Chapter 7

Damon turned around slowly, trembling.

It was the monster. Wade Briggs!

"Eleanor had you locked up. Why are you here?"

Damon swallowed nervously, his stomach churning.

He doubled over, retching, but nothing came up except bile.

Briggs patted the roll of fat on his belly and picked his teeth with a pinky nail.

"You'll have to ask Dr. Keane about that. He paid me good money to take real special 'care' of you."

He strolled toward Damon, rubbing his hands together.

"Tsk, tsk. Bet you never thought you'd see me again, huh?"

Damon went rigid, his back pressed hard against the door.

"Stay away! Stay away from me!

"Help! Somebody help me!"

Briggs lunged. "Nobody's coming to save you. Don't waste your breath."

It was exactly like three months ago!

"Get away! Get away from me!"

But the sedative hadn't fully worn off. He had no strength to fight back.

He closed his eyes in despair.

Suddenly, Damon remembered the day Eleanor had proposed to him.

She had held the diamond ring in her hand, her gaze full of sincerity.

All around them, the guests looked on with envy.

"That's the only yellow diamond of its kind in the world. It's worth over fifteen million. She must really love him."

"True love shows itself in hard times. Looks like they got their happy ending!"

Eleanor had been so nervous her hands were shaking. Her eyes red, she made her vow.

"Damon, I'll love you and protect you forever. I'll never let you down.

"Will you be my husband?"

Amid the guests' cheers, Damon held out his hand and let her slide the ring—a symbol of forever—onto his ring finger.

Her vow still echoed in his ears, but the woman who'd made it had long since broken it.

Didn't Eleanor believe Marcus could cure him?

Then he would give her exactly what she wished for.

...

On the third day, as dawn broke, Marcus handed Eleanor the key.

The door opened onto silence.

"Damon?"

Eleanor leaned halfway in and called out, "Damon? I'm here to take you home."

After a long while, Damon stepped out of the dim corner.

His clothes were rumpled but intact.

He smoothed his hair back with one hand and smiled.

Eleanor was stunned for a moment. Then her eyes filled with tears.

"Damon, are you really better?"

Damon smiled and nodded. "Yeah."

He walked up to Marcus and held out his hand.

"Dr. Keane, thank you for curing me."

The corner of Marcus's mouth twitched. His smile was stiff.

Back home, Damon was the same as he had been before he got sick. Every morning, he made breakfast and waited for Eleanor to get up.

After breakfast, he smiled and saw her off to work.

In the evening, when Eleanor came home, he'd already have a table full of food waiting.

Over dinner, Eleanor talked to him about the wedding.

"I ordered blue roses for the venue—your favorite.

"Did you try on the suit? I had it sent over this afternoon.

"Oh, and pick an invitation design. They're going out tomorrow."

Damon rested his chin in his hand and smiled at her.

"Damon?"

Eleanor set down her fork. "Don't you have anything to say to me?"

Damon shook his head.

Something felt off to Eleanor, but she couldn't put her finger on it.

She reached out and took the hand he'd rested on the table.

"Damon, let's leave the past in the past. I... Let's start over, okay?"

Damon didn't know which part of the past she meant.

That she had personally planned his kidnapping and imprisonment? Or her murky relationship with Marcus?

But he didn't want to ask.

"Okay."

Eleanor let out a breath of relief.

She was about to pull her hand back when she noticed his engagement ring was missing.

"Where's your ring?"

Damon looked at his bare finger.

"I must have dropped it somewhere. I'll look for it later."

Eleanor nodded.

"If you can't find it, that's fine. I'll buy you a bigger, better one."

The day Marcus's dissertation won its award, Damon saw Eleanor off as usual.

She rose onto her toes and kissed his cheek.

"I've been invited to the medical research awards ceremony tonight.

"Everything's arranged for the wedding tomorrow. All you have to do is show up and be the groom."

Damon nodded obediently and watched her drive away.

The moment her taillights disappeared around the corner, the smile vanished from his face.

He took out his phone and made a call.

"Please get my grandmother to the marina first."

"What about you?"

Damon lowered his eyes. "I'll be there before the boat leaves."

At nine that night, the main hall of the vast international convention center blazed with light.

The audience was packed with medical experts and scholars, and camera lights swept back and forth across the rows of seats.

The host read out the winners, and Marcus's name rang through the hall.

The spotlight fell on Marcus in his sharp black suit.

He rose with composure, soaking up the admiring looks from all around him, and walked unhurriedly up to the podium.

In the guest section, Eleanor watched Marcus shining on stage, but her mind was nowhere near the ceremony.

Damon's strange behavior over the past few days kept circling through her head.

The microphone was placed in front of Marcus. A smug smile played on his lips.

"For this honor, I owe credit not only to years of dedicated research. I'd especially like to thank Ms. Eleanor Carrington for all her support and help."

Applause thundered through the hall.

As planned, Eleanor, an invited guest, was to go up and say a few words as a representative.

As she rose, that inexplicable unease surged up in her again.

She stepped up to the podium and stood before the microphone, about to speak.

The phone in her pocket suddenly began to vibrate.

She frowned slightly and meant to ignore it, but it kept buzzing.

The audience was waiting quietly for her speech, and she couldn't just walk off stage, so she pulled out her phone to decline the call.

But as she lifted it, the phone's speaker came close to the microphone.

A grave voice boomed through the sound system and filled the now-silent hall.

"Hello, is this Eleanor Carrington? This is Harbor Patrol.

"We received a report. Personal belongings of Mr. Damon Westbrook were found on the north span of West Channel Bridge. He's nowhere to be seen, and we believe he may have gone into the water. We need you to come right away."

Every eye in the hall locked onto Eleanor, whose face had gone deathly pale.

Her hand trembled, and the phone slipped from her palm.

Marcus stood beside her, his smile frozen on his lips.

At that moment, several uniformed officers walked into the hall.

"Marcus Keane, you're a suspect in multiple kidnapping cases. You need to come with us."