He checked to make sure we were completely alone, then drew a thick, sealed envelope from his leather briefcase.
"I need you to see something," he whispered, handing it to me.
"She didn't choose you by accident."
---
Chapter 2: The Name on the Back of the Photograph
My hands were shaking as I broke the seal.
Inside was a photograph.
Old, slightly faded.
A young woman in a simple white dress, standing alone in front of a church.
Smiling like she had the whole world ahead of her.
I turned it over.
On the back, in Eleanor's handwriting: *"This was the day everything was taken from me."*
"What does this mean?" I asked.
The lawyer glanced toward the road, then back at me.
"Eleanor didn't always live alone," he said quietly.
"She had a family once.
A husband.
A daughter."
I stared at him.
"She never told me that."
"She couldn't.
