Chapter 1 - Mom, Don't Marry Him)
The officiant had almost finished the sentence.
"If anyone here knows any reason these two should not be joined in marriage..."
A chair scraped violently across the marble floor.
Grace Parker turned from the altar.
Her ten-year-old son was standing in the front row.
Peter's face was wet with tears.
In his arms was a thick stack of papers.
"Mom, don't marry him!"
For one impossible second, nobody moved.
The grand wedding hall seemed to freeze around them.
Hundreds of white roses covered the altar. Crystal chandeliers burned above the guests. Grace's long ivory dress shimmered beneath the warm lights.
At her side, Richard Coleman stopped smiling.
Grace stared at her son.
"Peter, what are you doing?"
Peter stepped into the aisle.
His hands were shaking so badly that the documents rattled against one another.
Richard's expression changed.
Grace noticed it immediately.
Not confusion.
Not embarrassment.
Fear.
"Peter," Richard said quietly. "Come here."
Peter backed away.
Richard stepped down from the altar.
"Give those to me."
"No."
"Peter."
"No!"
Several guests began turning to one another.
Grace's heart started pounding.
She had never heard Richard speak to Peter in that voice.
Cold.
Controlled.
Almost threatening.
Peter lifted the papers.
"That isn't even his real name!"
A murmur rolled through the hall.
Grace felt as if someone had pulled the floor away beneath her.
"What?"
Richard walked faster.
"Grace, he's upset. He's a child. He doesn't understand what he found."
Peter pointed directly at him.
"You said your name was Richard Coleman."
"It is."
"No, it isn't!"
Richard lunged for the papers.
Peter jerked backward.
Several pages slipped from his hands and scattered across the polished floor.
Photographs.
Copies of driver's licenses.
Marriage certificates.
Bank documents.
Passports.
The guests nearest the aisle leaned down to look.
Richard went pale.
"Give me those papers. Right now."
Grace stepped between them.
"Don't touch him."
Richard stopped.
His jaw tightened.
"Grace."
"What are those?"
"Nothing."
Peter was sobbing now.
"They're not nothing, Mom."
An elderly woman named Evelyn Hart bent down and picked up one of the photographs.
Grace knew Evelyn only casually. She was a friend of Richard's side of the guest list, supposedly someone he had known through business.
Evelyn stared at the page.
Her face slowly lost all color.
Her hand began trembling.
"Oh my God."
Grace turned toward her.
"What is it?"
Evelyn looked at Richard.
Not like a wedding guest.
Like someone looking at a ghost.
"Where did you get this?"
Peter swallowed.
"His office."
Richard took one step backward.
Evelyn held up the photograph.
The woman in it was young, blond, smiling beside a man whose hair was darker and whose beard was different.
But the eyes were unmistakable.
Richard's eyes.
Evelyn whispered, "That's my daughter."
The room erupted.
Richard turned toward the side exit.
Grace grabbed his sleeve.
"Richard, what is she talking about?"
He pulled away.
"Let go of me."
"Who is her daughter?"
"Grace."
"Answer me!"
Evelyn suddenly screamed.
"Her name was Rebecca!"
Richard froze.
Tears filled Evelyn's eyes.
"She disappeared nine years ago after marrying a man named Thomas Hale."
Peter looked at his mother.
Grace felt her throat closing.
Evelyn pointed at Richard.
"That man."
Richard ran.
Guests shouted as he shoved past chairs.
Grace stumbled after him, but Peter caught her hand.
"Mom, wait."
She turned.
Peter's face looked terrified.
There was something else in his hand.
A small black notebook.
"I didn't bring everything."
Grace stared at him.
"What do you mean?"
Peter opened the notebook.
Inside were handwritten dates.
Names.
Addresses.
Dollar amounts.
Beside some of the names was a single word.
DECEASED.
Beside others was another.
MISSING.
Grace's blood went cold.
At the bottom of the newest page was her own name.
GRACE PARKER.
Beside it was tomorrow's date.
And underneath that were four words Peter had circled in red pencil.
POLICY ACTIVE AFTER MARRIAGE.
Grace could barely breathe.
Peter looked toward the door Richard had just escaped through.
Then back at his mother.
"Mom..."
May you like
His voice broke.
"I think you were next."
