The laptop was gone.

At first, I was just mad—like furious, sweaty, curse-out-loud mad. Then it

It had everything.

Old journals. Personal notes. A scanned folder labeled “Taxes & Custody.” A half-written email draft to my lawyer that I hadn’t sent yet.

And something else—something I shouldn’t have saved, but did.

A PDF of court transcripts. From a case I wasn’t even supposed to have access to.

The same case involving someone I thought I’d left behind years ago.

I looked around, hoping maybe someone had seen something. But the people nearby just kept walking. A few glanced over, but no one stopped.

Then a woman in scrubs passed by, did a double take, and froze.

“You drive a white Kia?” she asked slowly.

I nodded.

Her face changed. “I think… I saw the guy who took it.”

Before I could ask anything else, she added—

(Story continues in the first ️)