Chapter 2 - THE SCARS THAT STOPPED TIME
Ethan spent his first morning inspecting every department.
Executives followed nervously behind him.
Everything appeared perfect.
Until something unexpected happened.
Near the lobby fountain, an elderly janitor accidentally dropped her mop bucket.
Water spread across the marble.
She immediately apologized.
"I'm so sorry."
As she bent to pick it up, one yellow glove slipped halfway down her wrist.
For less than a second...
Ethan saw the scars.
His heartbeat exploded.
The hallway disappeared.
The voices vanished.
Instead, another image filled his mind.
Flames.
A woman wrapping her burning arms around a frightened little boy.
"Don't look back," she had cried.
"Run!"
His breathing became uneven.
Impossible.
He slowly walked toward the janitor.
She quickly pulled her glove back into place.
"I'm sorry, sir."
But Ethan couldn't answer.
His eyes never left her hands.
Something deep inside him was waking up.
Something buried for twenty years.
That night he couldn't sleep.
He searched every missing-person report connected to the orphanage fire.
One file had always remained unsolved.
The woman who rescued several children had disappeared after leaving the hospital.
Her name...
Elena Morales.
For the first time in decades...
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Ethan felt hope.
His search had finally found a direction.
