FACE TO FACE
1519 Words
The applause inside the Grand Imperial Hotel echoed through the ballroom as the final model disappeared behind the curtains. Guests rose to their feet, praising Carter Couture’s latest collection. Camera flashes lit up the room while journalists hurried to capture Isabella Carter’s success.
To everyone else, it was the perfect evening.
To Isabella, it felt like the past had come crashing into the present.
She walked briskly through the backstage corridor, her heels clicking sharply against the polished floor. Her heart raced, but not from excitement. It was the sight of Adrian Kingsley—standing just a few feet away after five years—that had shaken her.
She had spent years convincing herself she was over him.
One look into his blue eyes had proven she wasn’t.
“Isabella!”
She froze.
That voice.
Deep.
Calm.
Familiar.
She closed her eyes for a brief second before turning around.
Adrian was standing at the end of the hallway, his breathing uneven as though he had run after her.
For a moment, neither of them spoke.
Five years of silence filled the space between them.
“You look well,” Adrian finally said.
His voice was softer than she remembered.
Isabella forced a polite smile.
“So do you.”
“I’ve wanted to see you for a long time.”
“You’ve seen me.”
She turned to leave.
“Wait.”
His single word stopped her.
“I just need five minutes.”
She let out a bitter laugh.
“You had five years.”
The words struck Adrian like a punch.
He lowered his eyes.
“I deserve that.”
“You deserve much more.”
Silence settled between them again.
Employees and models quietly slipped past, sensing the tension.
Adrian took a cautious step closer.
“I know you hate me.”
“Hate?”
Isabella looked at him with eyes filled with pain rather than anger.
“Hate requires feelings.”
“I stopped feeling anything for you five years ago.”
She lied.
Both of them knew it.
“If that’s true,” Adrian said quietly, “why are your hands shaking?”
Isabella looked down.
Her fingers were trembling.
She quickly folded her arms.
“I’m cold.”
“No.”
His gaze never left hers.
“You’re hurting.”
A lump formed in her throat.
“You don’t get to tell me how I feel.”
“I know.”
He nodded slowly.
“But I know I hurt you.”
“You humiliated me.”
“I never wanted to.”
“You never came.”
“I tried.”
Her expression hardened.
“Don’t.”
“It’s the truth.”
“The truth?” she repeated bitterly.
“The truth is that I stood in front of hundreds of people wearing a wedding dress while everyone whispered that I wasn’t good enough for the great Adrian Kingsley.”
“I never believed that.”
“You didn’t have to.”
She laughed without humor.
“The entire country believed it.”
Adrian reached into the inner pocket of his jacket.
“I’ve carried something with me every day for five years.”
He slowly pulled out a small velvet box.
Isabella’s breath caught.
It was the engagement ring.
The same ring she had left on the altar.
“I asked the caretaker to keep it safe,” Adrian said.
“When I returned to the cathedral, he gave it to me.”
He looked down at it.
“I couldn’t throw it away.”
Isabella stared at the ring.
It brought back memories she had buried.
The proposal.
The laughter.
The dreams.
The wedding that never happened.
“I don’t want it.”
“I know.”
“But I wanted you to know… I never stopped believing it belonged to you.”
Tears threatened to fill her eyes.
She blinked them away.
“You abandoned me.”
“I didn’t.”
“You expect me to believe that after all this time?”
“I was tricked.”
She folded her arms tighter.
“By who?”
“I don’t know.”
Her eyebrows knitted together.
“You don’t know?”
“I received a phone call on our wedding day.”
He told her everything.
The unknown caller.
The photograph of her unconscious in a warehouse.
The threatening voice warning him not to tell anyone.
The abandoned building.
The realization that he had been deceived.
The empty cathedral.
The news reports showing her crying.
By the time he finished, Isabella stood completely still.
It sounded unbelievable.
It also explained something she had never understood.
Adrian had never once tried to defend himself publicly.
Instead, he had disappeared.
“If that really happened,” she whispered, “why didn’t you come to me afterward?”
“I did.”
His answer came instantly.
“I went to your apartment.”
“You were gone.”
“I visited your father.”
“He wouldn’t let me see you.”
“I wrote letters.”
She frowned.
“What letters?”
“They were all returned unopened.”
Confusion flickered across her face.
“I never received any letters.”
“I know.”
“Someone intercepted them.”
Before Isabella could answer, Sophia appeared in the hallway.
“There you are.”
She stopped the moment she noticed Adrian.
Her expression immediately turned cold.
“What are you doing here?”
“I wanted to speak with Isabella.”
“I think you’ve done enough talking for one lifetime.”
“Sophia…”
“No.”
Sophia stepped between them.
“You don’t get to hurt her again.”
“I’m not trying to.”
“You should leave.”
Adrian looked at Isabella.
“I know you don’t believe me.”
She remained silent.
“But I’ll prove I’m telling the truth.”
Without another word, he placed the velvet ring box on a nearby table.
“I’m not asking for forgiveness.”
He turned to leave.
“I’m asking for one chance to uncover the truth.”
He walked away.
Isabella watched until he disappeared around the corner.
Her heart felt heavier than before.
Sophia picked up the ring box.
“Don’t even think about it.”
“I wasn’t.”
“You can’t trust him.”
“I know.”
Sophia studied her cousin carefully.
“Do you?”
…
Meanwhile, on the hotel’s upper floor, Victoria Sinclair watched everything through the security monitors.
Her smile slowly faded.
“So…”
“They’re already talking.”
Her assistant entered the room.
“Should we be concerned?”
Victoria walked to the window overlooking the ballroom.
“Very.”
She had expected Isabella to throw a drink in Adrian’s face.
She had expected shouting.
Anger.
Anything but conversation.
Because conversations led to questions.
Questions led to answers.
Answers could destroy everything she had worked for.
She picked up her phone and dialed a number she hadn’t called in years.
A man’s voice answered.
“You promised never to contact me again.”
“Our problem has returned.”
“I already did my part.”
“I’m afraid you’ll have to do one more favor.”
Silence.
“What do you want?”
Victoria’s eyes darkened.
“The man who sent Adrian to that warehouse five years ago…”
She smiled coldly.
“Make sure he never talks.”
…
Later that night, Isabella returned to her penthouse.
She kicked off her heels and sat on the balcony overlooking the city lights.
The conversation replayed in her mind.
Had Adrian been lying?
Or had someone truly destroyed their wedding?
She had spent five years believing she knew exactly what happened.
Now…
She wasn’t so sure.
Her phone buzzed.
It was her father.
“How was the gala?”
“It went well.”
There was a pause.
“You saw Adrian, didn’t you?”
She frowned.
“How did you know?”
“I had a feeling.”
Another silence followed.
Then her father sighed.
“There’s something I’ve wanted to tell you for years.”
Her heart skipped a beat.
“What is it?”
“Not over the phone.”
“Dad…”
“Come by tomorrow morning.”
His voice sounded unusually serious.
“I think it’s finally time you learned the truth.”
The call ended.
Isabella stared at her phone.
What truth?
At that same moment, across the city, Adrian sat alone in his office, looking at the engagement ring resting on his desk.
His phone vibrated.
It was Ethan.
“I found something.”
Adrian immediately answered.
“What is it?”
“I tracked the number that called you on your wedding day.”
Adrian stood up so quickly his chair rolled backward.
“And?”
“It belonged to someone connected to Victoria Sinclair.”
Adrian’s eyes widened.
For the first time in five years…
He had a real lead.
Neither he nor Isabella knew that before sunrise, someone would make a desperate attempt to erase that evidence forever.
- Writer
