Chapter 1 The Man in the Frame

Evelyn Blackwood noticed the man next door the same way she noticed storms

by the sudden, unnatural stillness that came before them.

She stood at her bedroom window long past midnight, the house wrapped in silence so deep it pressed against her ribs. The street lamp outside flickered once, twice, bathing the neighboring property in a sickly amber glow. That was when she saw him.

He was sitting.

Not outside. Not on the porch.

Inside his living room, framed perfectly by a tall window that faced hers as if it had been designed for this exact moment.

A high backed chair. One leg crossed over the other. Hands resting loosely, confidently, on the armrests. His face was lost to shadow, but the shape of him was unmistakable. Broad shoulders. Long limbs. A presence that felt deliberate.

He wasn't moving.

He wasn't watching television.

He was waiting.

Evelyn's fingers tightened around the curtain, her breath slowing the way it always did when instinct took over. She had learned long ago that fear made noise, but survival required quiet.

The man shifted slightly, just enough for the light to catch the sharp line of his jaw.

Her pulse skipped.

He knows, she thought.

The realization settled in her bones, cold and unwelcome. Men didn't sit like that unless they were in control or believed they were.

She should have stepped away. Closed the curtain. Pretended she hadn't noticed.

Instead, she stayed.

Because something about the way he sat so composed, so certain felt achingly familiar.

As if she had once stood in another room, in another life, watching him from the shadows.

The man lifted his hand then.

Not to wave.

Not to beckon.

He reached forward and rested his palm against the glass of the window, fingers splayed, possessive.

Evelyn's reflection stared back at her pale, composed, widowed.

The man across the street leaned closer, and though she still couldn't see his eyes, she felt them on her like a touch.

A smile curved his mouth.

Slow. Knowing.

As if he had finally found her.

Evelyn let the curtain fall.

Her heart was racing , now not with fear.

With recognition.