Chapter 1: "The Woman You Don't Know"
The rain was falling lightly. Arda took a sip of his coffee and tried to read his newspaper while watching the waves crash along the Kadıköy shore. Ever since he quit his job, his mornings had been peaceful like this. In the calm of the moment, he didn’t notice the woman approaching him right away.
The woman, in her mid-30s, stood out with her black coat and sunglasses. Her steps were hurried, and she was out of breath. Suddenly, she stopped in front of Arda. “You’re in danger!” she said, her voice low but trembling.
Arda looked at her in confusion. “Excuse me? Do I know you?”
The woman didn’t answer. She placed a bag under the table and quickly walked away. Before Arda could process what had happened, she disappeared into the crowd.
“What the hell?” Arda muttered. He decided to open the bag. Inside, there was a file, a phone, and a strange note:
“Find them, or they will find you.”
Inside the file were old newspaper clippings, crime reports, and a black-and-white photograph. One familiar face in the photo caught his attention: his father. But his father had died years ago—or so Arda thought.
Suddenly, the phone on the table rang. Arda glanced at the screen. It was an unknown number. Hesitating, he answered it.
“Destroy the file immediately,” said a deep male voice. “Or you’ll end up like the others in that photo.”
Before the call ended, he heard one more thing: “Time is ticking, Arda.”
Arda continued flipping through the file until he found an address tucked beneath the pages. The address led to an abandoned apartment building in his own neighborhood. Grabbing his bag, he decided to go there.
When he arrived, the building’s door was ajar. As he stepped inside, an unsettling feeling crept over him. From the back room, he heard a sound.
He approached, pushed the door open, and… the crack of a gunshot echoed.
