Chapter 3

Laurel spent two hours trying on gowns.

Then the whole crowd swept her out with them.

When the sales associate helped me up, my hand was already twisted out of shape.

It hung limp at my side, like it had snapped.

I turned down her offer to drive me to the hospital and went to the ER on my own.

Before I left, I asked her for a copy of the security footage from before.

The doctor took one look at the state of me and scheduled surgery on the spot.

He asked, "How did it get this bad?"

I gave a bitter smile. "Somebody wanted to make sure I could never pick up a camera again."

The surgery went well enough.

The doctor said it would be at least a month before I could hold a camera.

A few days later, I was discharged.

The first thing I did was go to the mall for supplies I'd need in Africa.

And in the coffee shop on the third floor, I ran straight into Laurel.

The man across from her, laughing with her...

My eyes went wide.

It was him. Brad Lambert. The man who'd hurt me back then.

Back then I'd been torn open down below, rushed to the hospital, ten hours on the operating table.

When I opened my eyes again, Roman was holding my hand, swearing he'd find the man who did it and tear him apart.

Later, the case went to trial. Roman went in my place.

When he came back, I asked through my tears who the man was, why he'd done that to me.

Roman kept his head down. I couldn't read his face.

"His name is Brad Lambert. It was random. You were just a target."

"Forget him."

After that, he threw himself into my recovery and never once brought up revenge again.

I sat down quietly behind them, both hands clenched tight.

The longer I listened, the colder my body went.

"Miss Matthews. You promised me two million to ruin your sister, and you still owe me half a million. When am I getting it?"

Brad's mocking tone sent a prickle crawling across my scalp.

Laurel snapped, impatient,

"You'll get what's yours."

Brad burst out laughing.

"Fine. You keep your word, or I go public with the whole thing. How jealous you were that your sister found herself a good man, how you wanted her ruined."

The two of them kept talking, but my mind had gone blank. None of it landed.

Only those two words, "ruin your sister," circled and drove themselves into my heart.

Shaking all over, I half-stumbled, half-crawled my way out of the café.

I ran the whole way to Roman's office.

I couldn't even wait for the elevator. I climbed to the thirteenth floor, gasping for breath.

"Roman!"

He looked stunned when he saw me.

He pulled me in against him, told me to calm down.

"What is it, what happened, baby?"

I dragged in a long breath, shaking hands fisting into his suit.

"Ro—Roman, I know now. The man who hurt me back then, it wasn't random. Laurel put him up to it. It was, it was her—" My voice cut off.

Roman clamped a hand over my mouth.

I looked up and met his cold eyes.

"Don't bring it up."

Boom.

Something detonated in my head.

"What did you just say?"

Roman dropped his gaze and gripped my shoulders hard.

"I said don't bring it up. What happened back then, you know better than anyone."

"I had to fight down my own disgust just to stay with you. And now you want to rub salt in the wound?"

"On top of that, you want to slander Laurel. Laurel is so kind. Back then it was clearly you who—" He stopped himself.

I took a step back.

When I lifted my head to look at him again, my teeth were chattering.

"I have proof."

Roman closed his eyes.

"I don't believe you, Ellie. You've slandered Laurel too many times."

"She isn't the person you make her out to be."

The color drained slowly from my lips.

I knew that even if I shoved the video right in front of Roman's eyes, he wouldn't believe it.

He wasn't finished.

"I never held it against you. Just the opposite. I'm ready to spend my whole life with you. That's the best possible outcome here."

"Go ahead and ask around. After something like that, what man wouldn't carry it inside him? Ellie, keep making a scene and it stops being polite."

I was quiet for a long time before I spoke.

"You don't believe me, Roman."

His lips trembled.

"I believed you too much, that's the problem."

I stared him down, stubborn, my eyes no longer able to hold the tears.

They fell one after another onto the back of my hand.

He looked back at me, just as silent.

The standoff dragged on and on.

In the end, Roman sighed and lifted me onto his lap.

From somewhere he produced a cake.

Berry flavored, a candle stuck in the top.

"Ellie, you have to understand, I do care about you."

"Otherwise I wouldn't have remembered your birthday when even you forgot it."

"Let the past be the past. Let's look forward, all right?"

"Happy birthday, Ellie. Blow out the candle."

Numbly, I opened my mouth.

The flame wavered but didn't go out.

Roman didn't notice, and went on,

"Ellie, this weekend, at Laurel's and my wedding, come and be our photographer. Laurel loves your work."

"Don't worry. Once I've given her this wedding, I'll come back to you, and we'll build a good life together."

"And stop slandering Laurel. She just gets a little moody sometimes. She hasn't done anything out of line."

I stared at the swaying flame and gave a mechanical nod.