Chapter 3: My Fiancé’s Deadly Secret

Chapter 3: My Fiancé’s Deadly Secret

AMARA

“Your future husband knows who killed your father.”

Vanessa’s words hung between us like a death sentence.

I stared at Adrian.

“Tell me she’s lying.”

He didn’t move.

“Adrian!”

“Amara, your father was a good man.”

My stomach dropped.

“Was?”

He looked away.

I laughed, but there was nothing funny about it.

“Seven years, Adrian. For seven years, I’ve believed my father died because his brakes failed. Are you telling me someone murdered him?”

Vanessa stepped forward.

“That’s exactly what happened.”

“Stay out of this!” Adrian snapped.

She smiled bitterly.

“Still giving orders? Some things never change.”

I pressed my hands against my temples.

“Both of you, stop!”

The room fell silent.

I looked at the photograph again. My father stood between Adrian and Vanessa, smiling as though they were old friends.

“How old were you when this was taken?” I asked Adrian.

“Twenty-seven.”

“And you knew my father?”

“Yes.”

My chest tightened.

“Before you met me?”

“Yes.”

“Then why didn’t you tell me?”

He took a step closer.

“Because I was afraid you’d never give me a chance.”

I stared at him.

“Did you know who I was when we met at the coffee shop?”

His silence was answer enough.

Oh, God.

The spilled cappuccino.

The replacement laptop.

The repeated visits.

Our entire love story.

“That wasn’t an accident, was it?”

“Amara—”

“ANSWER ME!”

“No,” he admitted.

I felt something inside me break.

“You deliberately approached me?”

“Yes.”

“Why?”

He looked at Vanessa.

“Because someone was watching you.”

I sank onto the sofa.

My wedding dress hung near the bedroom doorway, protected beneath its white garment bag.

Just hours ago, I had been worried about flowers and seating arrangements.

Now I wondered whether my entire relationship had been a carefully constructed lie.

“What is The Web?” I whispered.

Vanessa sat opposite me.

“It’s an organization your father helped create.”

“What kind of organization?”

“Private intelligence. Financial investigations. Information that powerful people would pay millions to keep hidden.”

I looked at Adrian.

“Is that true?”

He nodded.

“Your father discovered that someone inside the organization was selling confidential information.”

“And they killed him?”

“We believe so.”

“We?”

Adrian exchanged a glance with Vanessa.

I noticed it.

That silent understanding.

The kind shared by people with a history.

“How exactly do you two know each other?” I demanded.

Vanessa smiled sadly.

“Adrian and I were engaged.”

The air left my lungs.

I turned toward him.

“Engaged?”

“It was years ago,” he said quickly.

“Before she died?”

“Amara, please—”

I stood.

“Don’t touch me!”

He froze.

I looked at Vanessa.

“And you let me mourn you? You let your mother bury an empty coffin?”

Tears filled her eyes.

“I had no choice.”

“Everyone has a choice!”

“Not when someone threatens to kill your family.”

Her voice cracked.

For a moment, I saw the girl who used to cry whenever we argued.

But sympathy was a luxury I couldn’t afford.

“Why come back now?”

Vanessa’s expression hardened.

“Because someone inside The Web has started killing again.”

A chill traveled down my spine.

“Who?”

Before she could answer, Adrian’s phone rang.

He glanced at the screen.

His face changed.

“What’s wrong?” I asked.

He answered without speaking.

A man’s voice came through.

“Mr. Cole, we have a problem.”

Adrian walked toward the window.

“What happened?”

“The security guard who let Miss Reed upstairs has been found unconscious.”

Vanessa stood immediately.

“Where?”

“In the parking garage.”

Adrian’s jaw tightened.

“Lock down the building.”

He ended the call.

Then he turned toward us.

“We need to leave. Now.”

I refused to move.

“I’m not going anywhere until somebody tells me the truth.”

Adrian approached slowly.

“Amara, I know you hate me right now.”

“You don’t know anything about how I feel.”

“Then hate me tomorrow. Tonight, let me keep you alive.”

His voice broke on the last word.

I looked into his eyes.

The same eyes I had fallen in love with.

The same eyes that had watched me cry over my father’s death without revealing that he knew him.

“Did you ever love me?” I whispered.

Adrian looked wounded.

“Every second.”

“Even when you were lying?”

“Especially then.”

A tear slipped down my cheek.

He reached up, stopping just short of touching my face.

“I approached you because I was asked to protect you. But falling in love with you was never part of the plan.”

My heart twisted painfully.

For one terrible moment, I wanted to believe him.

Then Vanessa’s phone buzzed.

She read the message.

Her face drained of color.

“What?” Adrian demanded.

Vanessa turned the screen toward him.

I stepped closer.

It was a photograph of our wedding venue.

Taken minutes ago.

Across the image, someone had written:

THE BRIDE WILL NOT REACH THE ALTAR.

Below it was a second message.

ADRIAN COLE HAS UNTIL SUNRISE TO RETURN WHAT HE STOLE.

I looked at my fiancé.

“What did you steal?”

Adrian’s expression became unreadable.

Then he reached into his jacket and removed a small silver key.

Vanessa gasped.

“You still have it?”

He ignored her.

Instead, he placed the key in my palm and closed my fingers around it.

“Your father gave me this before he died.”

My breath caught.

“What does it open?”

Adrian leaned close enough that only I could hear him.

“The evidence that could destroy The Web.”

I looked down at the key.

Then he whispered something that made my blood run cold.

“And Amara, if anything happens to me, don’t trust Vanessa.”

Behind him, Vanessa smiled.

As though she’d heard every word.