The insurance administrator froze new requests from the disputed authority pending its process.

Colton voluntarily surrendered account access while the inquiries continued.

I didn’t celebrate those developments.

They were necessary and exhausting.

Every document carried a cost in sleep, concentration, and the belief that I had known my own life.

One evening Leah found me sitting on the floor beside the bed, looking at the place where I’d discovered the papers.

“What are you thinking?” she asked.

“That the whole story started with something so small.