Chapter 2 - The Man Who Was Supposed to Be Dead
Claire didn't move.
Neither did I.
For several seconds, nobody seemed capable of understanding what they were seeing.
Ethan was alive.
The man who had disappeared seven months earlier was alive.
And he was tied beneath the wedding stage.
Claire climbed down before anyone could stop her.
Her veil caught on a nail.
She tore it free.
“Ethan.”
She dropped beside him.
Her hands hovered over his face.
She was afraid to touch him.
Afraid he might disappear again.
He whispered her name.
That was enough.
She broke.
Claire wrapped both arms around him, crying so hard that her shoulders shook.
“I thought you were dead.”
“I know.”
“I thought you left me.”
“I never left you.”
Nathan stepped backward.
I noticed.
Just one step.
But I noticed.
A security guard approached him.
“Sir, should we call the police?”
Nathan looked at him.
“No.”
The answer came instantly.
“Why not?”
Nathan's eyes shifted toward Ethan.
“Because this is a private matter.”
Ethan laughed.
It was a weak, bitter sound.
“Private?”
Everyone turned.
Ethan looked directly at Nathan.
“You chained me under your wedding stage.”
Nathan's face hardened.
“You have no idea what you're talking about.”
“I know exactly what I'm talking about.”
Ethan's eyes moved to the photographs scattered across the concrete.
Then he looked at me.
“He knows.”
My stomach dropped.
“What does he know?”
Ethan swallowed.
“The reason I disappeared.”
Claire stared at him.
“What reason?”
Ethan hesitated.
Then he looked at Nathan.
“Because I found out what he was doing to you.”
Claire's face went pale.
Nathan smiled.
It was the first time I had seen him smile all afternoon.
But there was nothing warm about it.
“Ethan has been through a traumatic experience,” he said calmly. “He's confused.”
“I am not confused.”
Ethan's voice cracked through the room.
“You hired someone to follow her.”
He pointed at me.
Everyone looked at me.
My heart hammered.
Nathan's expression didn't change.
“I hired someone to protect her.”
“From what?”
“From people like you.”
Ethan laughed again.
“You weren't protecting her.”
He looked at me.
“You were studying her.”
I looked down at the photographs.
The dates suddenly seemed much more frightening.
There were pictures from my office.
My apartment.
My mother's house.
The coffee shop I visited every Saturday.
Even the hospital where I had taken Claire after she fainted six months earlier.
“How long?” I whispered.
Nathan didn't answer.
“How long have you been watching me?”
Silence.
Claire slowly stood.
She looked at Nathan as if she were seeing him for the first time.
“Nathan?”
He reached for her.
She stepped away.
“Don't.”
His hand fell.
“Claire, you're upset.”
“You knew Ethan was alive?”
Nathan said nothing.
Claire's voice became smaller.
“You knew?”
“I was trying to protect you.”
“From him?”
“Yes.”
“Then why was he tied under my wedding?”
Nathan looked around the room.
“You're making this bigger than it is.”
Claire stared at him.
“No.”
She shook her head.
“I think I've been making it smaller.”
Police sirens finally sounded outside.
Nathan's eyes moved toward the entrance.
For the first time, I saw fear.
Not panic.
Not shock.
Fear.
Ethan saw it too.
He leaned toward me.
“There is another folder.”
“Where?”
“Behind the wall.”
“What wall?”
“The bridal suite.”
Nathan suddenly lunged forward.
Security grabbed him.
Claire screamed.
“Don't let him near her!”
Nathan fought them.
“Get away from me!”
But Ethan's voice cut through the chaos.
“The folder contains everything.”
Nathan stopped.
Everyone heard him.
“What everything?” Claire whispered.
Ethan looked at her.
“Why I disappeared.”
Then he looked at me.
“And why you were being watched.”
The police burst through the doors.
Nathan was handcuffed.
And for the first time that day, I realized the wedding wasn't ruined.
May you like
It had been a trap.
We just hadn't known who it was designed for.
