Chapter 11: The Messages She Never Sent

We waited until evening before opening the flash drive.

Mara insisted we use a computer that wasn't connected to the internet.

I sat beside Zane at the small table in the back of my flower shop.

Neither of us said much.

The screen lit up, revealing dozens of files.

Emails.

Screenshots.

Call records.

And finally, the messages.

Zane opened the first conversation.

I immediately recognized the words.

Except I had never written them.

“I think we should end this.”

“You deserve someone who can actually be there for you.”

“I'm tired of waiting.”

My chest tightened.

Zane stared at the screen.

“I believed every one of these.”

I looked at him.

“You never asked me.”

His eyes dropped.

“I should have.”

The next file contained the original messages.

The difference was obvious.

The fake messages had been created by cutting pieces of our old conversations together.

Some sentences had been rearranged.

Others had been completely fabricated.

Then we found something worse.

A folder labeled with my old military identification number.

Inside were records of my phone activity, travel plans, and private correspondence.

Someone had been tracking me for months.

Mara pointed at one of the files.

“Look at the date.”

I leaned closer.

The file had been created three days before Zane announced his marriage.

My stomach dropped.

“She was planning this before the wedding.”

Zane nodded slowly.

“She wanted me to believe you had already abandoned me.”

Mara opened another file.

There was a recorded conversation between Sofia and someone whose name had been deleted.

The audio was faint, but the voices were clear enough.

Sofia sounded calm.

“Once he believes Elara doesn't want him anymore, he'll stop fighting.”

The other person asked, “And if she finds out?”

Sofia laughed softly.

“She won't.”

I felt sick.

The recording continued.

“By the time she understands what happened, I'll already be his wife.”

Zane abruptly stood.

His chair scraped against the floor.

“That's enough.”

I reached for his hand.

“Wait.”

The recording hadn't ended.

Sofia's voice came through again.

“The only problem is Connor.”

“He knows too much.”

My blood ran cold.

Zane looked at Mara.

“Connor knew?”

Mara shook her head.

“Not everything.”

The recording stopped.

For several seconds, none of us spoke.

Then my phone rang.

The caller ID showed Connor's name.

I answered immediately.

“Connor?”

His breathing was heavy.

“Elara, listen to me.”

His voice dropped to a whisper.

“Don't trust anyone around you right now.”

I stood up.

“What happened?”

There was a long silence.

Then he said, “Sofia knows you're alive.”

The line went dead.