She Found an Ultrasound the Night Before Her Wedding and the Man Who Came Looking for Her Fiancé Changed Everything She Thought She Knew
“I don’t know yet.”
The stranger crossed the street.
He stopped at the bottom of the porch steps.
“Claire Morgan?”
“Yes.”
“My name is Adrian Vale.”
His voice was calm.
American.
Educated.
Not loud.
He looked at the discarded floral arrangements stacked near the garage and then at Claire.
“I’m looking for Ryan Keller.”
Claire let out a bitter breath.
“Apparently everybody is.”
Adrian’s expression barely changed.
“He was living here?”
“He was supposed to be married here today.”
“I know.”
Advertisement
That made Jenna stand.
“How do you know?”
One of Adrian’s men shifted his weight.
Adrian did not look away from Claire.
“Ryan borrowed money from people who work for me.”
Claire’s stomach tightened.
“How much?”
“Eighty thousand dollars originally.”
“Originally?”
“With penalties and missed payments, considerably more now.”
Claire stared at him.
“That’s impossible.”
“I wish it were.”
“For what?”
His gaze flicked toward the house.
“The ring. Part of the venue deposit. Travel. Several expenses connected to the wedding.”
Claire automatically looked at her left hand.
The diamond Ryan had given her suddenly felt contaminated.
She pulled the ring off.
“You’re saying my engagement ring was bought with borrowed money?”
“Yes.”
“And you came here to collect it?”
“No.”
Adrian looked at the ring in her palm.
“I came here to find Ryan.”
“Then get in line.”
Something almost resembling sympathy moved across Adrian’s face.
Almost.
“Did he leave any message?”
“No.”
“Did he contact you after midnight?”
“No.”
“If he does, call this number.”
He handed her a plain card.
Only a phone number was printed on it.
Jenna stepped between them.
“And if she doesn’t?”
Adrian’s eyes moved to her.
Claire suddenly understood why the men behind him were so quiet.
Adrian did not need to threaten people loudly.
His reputation probably entered rooms before he did.
“I would strongly recommend that she does.”
Claire rose.
“Are you threatening me?”
“No.”
“That sounded like a threat.”
“I’m telling you that Ryan ran from people who do not appreciate being stolen from. Running rarely makes desperate men smarter. If he contacts you, he may try to use you.”
“He already did.”
Adrian looked at her.
She held up the ultrasound.
Something shifted in his expression.
“What is that?”
“The reason there was no wedding.”
For the first time, Adrian Vale seemed genuinely surprised.
Claire hated that she cared.
She hated that being pitied by a dangerous stranger somehow felt less humiliating than being lied to by the man she had loved.
Adrian nodded slowly.
“I see.”
“No, you probably don’t.”
“You’d be surprised.”
He turned to leave.
Then stopped.
“Ms. Morgan.”
Claire looked at him.
“For whatever it’s worth, finding the truth before you said the vows is better than finding it afterward.”
She almost told him nothing about this was worth anything.
But something in his expression stopped her.
Not softness.
Recognition.
As though he understood exactly what it meant to discover that somebody had built a lie around your trust.
Then he walked back to the sedan.
Jenna waited until the car disappeared.
“What exactly was that?”
Claire looked at the card in her hand.
“I think that was the moment my terrible week became much worse.”
Three nights later, Ryan called.
2:04 a.m.
Unknown number.
Claire sat upright before answering.
“Hello?”
“Claire.”
His voice sounded exhausted.
She closed her eyes.
“Where are you?”
“Don’t ask that.”
“You disappear the morning of our wedding and call me three days later telling me what I’m allowed to ask?”
“Did Adrian Vale come to the house?”
Claire’s fingers tightened around the phone.
“Yes.”
Ryan swore.
“Listen to me. You stay away from him.”
“You borrowed eighty thousand dollars from him.”
“I can explain.”
“You have been explaining things very badly lately.”
“Claire, this isn’t a joke.”
“Neither was our wedding.”
Ryan breathed hard.
She heard traffic behind him.
Trucks.
A highway.
“Vale is dangerous.”
“You left me here for him to find.”
“I thought he’d know you weren’t involved.”
“You hoped he would.”
“I’m sorry.”
“No, you’re scared.”
He went silent.
Claire had never heard Ryan frightened before.
Somehow that finally stripped away the last illusion she had carried about him.
“What do you want?”
“I need you to help me.”
She laughed once.
It contained no humor.
“Of course you do.”
“Tell Vale I called from the airport. Tell him I’m going to Mexico. Just buy me two days.”
“So you want me to lie to the man you just told me is dangerous.”
“I need time.”
“You needed courage.”
“Claire—”
“No.”
May you like
“Please.”
“You lied to me about another woman. You hid her pregnancy. You borrowed money behind my back. You planned to trap me inside a marriage before telling me the truth. Then you disappeared and left me to face the people you owed.”
