"Are you telling you still cannot do such a simple thing as finding out where Adam and lody are?" Marianne asked sharply her eyes fixed on her brother who had until now, never failed her. But ever since this lanie had entered their orbit, everything seed to be jinxed. Nothing seed to be going their way properly.
"Yes. I don’t know," he admitted, rubbing the back of his neck as he stared at his sister in concern, "I’ve checked everything. All the bookings on the outgoing airlines, cruise ships, even the private charters. I looked into train stations, border crossings, all the usual places people try to slip through. There is no one by the na of Adam, lanie, or lody anywhere. It’s like they have completely vanished off the face of the earth. One of Adam’s car is missing and I know it drove out of the city from the south border, but after that, I can’t find the car even on surveillance."
Marianne leaned back, unimpressed by his ager finding. "Vanished? People don’t just vanish. You must be missing sothing."
"I thought so too," he muttered, shaking his head. "I even bribed people at the booking offices to check for fake IDs, nicknas, anything close to their nas. Nothing. It’s as if they planned this well in advance, instead of this being an impromptu trip.
Marianne let out a long, slow sigh. Her nails tapped on the armrest as she thought. "And what about the fake lody at ho, the one with the mory loss? What is she doing these days?"
He gave a short, humorless laugh. "She’s looking for ways to escape, actually. He is pretending to be her saviour from her kidnaper. Cadence Sint. The mont lody’s ex ca back, most of the household staff was sent on a convenient holiday. Almost like soone wanted her to be alone with him. I don’t think she even has her phone anymore. From what I hear, she’s trying to get along with him, maybe because she doesn’t have a choice. But the few maids who stayed back... they’ve seen things. They say that man tried to force his way into her room at night a few days ago."
Marianne’s lips curved slowly into a smile. Her mind was already working, each thought lining up neatly into place. So, what if she had failed to push the love-blind lody into killing lanie? There was always another way. She could use lanie herself to deal with lody.
Whether a knife fell on a person or a person fell on a knife... the result would always be the sa. Death never argued with the thod.
Poor lanie. With no mory of her past, she was struggling in that house, trapped with a man she barely rembered, fighting to survive each day while the real lody was sowhere out there living the life she had stolen. Sowhere on a beach, on a yacht, or in so hidden villa, lody was enjoying a honeymoon with lanie’s husband, drinking wine and smiling at the thought that no one could touch her.
How angry would lanie be when she found out the truth? When she learned that her husband hadn’t even realized she was missing? That her sister had stepped into her life so easily, like she had never existed at all?
Marianne could already imagine the betrayal burning in lanie’s eyes. Anger like that had weight. It could break things. It could break people.
And with the right push, it could kill. And she knew just the right push.
"Why is he staying there this ti?"
"He intends to et you and Richard Thomas to gain approval for marriage from both of you. But since you are here and Richard has gone to country P, he is staying as a guest in the house."
"But things don’t seem to be going well. He had an argunt inside the restaurant it seems. Abandoned lody in the middle of the al and walked away. And then, when she took a cab and returned, he argued with her outside the building."
The more Marianne heard the more she could not help but smile. Now was the perfect ti to return. Nothing like being able to add fuel to the fire directly.
Cadence Sint was already obsessed with lody. She knew the real lody had barely escaped him. But lanie had managed to convince him to be patient and et her parents, to gain their approval. Just this proved that lanie, even without her mory was much more adept at handling things than lody.
But would Cadence Sint be patient in the face of direct disapproval from lody’s mother?She would tell him in a soft, almost pitying voice that she could not approve. That lody deserved better. That he lacked... sothing.
It would drive him mad.
He would cling harder to lody after that. He was already holding onto her too tightly, his shadow never far from her steps, his presence pressing down on her until she was jumpy from it. Antsy. Restless. Like a bird locked in a cage that was growing smaller by the day.
And once Cadence thought he no longer had her parents’ approval, Marianne knew what would happen. His patience would snap. That need to prove himself, to hold onto what he believed was his, would twist into sothing darker. He would make things harder for her. He would beco sharper with his words, rougher with his hands. He might even try to forcefully take her away again, the way desperate n often did when they felt soone slipping out of reach.
And then... just when "lody" would be at her wits’ end, trying to figure out how to get away from him, she would stumble on the truth.
That she wasn’t even the woman Cadence was obsessed with. That she was lanie, not lody. And in that single mont, Marianne knew, would co the real explosion she was waiting for.
lanie killing lody.
Or at least, lanie ending up taking the bla for it. While Marianne handled the gory details herself.
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