Chapter 130

**Sloane**

The bookstore sits on the side of the house, small, old-fashioned, the kind that smells like paper and dust and too many years of quiet. A little brass bell jingles when we walk in. Shelves line every wall, uneven and overloaded, and sunlight cuts through the windows in soft, golden stripes that make the place look warmer than it feels. Elena Navarro looks up from behind the counter whe