Chapter 2 The First Step Forward

Naomi did not go home.

She walked until the courthouse disappeared behind her and the rain thinned into a soft mist. Her shoes were soaked, her legs aching, but stopping felt more dangerous than moving. As long as she walked, the weight in her chest did not crush her completely.

The message replayed in her mind.

Disappear or fight.

She had spent years fighting the wrong way. Lawyers. Paperwork. Courtrooms filled with polite lies. It had all led to the same dead end.

If someone had warned her father, if someone was still watching her now, then the truth was bigger than a lost lawsuit.

Naomi entered a small café near the bus station, the warmth inside wrapping around her like a fragile shield. The smell of coffee and baked bread felt strangely comforting. She ordered the cheapest drink on the menu and took a seat near the window.

Outside, the city blurred past in shades of gray.

She opened her bag and pulled out a thin folder, edges worn from years of handling. Inside were copies of reports, emails, and handwritten notes. Evidence that never seemed strong enough in court but felt too deliberate to ignore.

Her father had not been careless. He had been silenced.

Naomi traced a finger over his handwriting. The letters slanted slightly, hurried but precise. She remembered how his hands used to shake when he was tired, how he would smile and tell her it was nothing.

It had never been nothing.

Her phone buzzed again.

Naomi froze.

The same unknown number.

You are stronger than he was. That is why they are afraid.

Her jaw tightened.

You are watching me, she typed.

Of course.

The reply came with no hesitation.

Finish what he started and you will understand everything. Walk away and you will stay alive.

Naomi closed her eyes. Fear washed over her in waves, but beneath it rose a quiet clarity.

Walking away would mean accepting the lie. Accepting that her father deserved what happened to him. Accepting that the truth could be bought and buried.

She could not live with that.

Naomi slipped the phone back into her pocket and gathered her things. She did not reply.

Outside, the rain had stopped. The sky remained heavy, but light began to break through the clouds.

She did not know who was watching. She did not know how deep the danger went. But she knew this much.

If she stayed the same woman she had been yesterday, she would lose again.

She needed answers. Real ones.

As Naomi stepped onto the street, a memory surfaced. A name her father had mentioned once, late at night, spoken with caution.

Ethan Rowe.

At the time, she had dismissed it as nothing. Now it echoed in her mind like a warning bell.

Her heart pounded as she headed toward the bus station. This was her first move. Small, uncertain, but necessary.

Naomi Blake was no longer waiting for permission.

She was choosing to fight.