The Choice

The knock came at eleven in the morning, three sharp raps that cut through the hum of the window air conditioner like a verdict being read.

Delia had been staring at the same paragraph of a Kozak property deed for the past twenty minutes, her eyes tracking the words without absorbing them. Nadia had left an hour ago to follow a lead at the county recorder's office, promising to text if anything surfaced. The hotel room had settled into that strange mid-morning stillness, the kind that made Delia feel like the only person awake in the world.