THE BRIDE THEY TRIED TO SELL: MY FIANCÉ'S $8 MILLION WEDDING TRAP

I had known Audrey Price for only six months.

But I remembered her laugh.

It was warm, slightly raspy, and impossible to mistake. Whenever someone made a joke in the Nexus Tech break room, Audrey laughed like the world had briefly become a kinder place.

She was thirty-two when Christian told me she'd been fired for stealing company property.

I remembered how disappointed I had been.

Not in Audrey.

In the idea that someone struggling to support a child might have made such a desperate choice.

Christian had shaken his head sadly.

"I tried to help her, Charlotte. But some people take advantage of kindness."

I had believed him.

Now, sitting in Dana Kim's office, I wanted nothing more than to find Audrey and apologize.

But Dana warned me that an apology wasn't the first thing Audrey needed.

"She's frightened," Dana said. "She's already spoken to an advocate who specializes in helping survivors of coercion and trafficking. We can't treat her like a source of information we own."

I nodded.

"What does she need?"

"To decide what happens next."

Those words stayed with me.

For the previous forty-eight hours, powerful people had been trying to decide what happened to everyone else.

Christian wanted to decide what happened to my body.

Frank wanted to decide what happened to Evan.

Natalie had tried to decide whether my safety could be exchanged for Iris's.

Martin apparently believed he could decide the fate of eighty-six employees with a few forged transactions.

I was tired of people turning human beings into bargaining chips.

"Then we give Audrey the choice," I said.

That evening, a victim-support advocate named Rachel invited me to a small community center after Audrey agreed to meet.

My father wanted to accompany me.

I asked him to stay behind.

This wasn't about Prescott Global.

It was about two women who had both trusted the wrong man.

Audrey was sitting beside a window when I entered.

Her dark curls were tied into a loose bun. She wore a plain gray sweatshirt and jeans. She looked thinner than I remembered.

For a moment, we simply stared at each other.

Then she stood.

"Charlotte."

Her voice carried the same familiar warmth.

I felt tears gathering.

"Audrey, I'm so sorry."

She held up a hand.

"Before you apologize, I need to tell you something."

I sat.

Rachel remained nearby, giving Audrey room to lead the conversation.

Audrey folded her hands in her lap.

"I didn't steal anything from Nexus Tech."

"I know."

"No. You don't understand. Christian told everyone I stole equipment because I found out what he was doing."

I leaned forward.

"What did you find?"

She took a slow breath.

"I worked in accounts payable. I noticed payments going to companies that didn't seem to provide any services. When I asked about them, Martin Sloan told me to mind my own business."

Martin.

Again.

"I kept copies of some invoices," Audrey continued. "I thought they might be evidence of embezzlement."

"What happened?"

"Christian found out. He fired me and accused me of theft."

Audrey looked toward the window.

"A week later, two men showed up at my apartment. They said I owed money because of the equipment I'd supposedly stolen."

My stomach tightened.

"They wanted repayment?"

"At first. Then they said they could settle the debt another way."

She paused.

"They told me a medical clinic paid people to participate in special research programs."

I felt sick.

Audrey continued carefully.

"They kept my identification. They threatened to report me for theft. Then they told me Noah would be taken away if I didn't cooperate."

I looked down at my hands.

"How did you escape?"

"A staff member helped me. She wasn't one of the people running the place. She worked nights and realized something was terribly wrong."

"Do you know her name?"

"Isabel."

Audrey's eyes filled with tears.

"She gave me a phone and told me to call someone I trusted. I ran before they could move me."

"Did you go to the police?"

"I tried. I was terrified, and I didn't have enough evidence. I eventually found an advocate who helped me report what happened safely. But I knew Frank's people were still looking for me."

"And Noah?"

"He stayed with my sister while I tried to get somewhere safe. I thought that would protect him."

Her voice broke.

"Then they took him yesterday."

I reached across the table.

I didn't touch her without permission.

I simply rested my hand on the surface between us.

"He's safe now."

Audrey nodded.

"I know. Rachel told me."

For several seconds, she couldn't speak.

Then she wiped her cheeks.

"I've been trying to keep him safe for months. Every decision I made seemed to put him in more danger."

I thought about Natalie.

About Brooklyn.

About myself.

Fear had touched each of our lives differently.

But Audrey had done something extraordinary.

She had kept evidence.

She had refused to disappear.

And now she was offering to help strangers she had never met.

She reached into her bag and handed me a printed photograph of a document.

"I took this before I escaped."

Across the top were numbered entries.

Some contained names.

Others contained initials and dates.

Beside each entry was a column labeled with vague medical terminology.

I recognized one name.

Audrey Price.

Patient Four.

Farther down was another.

Charlotte Prescott.

Patient Eight.

My blood turned cold.

"How long ago did you take this?"

"Three months."

Three months.

While I was planning a wedding and worrying about table decorations, someone had already assigned me a number on a list of people they intended to exploit.

I looked closer.

Several entries had been crossed out.

Audrey noticed.

"I don't know what happened to those people."

I forced myself to keep breathing.

"Did you see anyone else?"

"Yes."

"Who?"

She gave me several names she remembered.

I passed the information to Rachel, who contacted Detective Ortiz with Audrey's permission.

Later that night, I met my father at home.

He had been reviewing the foundation payments with an independent auditor.

When I showed him Audrey's photograph, he looked physically ill.

"I didn't know," he whispered.

"I believe you."

He looked at me with surprise.

"But that doesn't mean nothing went wrong," I added.

He nodded slowly.

"I know."

I sat beside him.

"Dad, I don't want us to spend the next year protecting our reputation."

"What do you want?"

"I want us to find out what happened to every person on that list."

My father looked down at the photograph.

Then he took out his phone.

"I'll authorize an independent review of every related foundation payment and give the investigators full access to the records they're legally entitled to examine."

I nodded.

It wasn't enough.

But it was a beginning.

At 11:14 p.m., my phone rang.

Detective Ortiz.

"Charlotte, we have information from a cooperating witness."

I stood.

"What information?"

"Someone connected to the medical operation contacted investigators. They confirmed that Evan Hayes is being held at a facility near East Harbor Road."

"Is he alive?"

"According to the witness."

I closed my eyes.

"Thank God."

But Ortiz wasn't finished.

"There's more. We believe the people running that facility know police are investigating."

"What does that mean?"

"They may be moving the patients."

My heart began pounding.

"How soon?"

There was a brief silence.