Chapter 13: The Truth at the Training Ground

The next morning, I barely touched my breakfast.

The message from the unknown number had changed everything.

At exactly eleven forty-five, Zane and I left the flower shop.

Mara stayed behind with the files.

She promised to call if she found anything new.

The old naval training facility looked almost exactly as I remembered it.

The same concrete buildings stood beneath the bright California sun.

The same long stretch of pavement led toward the training grounds.

For a moment, I was twenty years old again.

I remembered Zane beside me, laughing after our first brutal training exercise.

Then I remembered the wedding invitation.

I pushed the memory away.

We reached the designated building five minutes before noon.

The door was unlocked.

Zane immediately moved in front of me.

"Stay behind me."

I shook my head.

"I'm done hiding behind people."

He looked at me for a long moment before stepping aside.

Inside, the building was empty.

A single chair sat in the center of the room.

On it was another envelope.

My name was written across the front.

I picked it up.

Inside was a photograph.

It showed me and Sofia during our first year of training.

On the back, someone had written a date.

The date was three days before Zane proposed to Sofia.

Beneath it were four words.

"Ask her about the accident."

Zane stared at the photograph.

"Sofia's father's accident."

I nodded slowly.

Then footsteps echoed from the hallway.

A man appeared in the doorway.

I recognized him immediately.

It was Connor.

His face was bruised, and one sleeve of his shirt was torn.

"You came," he said.

Zane moved toward him.

"What happened?"

Connor glanced behind him before closing the door.

"Sofia's father was never in the accident you were told about."

My heart stopped.

"What?"

Connor looked at me.

"The accident was staged."

Zane's expression became cold.

"Explain."

Connor pulled out his phone and showed us several photographs.

There was a damaged vehicle.

A hospital corridor.

And a payment record from an insurance company.

"Sofia's father was involved in a financial investigation," Connor said.

"He was about to be exposed."

"Sofia needed money and protection."

I stared at the photographs.

"So she used Zane."

Connor nodded.

"At first, yes."

"But then she realized she could get much more than money."

Zane's hands tightened into fists.

"She wanted my career."

"She wanted your reputation, your connections, and your future."

Connor looked at me.

"And she knew Elara was the one person who could stop her."

A terrible silence filled the room.

I remembered Sofia's face on my wedding day.

Her smile.

Her warnings.

Her insistence that I give them my blessing.

I had thought she simply wanted Zane.

I had never imagined she wanted to erase me from his life completely.

Connor opened another file.

"There's more."

A recording began playing.

Sofia's voice filled the room.

"Once Elara leaves, he'll eventually forget her."

"And if he doesn't?" another voice asked.

Sofia answered calmly.

"Then I'll make sure he has no reason to look for her."

I felt tears burn behind my eyes.

Not because I wanted Zane back.

Because I finally understood how much of my life had been manipulated.

Zane turned toward me.

"Elara, I'm sorry."

I shook my head.

"Don't apologize for something you didn't know."

Connor suddenly looked toward the window.

"We need to leave."

Zane frowned.

"Why?"

"Because I wasn't the only one who followed you here."

A car door slammed outside.

Then another.

Zane immediately reached for my hand.

"We're leaving now."

As we hurried toward the back exit, my phone buzzed again.

Another message appeared.

"You wanted the truth."

"Now you have it."

Then a final message appeared.

"But you still don't know why Zane chose Sofia."