Chapter 3
Unraveling Threads
The interrogation room was dimly lit, shadows pooling in the corners, and the sharp scent of cold metal hung in the air like a warning. Ada sat across from Detective Mira Cole, who flipped through a thick file with a deliberate calm that only deepened Ada’s anxiety. Roman stood behind her, his tall frame radiating a steadying presence, but even he seemed on edge.
“Your wedding today was a target,” Mira said, her voice low but firm. She looked up, her piercing gaze locking onto Ada’s. “We found traces of surveillance equipment hidden in the glasshouse. Someone knew every detail of your ceremony.”
Ada’s breath caught, and she felt a chill run down her spine. “What do you mean? How could someone have planned this?” Panic bubbled in her chest, threatening to overflow.
Mira leaned forward, her brow furrowed in concentration. “We’re still piecing that together. But you, Ada, might hold the key.” Her eyes narrowed as she continued. “You designed the floral arrangements. Did anyone request anything unusual?”
The memory hit Ada like a punch to the gut. An elderly woman had approached her during the final touches, her voice shaky and eyes clouded. “There was someone... a woman. She asked about adding black roses.”
Roman stepped closer, his expression shifting from concern to suspicion. “Black roses? Did you get her name?”
“No,” Ada replied, hesitating, the recollection stirring unease within her. “Just a distant relative of Celeste’s family. I thought it was strange, but… I didn’t think much of it then.”
“Celeste’s family…” Roman’s voice trailed off, and he began to pace the confined space, the sound of his footsteps echoing against the sterile walls. Ada’s gut twisted at the thought of betrayal from those who were supposed to be closest to them.
“Stay focused. That woman gives us a direction,” Mira urged, her tone cutting through Ada's spiraling thoughts. “We need to find out who she is and why she wanted those flowers. It could lead us to the shooter.” The tension in the room thickened, pressing down on Ada like a heavy blanket.
Before Ada could respond, the door swung open, and Felix stepped in, his face pale and a phone clutched tightly in his hand. “Roman, we need to talk. It’s about the merger… and Emmett.”
At the mention of Emmett Shaw, the security chief, a wave of unease rolled through the room. Ada’s heart raced. If Emmett was involved, they were facing a threat much closer than they realized.
“Felix, what do you know?” Roman demanded, stepping forward, his tone sharp.
Felix swallowed hard, the weight of his silence amplifying the tension. “I… I’ve been looking into some discrepancies in the security reports. Emmett might not be who we think he is. There’s something off about his movements leading up to the wedding.”
Ada felt the walls closing in, the air thick with dread. “What are you saying?” she asked, her voice trembling slightly. “Are you suggesting he was involved in this? In the shooting?”
Felix ran a hand through his hair, visibly distressed. “I don’t know, but there were missed alarms, and he was absent during critical times. It’s as if he was deliberately not where he should have been.”
Roman’s jaw clenched, anger flaring behind his eyes. “We need to confront him. If he’s compromised, he could be putting us all at risk.”
“Wait,” Ada interjected, her mind racing. “If Emmett is connected to this, it could explain why the surveillance wasn’t picked up. He oversees security,he could have manipulated everything without raising suspicion.” The realization sent a shiver down her spine.
Mira stood, her expression resolute. “We need to move quickly. If Emmett is involved, we don’t have much time before he realizes we’re onto him.”
Felix took a step closer, urgency in his voice. “We should split up. Roman, you go after Emmett. Ada, stay here with Mira. We can’t let him know we’re onto him.”
Ada’s pulse quickened. “No! I’m not staying behind. If Emmett is a threat, I want to confront him too.”
Roman’s eyes softened slightly, but the determination in them didn’t waver. “Ada, it’s too dangerous. We can’t risk you getting in the way.”
The intensity in the room was palpable, the stakes rising with every passing second. Ada felt the pull of fear and defiance, caught between wanting to protect herself and the urge to stand firm beside Roman.
Suddenly, Mira’s phone buzzed, cutting through the charged silence. She glanced at the screen, her expression hardening. “We’ve got a lead on that woman. You need to hear this.”
As Mira spoke, Ada felt a tightening in her chest, the realization that whatever lay ahead was more tangled than she had ever imagined. The door creaked open again, and a figure appeared in the dim light, silhouetted against the hallway beyond.
It was Emmett. A slow, menacing smile spread across his face as he stepped into the room. “I hear you’ve been looking for me.”
Ada’s stomach dropped, and the air thickened with an impending sense of doom as the door clicked shut behind him.
She took the key to the hospital archive while Rafe’s sister kept the ward door locked. The archive clerk demanded a warrant. Ada showed him the memory card and the time list. “If the third time is tonight,” she said, “you can either help us preserve the record or explain why you blocked it.”
He let them in.
The key opened a cabinet containing wedding licenses, proxy filings, and a single envelope addressed to Ada. The seal had been broken and replaced. Inside was a photograph of the chapel from above. A figure stood behind the glass case, wearing the same ring Rafe had supposedly given Helena.
Rafe’s sister recognized the figure. “That is our father.”
The father had died two years earlier.
Ada enlarged the image. The timestamp placed him in the chapel twelve minutes before the ceremony. On the table beside him lay a hospital wristband bearing Rafe’s name and a different birth date. The record suggested that someone had prepared a substitute identity long before the wedding.
The archive alarm sounded. The clerk said a door had opened on the lower level. Ada sent the photograph to three addresses, then locked the envelope in the evidence cabinet. She and Rafe’s sister descended together. At the bottom, they found a maintenance worker removing a camera drive.
“You are too late,” he said.
Ada raised her phone. “Then say that again for the recording.”
He dropped the drive and ran. Rafe’s sister secured it while Ada followed the hallway to a sealed room. The key opened that door too. Inside stood a second glass case, empty except for a bloodied cufflink.
Her phone rang. Rafe spoke from the ward, breathless. “Ada, do not trust my sister. She knew about the third time.”
The call ended. Ada looked at the woman beside her. The evidence proved a betrayal, but not whose. Footsteps approached from both ends of the corridor. Ada slid the drive into her coat, closed the archive door, and chose the only exit they had not searched: the passage leading back to the wedding chapel. There she found a recorder beneath the glass case. Rafe’s voice said he had planned to expose the proxy, then Helena’s voice asked whether he wanted Ada safe or wanted the truth. Ada copied the file to three addresses. A man entered wearing the dead father’s ring and carrying the missing register. “Read the order,” Ada told him. “Then read the vows.”