“Everyone says that when they don’t want to admit they made one.”
She flinched.
Then she whispered,
“Adrian didn’t want you involved.”
My anger exploded.
“He didn’t want me involved?”
“He thought he was protecting you.”
“From what?”
Colleen looked toward the door.
Then she lowered her voice.
“From the people who tried to kill him.”
I froze.
“What people?”
She didn’t answer.
“Colleen.”
Her eyes met mine.
“Your fiancé wasn’t killed in an accident.”
The room went silent.
“Someone tried to murder him.”
I felt the floor disappear beneath me.
“But why?”
She took a trembling breath.
“Because Adrian found out something he wasn’t supposed to know.”
“What?”
She reached into her purse.
For a moment, I thought she was going to give me something.
Instead, she pulled out a small photograph.
She handed it to me.
I looked down.
It was Adrian.
Standing outside a building.
Beside him was another man.
I recognized the building immediately.
It was the office where Adrian worked.
But the man beside him…
I had seen him before.
At the funeral.
Standing behind Colleen.
Watching me.
I looked at her.
“Who is this?”
She whispered,
“That’s the reason Adrian had to disappear.”
Then someone knocked on the door.
Three slow knocks.
Colleen’s face turned white.
She grabbed the photograph from my hand.
“Don’t tell Adrian I showed you this.”
“Why?”
She stared at me.
“Because if he knows you have seen it, he may try to kill you.”
The door handle began to turn.
Colleen stepped away from me.
And then Adrian walked in.
He looked at his mother.
Then at me.
Then at the photograph in her hand.
His expression changed.
“Mom.”
Colleen said nothing.
Adrian closed the door.
And locked it.
Then he looked directly at me.
“Meredith.”
For the first time since I had seen him alive, he said my name.
And there was something in his voice that terrified me more than the funeral ever had.
“You’re in danger now.”
Part 3 — The Truth Adrian Buried With His Name
Part 3 — The Truth Adrian Buried With His Name
Nobody spoke.
The room felt impossibly small.
Adrian stood with his back against the locked door.
His wedding suit was still perfect.
His hair was still the way I remembered it.
His eyes were still the eyes I had loved.
That almost made it worse.
I wanted to run to him.
I wanted to slap him.
I wanted to hold him.
I wanted to ask why he had allowed me to bury him.
Instead, I whispered,
“Are you really Adrian?”
His expression broke.
Just for a second.
Then he nodded.
“Yes.”
A laugh escaped me.
It was shaky and bitter.
“That’s your answer?”
“What do you want me to say?”
“I want three months of my life back.”
His eyes lowered.
“I can’t give you that.”
“No.”
I stepped closer.
“But you can tell me why you stole it.”
Colleen moved between us.
“Meredith, please.”
I pushed past her.
“You let me mourn him.”
Adrian’s face tightened.
“I know.”
“You watched me cry.”
“I know.”
“You let me stand beside a coffin.”
“I know.”
“You watched me believe you were dead.”
His eyes filled with tears.
“I know.”
“Then why?”
He looked at me.
“Because if you knew I was alive, you would have been killed too.”
I shook my head.
“That’s what your mother told me.”
“Because it’s true.”
“Then tell me everything.”
He hesitated.
I pointed toward the door.
“Or I’m walking out and telling everyone in this building that the dead groom just got married.”
Adrian closed his eyes.
“Okay.”
He sat down.
And for the first time, I saw how exhausted he really was.
“Six weeks before our wedding, I discovered someone at my company had been stealing money.”
I listened.
“Millions.”
He continued.
“I found documents proving it. Names. Accounts. Transfers.”
“Who?”
He looked at his mother.
She whispered,
“Don’t.”
Adrian ignored her.
“One of the names belonged to a man who was close to our family.”
My stomach tightened.
“The man in the photograph.”
Adrian nodded.
“His name is Victor Hale.”
I remembered him.
He had been at Adrian’s funeral.
He had hugged Colleen.
He had told me how sorry he was.
He had even brought flowers.
I felt sick.
“He was at the funeral.”
“Yes.”
“And he knew you were alive?”
“He was the reason I had to disappear.”
Adrian told me what happened.
The night before the accident, he had confronted Victor.
Victor had threatened him.
The next morning, Adrian’s brakes failed.
He lost control of his car.
The crash killed another man who had been driving on the same road.
Adrian survived.
Barely.
He had been pulled from the wreckage by a passerby before emergency crews arrived.
But he had suffered severe injuries.
When he woke in the hospital, he learned that the police believed the unidentified body was him.
Victor had already convinced everyone Adrian was dead.
And instead of correcting them immediately, Adrian had made a choice.
He disappeared.
He contacted Colleen.
Then Julian.
And together, they created a story that Adrian Parker was dead.
I stared at him.
“You could have told me.”
“I wanted to.”
“But you didn’t.”
“Because Victor was watching you.”
My anger faltered.
“What?”
Adrian stood.
“Three days after the accident, Victor came to the funeral home.”
I remembered the man.
I remembered his black coat.
I remembered how strangely calm he had been.
Adrian continued.
“He asked my mother whether you’d received anything from me before the accident.”
I felt cold.
“The photograph?”
Adrian nodded.
“I had copied the evidence onto a small memory card.”
“Where is it?”
He looked at me.
“I gave it to you.”
I stared at him.
“What?”
“You just don’t know it yet.”
My mind raced.
He walked toward the flower buckets.
Then he stopped beside the large white arrangement I had made that morning.
He reached into the center.
Pulled aside several roses.
And removed a tiny waterproof container.
My breath caught.
“I hid it inside one of the vases at your shop before the accident.”
I remembered.
That vase.