Chapter Four

Nora’s POV

Two full evenings passed without the side-door buzzer.

I closed on time both nights. I powered down every light, set the alarm at the exact scheduled minute, and walked out into the street without lingering near the monitor. The discipline felt brittle. Every time footsteps approached the glass exterior I felt my attention snap toward the sound before I could stop it. Every time the footsteps belonged to someone else, something restless and angry tightened under my ribs.

By the third day the absence had become its own presence.

I moved through client appointments with careful professionalism, smiling at couples testing sectional sofas and answering questions...