My Family, My Friends, My Fiancé, All Hers Chapter 05
On the television news, the man’s vicious face had been enlarged again and again.
【Police identified the suspect as a repeat offender. He committed another crime on Labor Day weekend. The female victim reported the assault…)
Emily’s hands began to shake.
Jason froze too, his voice weak.
“Wait… That man wasn’t someone you sent to pick up Claire, Ethan?”
Ethan whipped around, the veins in his forehead standing out.
“What man? When did I send anyone to get her?”
Jason’s face changed.
“That evening, on the day of the wedding. A man dragged Claire away beneath the condo building…”
“Before Chloe left, she told us we had to keep an eye on Claire. She said it was what you wanted. We thought you’d arranged for him to be there, so we… didn’t interfere.”
Ethan grabbed Jason by the collar, his voice shaking despite his effort to control it.
“What did you just say?”
Emily collapsed into a chair, her lips white.
“A passerby tried to stop him… We helped convince the passerby to leave…”
“I told Claire not to ruin Chloe’s wedding night…”
Ethan released Jason and staggered back two steps.
Everyone fell silent.
Chloe stood in the corner, the smile on her face frozen in place.
Ryan suddenly remembered something and asked Ethan again.
“You said the person who saved you was outside the university?”
Ethan nodded.
Ryan closed his eyes.
“Chloe had been sick since childhood. She never went to college.”
“The one who attended Boston University… was Claire.”
The words landed in the silence like a stone in still water.
Ethan turned toward Chloe, his voice hoarse.
“Tell me.”
“Didn’t you say you were the one who saved me outside the university? How could you have never gone to
college?”
Chloe took a step back, twisting her fingers into her skirt.
“Ethan, I… You were the one who said the clothes I wore when we met matched what the woman who saved
you had been wearing. I just didn’t correct you…”
It was as if all the strength had been pulled from Ethan’s body.
He didn’t look at Chloe again. He turned and called Claire.
The phone rang.
He called again.
The phone was off.
He opened their chat. Her profile picture was still there, but his message showed only a single red
exclamation mark.
Dad tried calling his daughter too. The call wouldn’t go through.
Mom sent more than a dozen voice messages. Not one received a response.
Ryan rushed out of the hotel and drove straight home, but the house was empty.
The older neighbor poked her head out. “That girl hasn’t been back for days.”
Ethan arrived at the condo at the same time.
The door wasn’t locked, but the place was completely empty.
All her documents and clothes were gone.
The only things left on the coffee table were a key and a lease–termination agreement.
The signature date was the day after the wedding.
