“I know.”
“You let me stand beside a coffin.”
“I know.”
“You watched me believe you were dead.”
His eyes filled with tears.
“I know.”
“Then why?”
He looked at me.
“Because if you knew I was alive, you would have been killed too.”
I shook my head.
“That’s what your mother told me.”
“Because it’s true.”
“Then tell me everything.”
He hesitated.
I pointed toward the door.
“Or I’m walking out and telling everyone in this building that the dead groom just got married.”
Adrian closed his eyes.
“Okay.”
He sat down.
And for the first time, I saw how exhausted he really was.
“Six weeks before our wedding, I discovered someone at my company had been stealing money.”
I listened.
“Millions.”
He continued.
“I found documents proving it. Names. Accounts. Transfers.”
“Who?”
He looked at his mother.
She whispered,
“Don’t.”
Adrian ignored her.
“One of the names belonged to a man who was close to our family.”
My stomach tightened.
“The man in the photograph.”
Adrian nodded.
“His name is Victor Hale.”
I remembered him.
He had been at Adrian’s funeral.
He had hugged Colleen.
He had told me how sorry he was.
He had even brought flowers.
I felt sick.
“He was at the funeral.”
“Yes.”
“And he knew you were alive?”
“He was the reason I had to disappear.”
Adrian told me what happened.
The night before the accident, he had confronted Victor.
Victor had threatened him.
The next morning, Adrian’s brakes failed.
He lost control of his car.
The crash killed another man who had been driving on the same road.
Adrian survived.
Barely.
He had been pulled from the wreckage by a passerby before emergency crews arrived.
But he had suffered severe injuries.
When he woke in the hospital, he learned that the police believed the unidentified body was him.
Victor had already convinced everyone Adrian was dead.
And instead of correcting them immediately, Adrian had made a choice.
He disappeared.
He contacted Colleen.
Then Julian.
And together, they created a story that Adrian Parker was dead.
I stared at him.
“You could have told me.”
“I wanted to.”
“But you didn’t.”
“Because Victor was watching you.”
My anger faltered.
“What?”
Adrian stood.
“Three days after the accident, Victor came to the funeral home.”
I remembered the man.
I remembered his black coat.
I remembered how strangely calm he had been.
Adrian continued.
“He asked my mother whether you’d received anything from me before the accident.”
I felt cold.
“The photograph?”
Adrian nodded.
“I had copied the evidence onto a small memory card.”
“Where is it?”
He looked at me.
“I gave it to you.”
I stared at him.
“What?”
“You just don’t know it yet.”
My mind raced.
He walked toward the flower buckets.
Then he stopped beside the large white arrangement I had made that morning.
He reached into the center.
Pulled aside several roses.
And removed a tiny waterproof container.
My breath caught.
“I hid it inside one of the vases at your shop before the accident.”
I remembered.
That vase.
Adrian had given it to me months ago.
He had said it was ugly.
I’d kept it anyway because it was his.
I stared at the container.
“You knew I’d have it?”
“I knew you’d keep anything I gave you.”
Tears filled my eyes.
“Even if you were dead.”
He looked away.
“I hoped you’d keep it.”
Silence filled the room.
Then the lights went out.
Complete darkness.
Colleen gasped.
Adrian grabbed my hand.
“Don’t move.”
A loud crash came from the hallway.
Someone screamed.
Then another crash.
Adrian pushed me behind him.
“Stay here.”
“No.”
“Meredith.”
“I’m not losing you twice.”
He looked at me.
Something changed in his expression.
Then he smiled sadly.
“I never wanted you to lose me once.”
The emergency lights flickered on.
Red.
Dim.
Unnatural.
Adrian opened the door.
The hallway was empty.
But the photograph was gone.
Colleen’s purse had been cut open.
Someone had taken it.
Adrian’s face became pale.
“Victor.”
Then we heard footsteps running downstairs.
Adrian took off after them.
I followed.
We reached the back entrance just in time to see a man disappear through the parking lot.
Adrian stopped.
He didn’t chase him.
Instead, he looked at me.
“He’s not running away.”
“What do you mean?”
“He wants us to follow.”
A car engine started.
The vehicle sped away.
Adrian grabbed my wrist.
“We need to leave.”
“Where?”
“Somewhere he can’t find us.”
I pulled my hand free.
“No.”
He stared at me.
“I’m done being protected by lies.”
“Meredith—”
“No.”
I held up the tiny container.
