My hands trembled as I stared at the image.
Ethan.
And another woman.
Kissing.
My chest tightened.
Maybe I had been right all along.
Maybe every word he spoke in that cafรฉ had been a lie.
Then my phone rang.
Ethan.
Again.
This time I answered.
Silence.
Neither of us spoke.
Finally, he whispered.
"You saw it."
"Yes."
"It's not what you think."
I laughed.
"That's becoming your favorite sentence."
"Maya, please."
His voice cracked.
Actually cracked.
"Look closer."
I frowned.
"What?"
"The picture."
I opened it again.
This time paying attention.
Not to the kiss.
To everything else.
The woman's face was hidden.
The angle looked strange.
Almost deliberate.
Then I noticed something.
The date.
The photograph had been taken three years ago.
Three years.
Before I had ever met Ethan.
Before the letter.
Before us.
"What is this?" I asked.
"My ex."
The answer came immediately.
"No lies. No excuses. She left years ago."
"Then why was it sent to me?"
His silence told me he already knew.
Because someone wanted me to walk away.
Someone wanted me gone.
And suddenly I remembered the newspaper article.
The arranged marriage.
The powerful families.
The money.
The woman who was supposed to become his wife.
My stomach dropped.
This wasn't about love anymore.
This was about control.
And somewhere in the middle of it all...
Ethan and I had become a problem.
"Maya," he said softly.
"Yes?"
"If I ask you to trust me one last time... would you?"
My heart answered before my head could.
"Maybe."
For the first time all day, he laughed.
And for the first time all day...
I smiled.
But neither of us knew that across the city, someone was watching.
Someone who had just realized their plan had failed.
And they were about to try something much worse.