quiet fear she had learned to live with.
The day before, she had searched his office.
No documents. No money. Nothing that explained where he had been going or why he had become so distant. Only the same object, wrapped carefully and placed where important things are kept. That absence—of explanations, of normality—troubled her more than the object itself.
When she finally lifted it from the drawer, she realized just how strange it was.
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It stood nearly a foot tall, smooth to the touch, its surface etched with intricate,
