The Ring He Was Never Supposed to Wear

CHAPTER 3 - The Name He Carried

Mara did not move.

Neither did Thomas. He stood between her and the stranger in the gray coat, shoulders rigid, as if he expected a blow.

Elena reached for Mara's hand. Instinct made Mara take it.

The gray-coated man did not enter the terrace. He only lifted his phone, spoke one sentence, then walked away.

Thomas exhaled through his teeth. "He found us too soon."

"Who is he?" Mara demanded.

Thomas looked at Elena, then back at her. "Someone who doesn't want the truth to come out."

"Then tell me the truth," Mara said.

He gave a tired laugh with no humor in it. "Which part?"

The one she remembered was the one that had shattered her life. Thomas had vanished after the warehouse fire, and by morning the police had told her he was gone. A week later, the funeral had been closed-casket, and she had stopped asking questions because grief had been easier than doubt.

Now doubt was standing in front of her, breathing.

Thomas said, "I didn't die. I disappeared."

"Why?"

"Because if they believed I was dead, they stopped looking for you."

Mara stared. "For me?"

He nodded once. "You were the target, Mara. Not me."

The words landed slowly.

Before she could answer, Elena pulled something from her pocket. It was a folded note, damp at the edges.

"Daddy said to give this to you if you looked scared," she said.

Mara opened it with trembling hands.

Three words stared back at her in Thomas's handwriting.

Don't trust Vivian.

Mara's head snapped up.

Vivian had been her oldest friend. The one who held her through the funeral. The one who helped sort Thomas's things. The one who insisted on bringing her to this banquet tonight.

Mara looked toward the hall.

Vivian was gone.

And from inside the building came the sound of someone screaming her name.

"Vivian, what did you do?"

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