Updated Feb 20, 2026 • ~4 min read
WESTLEY
(Five Years Ago)
I was going to marry Carmen Santos. I knew it the moment she laughed at my terrible joke about load-bearing walls. We were at a gallery opening in Pioneer Square and she was wearing a red dress that made every head turn, but she was looking at me. Only me.
“You’re such a nerd,” she said, grinning.
“Architecture jokes are an underappreciated art form.”
“No, they’re really not.”
She kissed me anyway.
I pulled out the ring three months later. Too soon, everyone said. But when you know, you know.
CARMEN
(Five Years Ago)
Westley Archer was perfect. That was the problem. He was kind and successful and he looked at me like I hung the moon. And I was about to ruin his life.
“Marry me,” he said. We were on a ferry to Bainbridge Island, the sun setting over the water. It was perfect. He was perfect. And I was a liar.
“Yes,” I heard myself say. Even though I knew I shouldn’t. Even though I knew what was coming.
LUCIA
(Present Day)
I was lying in bed, scrolling through Carmen’s old Instagram. It was still public, frozen in time from five years ago. Photo after photo of her and West—hiking in the Cascades, at Pike Place Market, kissing under the Space Needle. They looked so happy.
What happened, Carmen? Why did you run? And why am I now living the life you threw away?
I zoomed in on a photo from their engagement party. Carmen was radiant, glowing. West had his arms around her waist, his face buried in her neck. Everyone around them was smiling. I found Jonah in the background of one photo—he wasn’t smiling. He was watching Carmen with the same suspicious look he gave me tonight. Did he know something even back then?
My phone rang. Unknown number. I almost didn’t answer.
“Hello?”
“Is this Lucia Santos?”
My blood ran cold. “Who is this?”
“My name is Agent Frost. I’m calling about your sister.”
WESTLEY
(Five Years Ago)
Carmen was gone. The wedding was in two hours and Carmen was gone.
I called her phone—voicemail. I called her apartment—no answer. I called her best friend. “She’s not here, West. I don’t know where she is.”
Guests were arriving. The flowers were perfect. The music was playing. And my bride was missing.
Jonah found me in the groom’s room. “Any word?”
I shook my head. “She’s not coming,” I said. The words felt like glass in my throat.
“You don’t know that.”
“I know.”
I could feel it. Something was wrong. She wasn’t late. She wasn’t stuck in traffic. She was gone.
CARMEN
(Five Years Ago)
I was in a hotel room in Portland watching the news. The story was everywhere. “Seattle Woman Witnesses Mob Hit – Suspect Still At Large.”
They didn’t say my name, but they would. The man I saw kill that woman in the alley behind the club—he saw me too. Agent Frost said I wasn’t safe. Not in Seattle. Not anywhere near my old life.
I thought about West waiting at the altar. I thought about my family. I thought about Lucia, my twin, my other half.
I typed a text: “I’m sorry. I can’t explain. Please don’t look for me. I love you.”
I stared at the message, then deleted it. It was safer if they thought I just ran. If they hated me instead of looking for me.
I turned off my phone. Agent Frost knocked on the door. “Ready?”
No. “Yeah.”
LUCIA
(Present Day)
“What about my sister?” I asked Agent Frost.
“I can’t discuss details over the phone. But I need you to know that Carmen is safe. And she needs to stay hidden.”
“Why are you telling me this?”
“Because someone has been making inquiries. Asking questions about Carmen Santos.”
My heart stopped. “Who?”
“A private investigator. Hired by a Jonah Archer.”
Oh god. Jonah was investigating.
“Listen to me very carefully,” Agent Frost said. “If you have any contact with people from Carmen’s past, you need to stop immediately. You’re putting her in danger.”
“I—”
“Do you understand?”
No. I didn’t understand anything anymore.
“Yes,” I whispered.
The line went dead.
I stared at my phone. Jonah hired a PI. He suspected something. And if he found out the truth about Carmen—about where she really was—he might accidentally lead dangerous people right to her.
I had to stop seeing West. I had to end this now.
But even as I thought it, I knew I wouldn’t. Because I was selfish. And I was in love. And I was going to destroy everything.
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