The Unfinished Vow

Chapter 5

The shock on Lucas' face slowly gave way to understanding. He did not deny it anymore.

"You told Warren you were leaving on purpose. You were waiting here for me."

Iris nodded. She had gotten the answer she came for. 'Lucas is my Lucas.'

But what came rushing in right after was a tide of anger and hurt so fierce that it nearly drowned her.

"Why did you lie to me?"

Iris stood up and walked toward him, one step at a time, until she was right in front of him. "Lucas, say something. Why did you lie to me?"

She reached out to take his hand, the way she used to. But Lucas stepped back and pulled away.

Iris stared at her hand suspended in midair, and her heart felt like it had dropped into an abyss.

Lucas' voice reached her then. "I am not the Lucas you loved."

Her head was ringing. For a split second, she could not even process what he meant. Then her eyes landed on the exquisite Vacheron Constantin watch on his wrist, and the truth crashed over her all at once.

Two identities. Two lives.

Her Lucas had died at twenty-five. This Lucas began living as Lucas at twenty-five. He was the sole heir of the powerful Sterling family, a man of deep lineage and influence. He was not the boy who had scratched out a life with her in New York.

After five years, Iris felt that same ripping pain in her chest all over again, the exact pain she had felt the day Lucas died. She tried to keep herself steady, to sit down and talk through this rationally. She had overestimated herself.

"Then why did you come here today? Why do you still have that key? And at the hotel, you knew perfectly well I was coming. You pretended it was a mistake and kissed me. Why?"

Lucas stood there, his expression cold. "Does it matter?"

Iris felt like she had been hit with a club. 'He is asking me if it matters.'

Something inside her broke wide open. "So there was never anything forcing your hand, was there? Last night, I was still making excuses for you, telling myself maybe it was your status, your position, that you had no choice. But the truth is you simply got tired of me, and you were afraid I would cling to you, so you faked your death five years ago and walked away. Lucas, you could have just said it outright. Why did you have to make me suffer through a fake death? Five years. I suffered for five whole years. Are you proud of yourself?"

"Iris."

Lucas said her name. He looked at her for a long moment. Then he said, "Leaving New York is the right decision. Farewell."

He turned and walked away. Just like five years ago, when he had faked his death and vanished, he left her behind all over again. But this time, she did not even have the strength to cry. She just sat slumped on the floor, staring into the dark hallway, motionless for a very long time.

Iris could not describe what she felt. It was as if she had shattered, and yet another soul was operating her body. She felt locked inside herself, watching as that other version of her went through the apartment, smashing and tearing apart every couple's item that had belonged to her and Lucas, one by one. The room was wrecked within minutes. In the shards of the broken mirror, Iris saw herself reflected back, looking like a woman who had lost her mind.

"Iris."

Warren's voice cut through suddenly. Iris froze, a picture frame raised in her hand and poised to crash to the floor. She turned and looked at him. The pity in his eyes was unmistakable.

"What are you doing here?"

"Lucas asked me to check on you."

There was no surprise on his face, no bewilderment. Only something that looked a lot like guilt. Iris looked at him, and a suspicion rose in her mind. "You already knew, didn't you?"

Warren opened his mouth and then nodded. "I knew the moment you showed me that photo. I went to him afterward and asked him directly."

Listening to him, Iris suddenly felt ridiculous. 'He took one look, and he knew. And me? I had to poke and prod and humiliate myself over and over before I finally had no choice but to see it.'

A laugh broke out of her, and tears spilled over at the same time. Before they could roll down her cheeks, she wiped them away with the back of her hand. "Then why didn't you tell me?"

Warren's answer came quiet and steady. "He is getting married."