CHAPTER 3: THE STAR
Judge Rowan had spent forty years around the sport.
Nothing surprised him anymore.
At least, that was what he believed.
Then he saw the tattoo.
A simple five-pointed star.
Small.
Dark.
Hidden on Evelyn's wrist.
Most people overlooked it.
Rowan couldn't.
His heart nearly stopped.
Because he knew that symbol.
Decades earlier, another shooter carried the same mark.
A legend.
The greatest marksman Rowan had ever witnessed.
A man called "The Star."
The champion who changed the sport forever.
The champion whose career ended overnight.
Accusations.
Scandal.
Disgrace.
Then silence.
His records vanished.
His name disappeared.
His legacy was erased.
But Rowan remembered.
Because he had been there.
And because deep down, he had never believed the accusations.
Now, standing in Lane Seven, was a young woman shooting exactly the same way.
The same stance.
The same breathing pattern.
The same impossible accuracy.
Rowan felt old guilt rising from places he thought were buried forever.
Because if Evelyn carried that symbol...
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Then the past wasn't dead.
The past had returned.
