Chapter 5 - The Groom Who Never Stopped Searching
On the morning of his wedding, Garrett stood alone in the private suite above the venue.
His tuxedo fit perfectly.
His hands would not stop trembling.
Everyone called it nerves.
Garrett knew better.
For years, he had tried to convince himself that Mave had chosen money over him.
His mother had shown him a signed settlement agreement.
His investigator had produced photographs of Mave entering an apartment with an unidentified man.
His emails had gone unanswered.
Even Daniel had urged him to stop destroying himself.
Eventually, Garrett stopped searching.
He did not stop loving her.
Coraline never asked him to.
That had been part of her appeal.
She offered stability, partnership, and a future that did not hurt.
At least, that was what Garrett told himself.
Minutes before the ceremony, Evelyn entered his suite.
“You look pale.”
“I’m fine.”
She adjusted his boutonniere.
“After today, everything unsettled in your life will finally be finished.”
Garrett looked at her.
“What does that mean?”
Evelyn smiled too quickly.
“Nothing.”
Then Garrett’s phone buzzed.
A message from Daniel’s assistant informed him that Daniel had been injured in a collision.
Before Garrett could call the hospital, another message arrived from an unknown number.
It contained a photograph of a little girl standing beside Mave outside a Manhattan train station.
Garrett’s entire body went cold.
Beneath the image were three words:
Look at her eyes.
He ran from the suite.
Evelyn shouted after him.
The wedding coordinator tried to stop him near the ballroom doors.
Then Garrett saw movement through the rain-streaked windows.
Mave stood at the curb holding a child.
Coraline was already marching toward them.
Garrett reached the street just as Coraline raised her hand.
Now, beneath the rain, he looked into Posie’s pale gray eyes and heard her call him Daddy.
Mave’s face crumpled.
“I never taught her that.”
Garrett’s gaze snapped toward the crowd.
“Then who did?”
Posie pointed past him.
Not at Evelyn.
At Warren Ashford.
May you like
“He came to my school.”
👉 The man financing Garrett’s wedding had secretly approached his three-year-old daughter weeks earlier.
