Chapter 3 A Marriage Neither Wanted

The elevator descended in silence, but Maya could feel the tension between them growing with every passing floor.

She stood beside Damien with her arms folded, trying to make sense of everything that had happened since she arrived at the hotel. Elena had disappeared. Adrian was missing. She had been paid to take her cousin's place, and somehow she had ended up married to a man she had never even known existed.

Worse, someone had apparently wanted it to happen.

Maya glanced at Damien.

He was staring at the numbers above the elevator doors, his face giving nothing away.

"How long have you known that Adrian was in trouble?"

Damien looked at her. "I told you. I received the message this afternoon."

"And you didn't tell anyone?"

"I didn't have enough information to know who I could trust."

Maya frowned. "You came to your brother's wedding believing someone might have harmed him, and your solution was to investigate alone?"

"I didn't come alone. Marcus was with me."

"That isn't what I meant."

"I know."

She looked away.

There was something frustrating about talking to Damien. He rarely gave more information than necessary, and whenever she thought she had managed to corner him, he found another way to close the conversation.

"You don't trust your family."

It wasn't a question.

Damien remained silent for a moment before answering. "I don't trust everyone in my family."

"That's different."

"Not when you know the people involved."

Maya studied him.

"How bad is it?"

He looked at her.

"Bad enough that I left eight years ago."

She hadn't expected that answer.

"Why?"

The elevator doors opened before he could respond.

They stepped into the underground parking garage.

Marcus was already waiting beside a black SUV.

"Adrian's car is over there," he said, pointing toward the opposite side of the garage. "Security has kept everyone away from it."

Damien walked over.

Maya followed, although every instinct told her that she should stay inside the elevator.

Adrian's black sedan sat beneath a security camera.

The driver's door was closed, and there was nothing obviously wrong with the vehicle.

Damien stopped beside it.

"Who moved it?"

"Nobody," Marcus replied. "It was found here exactly as it is."

Damien opened the driver's door.

He examined the interior without touching anything.

Maya stayed several feet away.

"Anything unusual?" she asked.

"His phone is gone."

"His phone?"

Marcus nodded. "We already checked."

Damien's eyes moved across the dashboard, then down toward the floor.

"Open the trunk."

Marcus did.

Nothing appeared unusual.

Maya looked at the back seat.

There was a black suit jacket lying across it.

"Is that his?"

Marcus nodded. "Yes."

Maya pointed toward it. "Why would he leave without his jacket?"

Damien looked at the garment.

"He wouldn't."

That answer sent a chill through her.

Damien stepped closer and examined the jacket.

A small dark stain marked the cuff.

He touched it with a gloved finger.

Marcus noticed immediately. "Blood?"

Damien looked at him.

"Possibly."

Maya's stomach tightened.

She took a step backward.

"Then he's hurt."

"Not necessarily," Damien said. "It could belong to someone else."

"That's supposed to make me feel better?"

"No."

He stood upright.

"Marcus, get the forensic team. Nobody touches this car until they've examined it."

Marcus nodded and made the call.

Maya watched Damien.

"You really think someone took him."

"I think Adrian didn't leave this car voluntarily."

"How can you be sure?"

"Because of the way he parked."

She looked at the vehicle.

"What does that mean?"

"Adrian always reverses into a parking space."

Maya blinked.

"That's your evidence?"

"It's one piece of it."

Damien pointed toward the car.

"This car was driven in normally. Whoever parked it wasn't Adrian."

She stared at him.

It was such a small detail that she would never have noticed it.

But that was exactly what bothered her.

Damien wasn't guessing.

He was observing.

He was putting together details that everyone else would overlook.

Before Maya could respond, footsteps approached from behind them.

A hotel security manager hurried into the garage.

"Mr. Vale, we've reviewed the footage."

Damien turned.

"And?"

"There is a gap."

"How long?"

"Four minutes."

Damien's expression hardened.

"Four minutes?"

"Yes. The camera system went offline at 7:42 and came back at 7:46."

"When was Adrian last seen?"

"Approximately 7:44."

Maya looked at Damien.

"So someone deliberately disabled the cameras."

"Maybe."

The security manager looked uncomfortable.

"There is something else."

Damien waited.

"The system wasn't hacked."

"What?"

"The cameras were shut down using an authorized security code."

Silence settled over the garage.

Maya felt a cold sensation run through her.

"An authorized code?" she repeated.

The manager nodded.

"Only senior management and the Vale family's security department have access."

Damien's eyes narrowed.

"So someone inside the security network helped him."

"We don't know that."

"Then find out."

The manager swallowed.

"Yes, sir."

Damien turned toward Marcus.

"Get me the access log."

"I'll have it in ten minutes."

"Five."

Marcus nodded and walked away.

Maya remained beside Damien.

"Someone inside your family helped."

"Possibly."

"You're remarkably calm."

"I'm not calm."

She looked at him.

His voice was controlled, but his jaw was tense.

That was the first sign she had seen that he was actually worried.

Maya lowered her voice.

"You're afraid."

Damien looked at her.

"Yes."

The honesty caught her off guard.

He looked back toward Adrian's car.

"I'm afraid we may already be too late."

For some reason, that frightened Maya more than his usual coldness.

She had barely known Adrian, but he was still Elena's fiancé.

And if someone had really taken him, there was no telling what they intended to do.

A vibration came from Damien's pocket.

He pulled out his phone.

Maya watched his expression change as he read the message.

"What is it?"

He didn't answer.

"Damien?"

He handed her the phone.

A photograph filled the screen.

Maya's breath caught.

It was Adrian.

He was sitting in a dark room with his hands tied behind his back.

His face was bruised.

There was blood at the corner of his mouth.

Maya stared at the image in horror.

"Is he alive?"

"Yes."

"How do you know?"

"Because whoever sent this wants us to know he is."

Below the photograph was a message.

The wedding was only the beginning.

Maya's fingers tightened around the phone.

"Who sent it?"

"We don't know."

She looked at Damien.

"What are they asking for?"

"Nothing yet."

"Then why send this?"

Damien took the phone back.

"To make sure we understand that they are in control."

Maya felt uneasy.

"Maybe they want something from you."

"Probably."

"What?"

"I don't know."

She stared at him.

"You keep saying that."

"Because I don't have the answer."

For once, there was no irritation in his voice.

Only exhaustion.

Maya looked toward Adrian's car.

Then at Damien.

"Could this have something to do with Elena?"

"I think it does."

"Why?"

"Because neither disappearance makes sense on its own."

Maya's mind raced.

Elena had disappeared before the wedding.

Adrian had disappeared before the ceremony.

She had been brought in as a substitute bride.

Then she had somehow married Damien.

It was too precise to be random.

"Someone wanted Elena gone," Maya said slowly. "Someone wanted Adrian gone. And someone wanted me at that altar."

Damien looked at her.

"Yes."

"Then the question is why."

He didn't answer.

Maya folded her arms.

"Maybe I'm not just a replacement bride."

Damien's expression became unreadable.

"What do you mean?"

"Maybe they chose me for a reason."

He stared at her.

That thought had clearly crossed his mind before.

"What reason?"

"I don't know."

She looked down.

"But I'm beginning to think that's what we're supposed to find out."

Damien studied her for a long moment.

Then he nodded.

"You're right."

Maya hadn't expected him to agree so quickly.

"So what now?"

"We find Elena."

"And Adrian."

"Yes."

"How?"

Damien looked toward Marcus, who was returning with several sheets of paper.

"By finding out who arranged your marriage."

Marcus handed him the documents.

"The access logs."

Damien scanned them.

His expression slowly changed.

Maya stepped closer.

"What?"

He didn't answer immediately.

"What is it?"

Damien handed her the top page.

One name had been highlighted.

Evelyn Vale.

Maya looked at him.

"Your mother?"

Damien's eyes remained on the document.

"Yes."

Marcus cleared his throat.

"There's one more thing."

Damien looked up.

"What?"

"The code was used from inside the bridal floor."

Maya felt her blood run cold.

"Inside the bridal floor?"

Marcus nodded.

"Someone used Mrs. Vale's authorization code from a terminal located less than twenty meters from the bridal suite."

Maya immediately thought of Mrs. Collins.

The calm older woman who had been waiting with her.

The woman who had told her that she could still change her mind.

The woman who had known exactly when the ceremony would begin.

Maya looked toward Damien.

"Do you think Mrs. Collins did it?"

"I don't know."

She sighed.

"Of course."

Damien's gaze remained fixed on the report.

Then his phone vibrated again.

He checked the screen.

This time, there was no photograph.

Only a message.

Ask your new wife what Elena told her before she disappeared.

Maya froze.

Damien slowly turned toward her.

The suspicion in his eyes was unmistakable.

She felt something inside her drop.

"You think I know something."

"I think someone wants me to believe you do."

Maya shook her head.

"I told you everything."

"I know."

"Then why are you looking at me like that?"

Damien stepped closer.

"Because whoever is behind this knows things that only you and Elena should know."

Maya's heart pounded.

She remembered the phone call.

Elena's trembling voice.

The warning.

If they ask you to take my place, don't.

Maya suddenly realized there was one detail she had never told Damien.

Not because she wanted to hide it.

She simply hadn't understood its importance.

She looked at him.

"There's something else Elena said."

Damien waited.

Maya swallowed.

"She told me that if I ended up marrying you..."

She paused.

"...I shouldn't trust the man I married."

Damien's face went completely still.

And for the first time since their wedding, Maya couldn't tell whether the warning had been about him...

or about someone who wanted her to believe it was.