Chapter 2 - THE MAN IN THE FRONT PEW
For several seconds, Sophie could hear nothing except her own breathing.
“Élise, where are you?”
There was a faint rustling sound on the other end of the phone.
“Don't say my name. Someone might be listening.”
“Are you safe?”
“No.”
“Is Adrien with you?”
A pause.
“He was. They made him leave the room.”
“Who made him leave?”
Before Élise could answer, Sophie heard a man's voice in the background.
“Ms. Moreau, put down the phone.”
Élise gasped.
“Sophie, please don't trust—”
The call ended.
Sophie stood motionless, clutching the phone.
Then she looked toward the little electronic device hidden inside her wedding gift.
It was barely larger than a coin.
She had no technical expertise, but she knew enough to recognize a listening device.
Someone had wanted to hear everything that happened inside the bridal suite.
And if Victor had placed it there, he might already know she had discovered the photograph.
Sophie wrapped the device in a thick hand towel and placed it inside the drawer of an empty cabinet. She didn't know whether that would block its signal, but she refused to leave it beside her.
Then she walked toward the church sanctuary.
Victor Valmont sat in the front pew.
He looked exactly as he had that morning, elegant and composed in a charcoal suit, with silver hair and the relaxed confidence of a man who had never been told no.
He was sixty-two, a prominent Boston real estate investor, chairman of the Valmont Charitable Foundation, and the man Adrien had trusted since his father died.
He was also the person who had introduced Sophie to the clinic.
The person who had encouraged her relationship with Adrien.
And the person who had given her a wedding gift containing a hidden electronic device.
As Sophie entered the sanctuary, Victor rose immediately.
“My dear girl.”
He extended his arms.
“What an unfortunate situation. Adrien has clearly lost his senses.”
Sophie stepped away before he could embrace her.
“Where did Adrien go?”
Victor sighed.
“I'm told he received a distressing phone call.”
“From Élise?”
The smile disappeared from his face so quickly that Sophie almost missed it.
“Who told you that?”
“Adrien.”
“Did he?”
Victor studied her.
“Well, grief can do strange things to a man.”
“Especially when the person he's grieving is alive.”
A muscle tightened in Victor's jaw.
Behind them, guests were pretending not to listen.
Victor lowered his voice.
“Sophie, this isn't the place.”
“Then where is the place? Cedar Hollow?”
Victor went completely still.
Sophie had her answer.
He knew.
She didn't know how much, but he knew something.
“Your mother is looking for you,” he said.
“I've already spoken to her.”
“Then perhaps you should go home and rest.”
Sophie looked directly into his eyes.
“Did you forge my signature?”
Victor's expression hardened.
“You're upset. I understand that.”
“Did you?”
He leaned closer.
“You need to be very careful about the accusations you make today.”
“Is that a threat?”
“It's advice.”
Sophie felt a flash of anger powerful enough to burn through her fear.
“Then here's mine. Stay away from me.”
She turned and walked toward the exit.
Victor caught her wrist.
Not hard enough to attract attention.
Hard enough to make his meaning clear.
“Your father trusted me, Sophie.”
She stopped.
Her father, Michael Bennett, had died five years earlier after a sudden heart attack.
He had been a respected architect who spent much of his career developing affordable housing projects.
Victor had been one of his business partners.
“What does my father have to do with this?”
Victor released her wrist.
“Everything, as you'll eventually understand.”
Then he smiled again, transforming instantly back into the polished gentleman everyone knew.
“I hope we can discuss this when you're feeling better.”
Sophie left the church before she said something she couldn't take back.
Outside, gray clouds hung over Boston.
The limousine meant to carry the newlyweds to their reception stood waiting beside the curb.
The driver stepped forward.
“Mrs. Valmont?”
“Miss Bennett,” Sophie corrected.
He looked embarrassed.
“Of course, ma'am.”
She asked him to take her home.
During the drive, Sophie called Adrien six times.
Every call went directly to voicemail.
On the seventh attempt, she left a message.
“Adrien, I know you're angry. I know you think I had something to do with what happened to Élise, but I need you to hear me. Someone forged my signature on medical documents. Victor knows something about Cedar Hollow. Please call me before you trust anyone.”
She ended the call.
Then she remembered the warning.
He's inside the church.
The caller had never named Victor.
What if the person responsible wasn't acting alone?
Sophie's phone buzzed again.
This time, the message was from an unfamiliar woman named Claire Morgan.
She had met Claire briefly while volunteering at Cedar Hollow. Claire worked as a registered nurse and had once warned Sophie not to ask too many questions about certain patients.
The message read:
I heard what happened at the church. I think I know why. Meet me tonight at the old public library on Tremont Street. Come alone. Don't tell the Valmonts.
Sophie replied immediately.
What do you know?
The answer came several minutes later.
Élise wasn't the only woman they kept there.
Sophie stared at the message.
Before she could respond, another notification appeared.
A photograph.
It showed a hospital room.
A narrow bed.
A chair beside a window.
And five names scratched into the wooden windowsill.
Élise Moreau was one of them.
Sophie recognized another.
Anna Reynolds.
She had seen Anna's name on a memorial plaque at the Valmont Foundation headquarters.
According to the plaque, Anna had died in a tragic car accident three years earlier.
Sophie typed rapidly.
Claire, who are these women?
Three dots appeared.
Then disappeared.
Then appeared again.
Finally, Claire sent one last message.
They were witnesses. Every single one of them. And Sophie, your father's name is in the file.
Sophie froze.
Her father's name.
Five years after his death.
Inside a secret medical facility.
She barely had time to process the connection before her phone rang.
It was Adrien.
She answered immediately.
“Adrien, thank God.”
His voice was cold and unfamiliar.
“Don't call me again.”
“Please, you don't understand.”
“No, Sophie. I think I finally do.”
“Someone forged my signature. I can prove it.”
Adrien gave a bitter laugh.
“Then explain why Élise remembers you standing beside her hospital bed.”
Sophie's pulse raced.
“What?”
“She remembers your face. She remembers you telling the doctors she couldn't leave.”
“That never happened!”
Adrien was silent.
Then he asked a question that cut deeper than anything he could have shouted.
“Did you know she was carrying my child when you agreed to marry me?”
“No.”
“Then why does she have a photograph of you holding her medical chart?”
Sophie closed her eyes.
It was impossible.
She had never met Élise at the clinic.
At least, not knowingly.
“Adrien, please listen—”
“Stay away from Élise. Stay away from my daughter.”
The word struck her like a physical blow.
Daughter.
Élise had given birth to a little girl.
Adrien's daughter.
Before Sophie could respond, Adrien added:
“And Sophie? If you come anywhere near them, I'll make sure you go to prison for what you've done.”
The line went dead.
Sophie lowered the phone.
Outside the limousine window, Boston passed in a blur.
May you like
For the first time in her life, she understood what it meant to have the truth on your side while everyone you loved believed you were lying.
And somewhere inside Cedar Hollow, a woman she had never knowingly met was telling a story that could destroy her.
