YOU WERE.
Those two words stared up at me from my phone.
My engagement photograph.
My face circled in red.
The wreckage of Adrian’s car behind it.
Someone had wanted me dead.
And apparently, Adrian had known.
I slowly lifted my eyes.
“You knew.”
Adrian didn’t answer.
“You knew someone was coming after me.”
“Meredith—”
“How long?”
Another scream came from the reception hall.
Rebecca grabbed my arm.
“We don’t have time for this.”
I pulled away.
“I’ve spent three months grieving a man who wasn’t dead. I think I have time for one answer.”
Adrian looked toward the door.
Then back at me.
“Two weeks before the crash.”
My stomach dropped.
“You knew for two weeks?”
“I knew someone was watching you.”
“And you said nothing?”
“I thought I could handle it.”
“Handle it?”
My voice shook.
“You let me go to work. You let me drive home alone. You slept beside me every night knowing somebody might be following me.”
“I didn’t know they wanted to kill you then.”
“When did you know?”
“The night of the crash.”
Rebecca suddenly whispered, “Adrian.”
He ignored her.
“I got a call that night.”
“From who?”
“I didn’t know. The voice was distorted.”
“What did they say?”
Adrian stared at me.
“They told me where you were.”
A cold sensation crawled down my spine.
“I was home.”
“I know.”
“They told you my address?”
“They knew everything. Your apartment. Your work schedule. Where you bought coffee. Which grocery store you used.”
I felt sick.
“Why?”
“That’s what I couldn’t understand.”
Something slammed against a door somewhere outside.
Rebecca flinched.
“We have to move.”
Adrian crossed the storage room and shoved a metal shelving unit aside.
Behind it was another door.
I stared.
“You knew this was here?”
“I studied the building before today.”
“Of course you did.”
He opened the door.
A narrow service staircase descended into darkness.
“Go.”
Rebecca went first.
I didn’t move.
Adrian looked at me.
“Meredith.”
“I want answers.”
“And you’ll get them if you’re alive long enough to hear them.”
That sentence finally moved me.
I stepped onto the staircase.
Adrian followed and pulled the door shut behind us.
We descended into what looked like an old basement beneath the venue.
Rebecca switched on her phone flashlight.
“Where does this lead?”
“Loading dock.”
“You planned an escape route for your wedding?”
I asked.
Neither of them answered.
That told me enough.
This wasn’t really a wedding.
Not in the normal sense.
“What is this marriage?”
I demanded.
Rebecca stopped walking.
Adrian nearly bumped into her.
“Keep moving,” he said.
“No.”
Rebecca turned.
“She needs to understand.”
“Not here.”
“When, Adrian? After someone else dies?”
His expression hardened.
Rebecca looked at me.
“This marriage is legal, but it isn’t romantic.”
I stared at her.
“What?”
“Adrian and I aren’t in love.”
“Rebecca.”
“I’m telling her.”
She took a breath.
“My father is Daniel Lawson.”
The name meant nothing to me.
Apparently my expression showed it.
Rebecca continued.
“He owns Lawson Freight.”
I knew that name.
Everyone did.
It was one of the largest regional transportation companies in the state.
Trucks.
Warehouses.
Shipping contracts.
Adrian had worked in corporate risk management before his supposed death.
Suddenly pieces began moving inside my head.
“Adrian worked with them.”
Rebecca nodded.
“He was hired as an outside compliance consultant eighteen months ago.”
I looked at Adrian.
“You told me you were consulting for a medical company.”
“I lied.”
“Clearly you’ve developed a talent for that.”
Rebecca continued before he could respond.
“Adrian discovered something inside my father’s company.”
“What?”
“Money disappearing through shell companies. Fake shipping invoices. Warehouses that supposedly didn’t exist.”
“Rebecca,” Adrian warned.
“No more secrets.”
Her voice cracked.
“People have already died because of the secrets.”
I stared at her.
“People?”
She nodded.
“My older brother was one of them.”
The basement suddenly felt colder.
“What happened?”
“His car went off a bridge two years ago.”
“Accident?”
“That’s what everyone said.”
Her eyes filled with tears.
“I stopped believing that six months later.”
“Why?”
“Because I found his laptop.”
Adrian looked toward the staircase.
“We need to move.”
We started walking again.
Rebecca stayed beside me.
“My brother had been investigating our father’s business.”
“Your own father?”
“He suspected the company was being used for something illegal.”
“What?”
“I don’t know everything.”
She swallowed.
“But Adrian found the same financial records.”
“And that’s why someone tried to kill him?”
“No.”
Rebecca looked at me.
“That’s why someone started watching him.”
I stopped.
“But you said I was the target.”
“Eventually.”
“Why?”
Neither of them answered.
That silence frightened me more than anything they’d said.
“WHY?”
Adrian turned around.
“Because of your father.”
I stared at him.
“My father?”
My father had died when I was fourteen.
Heart attack.
At least that’s what I’d always been told.
“What does my father have to do with this?”
“His name wasn’t Michael Hayes.”
My entire body went numb.
“Yes, it was.”
“No.”
“Don’t tell me what my father’s name was.”
“Meredith—”
“His name was Michael Hayes.”
“That’s the name he used after you were born.”
I stared at Adrian like he’d become a stranger all over again.
“What was his real name?”
Adrian hesitated.
“Thomas Mercer.”
Rebecca closed her eyes.
She already knew.
Of course she did.
Apparently everyone knew my life except me.
“Who was Thomas Mercer?”
Adrian took a slow breath.
“An accountant.”
I almost laughed.
“My father was an electrician.”
“Before that.”
“For who?”
Adrian looked at Rebecca.
Then at me.
“Lawson Freight.”
My knees nearly gave out.
Rebecca caught my arm.
I pulled away.
“No.”
“It’s true,” Adrian said.
“No.”
“Your father worked directly under Rebecca’s father.”
“My father died fifteen years ago.”
“Yes.”
“From a heart attack.”
Adrian said nothing.
My stomach twisted.
“No.”
“Meredith.”
“No.”
I backed away from him.
“Don’t do this.”
“I’m sorry.”
“Don’t.”
“Your father didn’t die from a heart attack.”
The words seemed to travel through me without meaning.
Then they landed.
“What happened?”
“He disappeared.”
I stared at him.
“What?”
“His body was never recovered.”
“That’s impossible. I remember the funeral.”
Adrian’s expression softened.
“Was the coffin open?”
I couldn’t breathe.
Another closed coffin.
I remembered being fourteen.
My mother beside me.
A black dress.
Rain against church windows.
A coffin I wasn’t allowed to approach because she’d told me Dad had looked different after the hospital.
Closed.
Just like Adrian’s.
“Oh my God.”
Rebecca whispered, “Meredith…”
I covered my mouth.
“Is my father alive?”
“I don’t know,” Adrian said.
“Don’t lie to me.”
“I’m not.”
“You knew all of this?”
“Not when we met.”
“When?”
“About six months ago.”
Six months.
Three months before Adrian’s supposed death.
I remembered those months.
He’d become distracted.
Taking calls outside.
Working late.
Changing passwords.
I’d wondered if he was cheating.
Once, I even asked him.
He’d laughed and kissed my forehead.
I felt stupid now.
“What did you find?”
Adrian reached inside his jacket.
He removed a small envelope.
“I found this.”
My name was written across the front.
MEREDITH.
I recognized the handwriting instantly.
My father’s.
I hadn’t seen it in fifteen years.
But I knew it.
Birthday cards.
Lunchbox notes.
The label he’d written on my first toolbox because I’d insisted I wanted one like his.
My fingers trembled as I took the envelope.
“Where did you get this?”
“In a safe-deposit box.”
“Whose?”
“Your father’s.”
“How did you access it?”
“I didn’t. Someone mailed me the key.”
“Who?”
“I don’t know.”
“Why you?”
“Because whoever sent it knew we were engaged.”
I opened the envelope.
Inside was a single folded piece of paper.
The writing was faded.
Meredith,
If you’re reading this, then someone finally found what I hid.
Do not trust anyone connected to Lawson.
Not the employees.
Not the attorneys.
Not the police officers they know.
And most importantly, do not trust—
The sentence ended there.
The bottom half of the page had been torn away.
“That’s it?”
I whispered.
Adrian nodded.
“Where’s the rest?”
“I never found it.”
Rebecca suddenly said, “I might know.”
We both looked at her.
“My brother.”
“What about him?”
“The night before he died, he called me.”
She swallowed.
“He said he’d found a letter written by someone named Thomas.”
My heart stopped.
“What did it say?”
“He wouldn’t tell me over the phone.”
“Where is it?”
“I don’t know.”
Adrian stared at her.
“You never told me this.”
“Because I didn’t trust you.”
“You’re marrying me.”
“Exactly.”
I looked between them.
“What does that mean?”
Rebecca gave a bitter laugh.
“This marriage was supposed to make my father trust Adrian.”
“Why?”
“Because my father thinks Adrian saved my life.”
“Did he?”
“No.”
She looked at Adrian.
“We staged that too.”
Of course they had.
Apparently staging deaths and rescues had become normal for these people.
“What were you trying to get?”
Rebecca answered.
“Access to my father’s private records.”
“And marrying his daughter gives Adrian access?”
“Eventually.”
A noise echoed behind us.
Footsteps.
Adrian switched off Rebecca’s flashlight.
Darkness swallowed us.
“Quiet.”
The footsteps grew louder.
Someone was coming down the stairs.
Adrian reached beneath his jacket.
I heard Rebecca whisper, “Do you have it?”
“Yes.”
I didn’t ask what “it” was.
The footsteps stopped.
Silence.
Then a man’s voice echoed through the basement.
“Adrian.”
The gray-suited man.
“I know you’re down here.”
Adrian motioned for us to move.
We continued through the darkness.
Slowly.
Silently.
The man’s voice came again.
“You can’t protect her forever.”
My blood froze.
He knew I was here.
Adrian pushed us toward another doorway.
The footsteps started again.
Faster now.
We ran.
Adrian shoved open the door.
Sunlight blinded me.
We were behind the venue near the loading dock.
A black SUV was parked twenty feet away.
“Get in!”
We ran toward it.
Then the driver’s door opened.
Colleen stepped out.
“Mom?”
Adrian looked shocked.
“We have to go,” she said.
“How did you—”
“GET IN!”
We piled into the SUV.
Colleen slammed the accelerator.
The tires squealed as we shot across the parking lot.
I twisted around.
The gray-suited man emerged from the building.
He didn’t chase us.
He simply stood there.
Watching.
Then he lifted his phone.
Thirty seconds later, a dark sedan pulled out behind us.
“We’re being followed,” Rebecca said.
“I know,” Colleen replied.
She accelerated.
“Where are we going?”
I asked.
Nobody answered.
“Where are we going?”
“Somewhere safe,” Colleen said.
I laughed bitterly.
“I’ve heard enough about keeping me safe.”
Colleen looked at me through the rearview mirror.
“I’m sorry.”
“Stop saying that.”
“I never wanted you involved.”
“You stood beside me while I buried an empty coffin.”
Her face tightened.
“It wasn’t empty.”
The car went silent.
I stared at the back of her head.
“What?”
Adrian leaned forward.
“Mom.”
“You should’ve told her already.”
“Not now.”
“She deserves to know.”
I felt suddenly nauseous.
“Who was inside Adrian’s coffin?”
Colleen’s hands tightened around the steering wheel.
“The man from the crash.”
“The man who was coming for me?”
“Yes.”
“What’s his name?”
Colleen didn’t answer.
“WHAT WAS HIS NAME?”
“Eric.”
“Eric what?”
Her eyes met mine in the mirror.
“Eric Hayes.”
My heart stopped.
Hayes.
My last name.
“Who was he?”
Colleen looked away.
“Your mother’s son.”
For a moment, I genuinely thought I’d misunderstood.
“My mother’s what?”
“Son.”
“I don’t have a brother.”
Colleen’s voice became quieter.
“Yes, Meredith.”
“You do.”
“No.”
“Your mother had him before you were born.”
“No.”
“She never told you.”
I turned toward Adrian.
“Is this true?”
He wouldn’t look at me.
“ADRIAN.”
“Yes.”
The word shattered something inside me.
My own brother.
A brother I never knew existed.
Had died inside Adrian’s car.
And I’d buried him.
“Why was he coming after me?”
I whispered.
Colleen shook her head.
“He wasn’t.”
“But Rebecca said—”
“We misunderstood what he was carrying.”
I looked at Rebecca.
She seemed equally confused.
Colleen continued.
“Eric wasn’t hunting Meredith.”
“Then why did he have my photograph and address?”
“Because he was trying to find you.”
“Why?”
Colleen looked at me again.
“Because he found your father.”
Nobody spoke.
My lungs forgot how to work.
“What?”
“Three weeks before the crash, Eric contacted me.”
“Why you?”
“He knew Adrian was investigating Lawson.”
“And?”
“He told me Thomas Mercer was alive.”
My eyes burned.
“Where?”
“I don’t know.”
“He wouldn’t tell me.”
“Why?”
“Because he didn’t trust anyone.”
A car horn exploded behind us.
The dark sedan had caught up.
It slammed into the rear of our SUV.
Rebecca screamed.
Colleen fought the steering wheel.
“Hold on!”
Another impact.
The SUV swerved.
Adrian turned around.
“They’re trying to push us off the road.”
My phone vibrated.
I looked down.
Unknown number.
Another message.
This time there was no photograph.
Just an address.
And beneath it:
IF YOU WANT TO SEE YOUR FATHER ALIVE, COME ALONE.
DO NOT BRING ADRIAN.
I stared at the screen.
Then another message arrived.
A photograph loaded.
An older man sat in a wooden chair.
Gray hair.
Thin face.
Wrinkled skin.
Fifteen years had passed.
But I recognized his eyes immediately.
My father’s eyes.
He was alive.
“Dad…”
Adrian grabbed my phone.
His face changed.
“Where did this come from?”
I took it back.
“You knew.”
“No.”
“He’s alive!”
“Meredith, this could be fake.”
“It’s him.”
Another message arrived.
THIS IS YOUR LAST CHANCE.
I looked at the address.
Then at Adrian.
And suddenly I noticed something I’d missed.
The address wasn’t unfamiliar.
I’d been there before.
Years ago.
It was a small house outside the city.
A house my mother used to take me to when I was a child.
She always told me it belonged to an old family friend.
But I remembered one particular afternoon.
I had been eight years old.
My mother had gone inside while I waited in the car.
A man had appeared behind an upstairs curtain.
I’d waved.
He’d immediately disappeared.
At the time, I’d forgotten about it.
Now the memory returned with terrifying clarity.
I looked at Colleen.
“Take the next exit.”
Adrian turned sharply.
“No.”
“I know that address.”
“Meredith, whoever sent this wants you separated from us.”
“I said take the exit.”
“No.”
I stared at him.
“You don’t get to decide what I know anymore.”
The sedan struck us again.
Colleen cursed and jerked the wheel.
Then suddenly, red and blue lights appeared ahead.
Police.
Two cruisers blocked the road.
Colleen slowed.
Adrian’s face drained of color.
“Don’t stop.”
“What?”
Rebecca shouted.
“They’re police!”
Adrian leaned between the seats.
“Mom, DON’T STOP.”
Colleen hesitated.
One officer stepped into the road and raised his hand.
“Pull over!”
Then I remembered my father’s letter.
Do not trust anyone connected to Lawson.
Not the police officers they know.
The gray sedan behind us slowed.
It didn’t turn around.
It didn’t run.
Instead, it calmly pulled behind one of the police cruisers.
Like it belonged there.
“Oh God,” Rebecca whispered.
Colleen slammed the accelerator.
The officer jumped aside as we tore past the roadblock.
One cruiser immediately started after us.
Sirens screamed.
I gripped the door.
“What are we going to do?”
Adrian pointed ahead.
“Take the exit!”
Colleen swerved onto the ramp.
The police cruiser followed.
My phone rang.
Unknown number.
I answered before Adrian could stop me.
“Hello?”
Silence.
Then breathing.
“Dad?”
The breathing stopped.
A man’s voice whispered my childhood nickname.
“Merry.”
Nobody had called me that since my father disappeared.
Tears filled my eyes.
“Dad?”
“Listen to me.”
His voice was weak.
Terrified.
“You can’t trust Adrian.”
I slowly turned toward the man I’d almost married.
Adrian was staring at me.
“What did he say?”
I couldn’t answer.
My father continued.
“The crash wasn’t Adrian’s first attempt to disappear.”
“What are you talking about?”
“Ask him about Rebecca’s brother.”
My blood went cold.
“Dad—”
“Ask Adrian where he was the night Rebecca’s brother died.”
The call ended.
I lowered the phone.
Rebecca looked at me.
“What did he say?”
I stared at Adrian.
His expression told me he already knew.
“Meredith.”
I barely recognized my own voice.
“Where were you the night Rebecca’s brother went off that bridge?”
Rebecca froze.
Slowly, she turned toward Adrian.
“What?”
Adrian said nothing.
“Answer me,” I whispered.
Rebecca’s face changed.
“Adrian?”
He closed his eyes.
And finally said the five words that changed everything again.
“I was in his car.”
One Comment on “PART 3: Three months after my fiancé passed away before our wedding, his mother saw me at another wedding and sought to hide right away. Adrian and I were supposed to get married that summer. We’d already booked the venue. I’d chosen my dress. We’d argued over the cake flavor and laughed about how ridiculous we were being”