Chapter 3 - The Wedding That Was Never Just a Wedding
My sister Elena opened the hotel suite door wearing a white silk robe and a face full of tears.
The moment she saw me, she stopped.
“Rachel.”
I stood there holding Sophie.
For a few seconds neither of us spoke.
Then Elena rushed forward.
I thought she was going to hug me.
Instead, she touched Sophie’s cheek with shaking fingers.
“You came.”
“Of course I came.”
Her eyes lifted toward Ethan.
She froze.
“You brought him.”
Ethan’s expression remained unreadable.
Elena whispered, “I didn’t know he’d be with you.”
“You told him to protect me.”
“I did.”
I stared at her.
“You knew Daniel was his brother.”
She nodded.
“You knew?”
Tears filled her eyes.
“I found out last year.”
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
“Because I promised Daniel I wouldn’t.”
My anger exploded.
“He was dead!”
“I know!”
Her voice broke.
“He made me promise because if his enemies knew you existed, you and Sophie would have been targets.”
Ethan stepped inside.
“What enemies?”
Elena looked at him.
“The people who were after him.”
“Names.”
“I don’t know.”
“You knew enough to contact me.”
“Because Daniel sent me something.”
“What?”
She walked to a drawer and removed a sealed envelope.
She handed it to me.
My name was written on the front.
Rachel.
My hands trembled.
I opened it.
Inside was a single letter.
Rachel,
If you're reading this, then I failed to protect you.
There are things I never told you because I believed ignorance would keep you alive.
It didn’t.
Sophie is more important than you know.
Trust my brother, even if you hate him.
He is the only person I believe can stop them.
There is a locker in Chicago.
Key 317.
Do not open it alone.
And whatever happens, do not trust the man standing next to Elena tomorrow.
My stomach tightened.
“Tomorrow?”
Elena looked away.
“My wedding.”
I reread the last line.
“The man standing next to you?”
“My fiancé.”
I looked at her.
“Who is he?”
Before Elena could answer, the bedroom door opened.
A tall man walked in wearing a perfectly tailored suit.
“Everyone looks tense.”
He smiled.
“Is everything all right?”
Elena went pale.
“This is Marcus Vale.”
Ethan stared at him.
The air changed instantly.
Marcus looked at Ethan and smiled.
“Callahan.”
“Vale.”
They spoke like men who had spent years learning how to hate each other politely.
My stomach dropped.
“You know each other.”
Ethan didn’t look at me.
“We do.”
Marcus laughed softly.
“This city is smaller than people think.”
I looked at the letter.
Then back at Marcus.
He noticed.
His smile disappeared.
“What’s that?”
“Nothing.”
Marcus stepped toward me.
Ethan moved between us.
It happened so smoothly I almost missed it.
Marcus stared at him.
“You’re protective.”
“He’s not welcome near her,” Ethan said.
Marcus’s jaw tightened.
Elena stepped forward.
“Please. Not today.”
Marcus kissed her forehead.
“We have a wedding tomorrow.”
Then he left.
The door closed.
I turned to Ethan.
“That’s the man Daniel told me not to trust.”
Ethan’s voice was cold.
“Yes.”
Elena sank onto the sofa.
“I was going to leave him.”
“What?”
She nodded.
“I found records connecting Marcus to the company Daniel was investigating.”
My heart pounded.
“You were going to marry him anyway?”
“I was trying to get close enough to find the truth.”
Ethan looked at her.
“Did he know?”
“I don’t think so.”
“Then he suspects.”
She wiped her cheeks.
“Why do you think I called you?”
The wedding suddenly felt like a trap.
Not a celebration.
A battlefield.
That night Ethan moved us to a different room.
I refused to sleep.
Around two in the morning, I found him standing on the balcony.
Chicago stretched below us.
“You don’t sleep?”
“Not much.”
“You knew Daniel.”
“Yes.”
“What was he really like?”
Ethan was quiet.
Then he said, “He was the only person in my family who wanted out.”
“What family?”
“My father built the organization. Daniel hated it.”
“And you?”
“I stayed.”
“Why?”
“Because somebody had to keep people from destroying each other.”
I looked at him.
“You’re trying to tell me you’re a good man.”
“No.”
He turned.
“I’m telling you I’m not the worst man in this city.”
That answer frightened me more than if he had denied everything.
“Why help me?”
His gaze shifted toward Sophie, asleep in the bedroom.
“Because Daniel asked me to.”
“Only because of him?”
Ethan hesitated.
“No.”
I waited.
He looked at me.
“Because the first time I saw Sophie, I knew exactly who she belonged to.”
My heart skipped.
“What does that mean?”
Before he could answer, the hotel lights went out.
A scream came from down the hall.
Ethan moved instantly.
He pulled me behind him.
“Stay here.”
“No.”
“Rachel.”
A gunshot cracked through the darkness.
Sophie woke crying.
I ran to her.
Ethan drew a weapon from beneath his sweater.
His security team flooded the room.
Then another shot.
Glass shattered.
Elena screamed.
Someone had entered through the service corridor.
Ethan grabbed my arm.
“Listen carefully.”
“What?”
“If I tell you to run, you run.”
“Where?”
“To the stairwell.”
“And you?”
“I’ll follow.”
He looked at Sophie.
“No matter what happens.”
Another gunshot.
Then silence.
A man stumbled past the doorway.
One of Ethan’s guards.
Blood covered his shirt.
“Boss,” he gasped.
“What happened?”
“The traitor…”
He collapsed.
Ethan looked down.
Then his expression changed.
He crouched beside the injured guard.
In the man’s hand was a wedding invitation.
Marcus Vale’s name was printed across it.
Ethan picked it up.
Behind the invitation, written in fresh ink, were three words:
THE BRIDE KNOWS.
Elena started crying.
I looked at her.
“What do you know?”
She stared at me.
May you like
Then she whispered:
“Everything.”
