We escaped through the church basement.
The wedding guests were evacuated through the front doors while police surrounded the building.
Ethan drove.
Lucas sat beside him.
I sat in the back, staring at Daniel's note.
My hands were still shaking.
“Where are we going?”
“To Daniel's apartment,” Lucas said.
“Why?”
“He left something there.”
“What?”
“We don't know.”
I looked at Ethan through the rear-view mirror.
“You seem very calm for someone who was almost shot at my wedding.”
He smiled faintly.
“I'm not calm.”
“You look calm.”
“I'm terrified.”
That surprised me.
“Of what?”
He looked at me in the mirror.
“Of failing Daniel.”
For the first time, I saw something behind his eyes.
Guilt.
Real guilt.
We reached Daniel's apartment.
The door was unlocked.
Inside, everything had been turned upside down.
Drawers had been emptied.
Papers covered the floor.
Someone had searched the place.
Lucas immediately went to the bedroom.
Ethan checked the windows.
I walked toward the desk.
Something caught my eye.
A photograph.
Daniel and me.
Taken three months earlier.
We were laughing on the beach.
I picked it up.
Behind it was another photograph.
This one was old.
Two boys stood beside their father.
Daniel and Lucas.
But there was someone else in the picture.
A third boy.
I turned it over.
ETHAN — AGE 10.
I looked at Ethan.
“You knew Daniel as a child?”
He froze.
“Yes.”
“Why didn't you tell me?”
“Because Daniel didn't want you to know.”
“Why?”
Lucas entered the room.
“Because Ethan wasn't supposed to come back.”
I looked between them.
“What are you talking about?”
Lucas sighed.
“Ethan was our father's first wife's son.”
My mouth fell open.
“He's your brother?”
“Half-brother.”
Ethan looked away.
“Our father abandoned my mother when I was five.”
“And Daniel knew you?”
“Yes.”
“Why did he come back?”
Lucas answered.
“Because three months ago, Daniel found him.”
I looked at Ethan.
“Why?”
Ethan reached into his pocket.
He removed his wallet.
Inside was a photograph of a woman.
“She was my mother.”
I stared at the picture.
There was something familiar about her.
Then I realized what it was.
She looked like my mother.
Not exactly.
But enough.
My stomach tightened.
“Who was she?”
Ethan's voice became quiet.
“Your father's sister.”
I stared at him.
“That means…”
“Our families are connected.”
Lucas walked toward the desk.
“Daniel discovered that our fathers were involved in something together years ago.”
“What?”
“Fraud.”
Ethan shook his head.
“Not just fraud.”
He pulled open the desk drawer.
Inside was a small envelope.
Daniel's handwriting covered the front.
FOR MIA.
I opened it.
There was a single key.
And a note.
The truth is under the house where we first met.
I remembered immediately.
The old lake house.
Daniel had proposed to me there.
My pulse quickened.
“We have to go.”
Ethan nodded.
Lucas grabbed his jacket.
But before we could leave, Ethan stopped.
He was staring at the wedding ring on my finger.
“Take it off.”
“Why?”
“Because that's not your engagement ring.”
I looked at him.
“Yes, it is.”
He shook his head.
“Daniel's ring was stolen two weeks ago.”
My heart stopped.
I looked at the ring.
Ethan stepped closer.
“That's how they found you.”