway, something odd occurred.

He slowed.

The old man in the story—grumpy, bitter, mad at the world—wasn't just recognizable. He was *him*. Line by line, paragraph by paragraph, the words began to sting. Every sentence peeled back another layer, revealing nerves Julian had long buried under pricey suits, boardroom negotiations, and empty nights in silk sheets.

Ove had lost his wife. The only person who'd ever truly looked at him. Now he was angry. Alone. Strutting around the globe with fists balled and unspoken grief.

Julian's throat tightened.

He closed the book halfway through a chapter, his hand trembling.

What the devil had she given him?

He stood up abruptly, pacing across the room. The book dropped onto the chair with a soft thud. He pressed the heels of his hands into his eyes, gasping. It wasn't the story. It was her. The way she'd looked at him—not as though she pitied him, or required something from him, but as though she *saw him*. As though she understood the ache in his bones even without knowing the details.

No one had looked at him like that in years.

And that made her dangerous.

Back in her tiny bookstore, Lena turned the page with watery eyes. Her favorite line had just arrived, one she'd underlined a dozen times: *\"You only need one person to believe in you to find your way out of the dark."*

She rested her head back on the chair and let out a sigh.

Aria's face flashed into her mind, happy and radiant, full of wonder. That child had already claimed the room of her heart. But it was her father whose presence lingered on the fringes of Lena's mind, still and uninterpretable.

Sad.

She didn't know what had happened to him. But when she'd looked into Julian Blackwood's eyes that day—tormented, ice blue—she'd seen loneliness. A man building empires so he'd never have to look at the devastation inside.

There was a kind of beauty in it. A tragedy, too.

She had no clue if he'd read the book. Had no clue if he'd hate her for it—or thank her.

Lena closed the book gently, pressing it against her breast. The silence of the shop felt oppressive now, echoing with stories and ghosts. She rose, switched off the light, and crept up to her small flat above the store.

She did not know what the next day would be like. But something within her stirred.

Perhaps something was beginning.

---

In his penthouse again, Julian poured the scotch down the sink.

He was at the window for a very long time, looking out at the city that never slept. The book sat on the chair behind him, waiting like a shadow.

He would read it.

But not this night.

This night, he'd let the pain consume him.

And remember the woman in the bookstore.

The woman who gave him a story instead of a smile.