Chapter 5: Mrs. Stone
736 Words
The dress fit like it had been made for someone else's life.
Ivory silk, tailored so perfectly it felt less like clothing and more like armor. I stood in front of the mirror while a stranger pinned my hair into something elegant and camera-ready.
I looked like a woman who was happy.I didn't feel like one.
"You'll want to smile more at the altar," the stylist said gently as she adjusted a pin near my temple. "The photographers will be very close."
I practiced the smile in the mirror.It looked convincing.That frightened me more than it should have.
By the time I walked down the aisle of a ballroom I hadn't even known existed that morning, every seat was filled.
Half the room belonged to the press,the other half belonged to business executives who watched Adrian the way people watched billion-dollar mergers instead of weddings.
Music floated through the air.
White and gold flowers covered every surface.The centerpieces alone probably cost more than my yearly salary.
Adrian waited at the altar in a perfectly tailored black suit.From a distance, he almost looked warm.
Up close...
His eyes held the same careful calculation I had seen the night we met.Nothing had changed.Only the audience had.
The officiant spoke.
When it was my turn, I repeated the vows.My voice came out calm.Steady.
Inside, I felt like stretched glass ready to shatter.
"You may kiss the bride."
His fingers settled beneath my jaw.
Gentle.Far gentler than I had expected.
Just before his lips touched mine, something flashed across his face.
Not calculation.Not indifference.Something softer.It disappeared before I could understand it.
The kiss lasted only a few seconds.Long enough for the cameras.Not a second longer.Applause filled the ballroom.
It belonged to a marriage neither of us truly wanted.
The reception became a blur.
Champagne I never drank.Conversations I barely remembered.
My hand rested lightly on Adrian's arm because that was what everyone expected.
I smiled.Laughed politely.Accepted congratulations from strangers.
An elderly woman kissed my cheek and told me how lucky I was.I almost laughed.
By the time the car returned to Stone Manor, my cheeks ached from smiling.My chest ached from something much deeper.The mansion was silent.
The celebration already felt like it had happened to someone else.Someone had moved my belongings into a new suite.
The bedroom alone was larger than my entire apartment.Everything inside had been decorated with expensive taste.None of it felt like mine.
I sat on the edge of the enormous bed without changing out of my wedding dress.
I didn't cry.
Crying would have meant admitting what today had cost me.I wasn't ready for that.I wasn't sure I ever would be.
I didn't know how much time had passed before I heard Adrian's voice outside.
The tone of someone who believed he was alone.
I should have ignored it.Instead...I stood.Crossed the room.
Opened the bedroom door just enough to listen.
"...No," he said. "I told you, surveillance had already flagged her months ago."
He paused, listening.
"We were watching everyone connected to that neighborhood long before Ferris."
Another pause.
"Tenants. Employees. Everyone."
"She simply happened to be standing in the wrong garage at the wrong time."
Something cold settled inside my chest.
"No."
His voice remained calm.
"She doesn't know that yet."
I stopped breathing.
"It doesn't matter when she finds out."
Another pause.
"It matters that she's alive when she does."
Silence.
"I'm aware of how it looks, Marcus."
His voice hardened slightly.
"I don't need you reminding me."
I quietly eased the bedroom door shut before he noticed.I stood with my back pressed against the wood.My heartbeat thundered inside my ears.
He had known who I was for months.Before the parking garage.Before Daniel Ferris.
Before that single gunshot destroyed my life.None of this had been as random as I had believed.
I didn't remember deciding to confront him.
One moment I was standing inside the room.
The next...
I was walking into the hallway.He was already looking at me.His phone rested at his side.
He knew.
He knew exactly how much I had overheard.
"How long?"
My voice remained surprisingly steady.
"How long have you known who I was?"
He didn't look away.He didn't invent an excuse.He didn't soften the truth.
For the first time since I'd met him...
I saw something that looked dangerously close to guilt.
He held my gaze.
Then he answered quietly.
"Longer than you'd ever forgive me for."
- Writer
