My hands were shaking so badly I almost dropped the phone.
Megan stood beside me in Claire’s office, pale and silent, while rain hammered against the windows outside.
The video loaded.
At first, all I saw was darkness.
Then the camera adjusted.
And my entire world collapsed.
Ryan was sitting in a hotel room.
Not alone.
A woman’s voice laughed softly behind the camera.
Then Ryan spoke.
“I’m marrying her next week,” he said casually while loosening his tie. “After that, everything transfers automatically.”
My stomach twisted.
The woman behind the camera asked:
“And her sister? She suspects something.”
Ryan’s face darkened instantly.
“Claire needs to mind her own business.”
The timestamp on the video made my blood run cold.
It was recorded three nights before my wedding.
Then the camera shifted slightly.
And I saw documents spread across the hotel table.
Life insurance papers.
My name.
A seven-million-dollar policy.
Beneficiary: Ryan Mitchell.
I stopped breathing.
Megan grabbed my arm.
“There’s more.”
The video continued.
Ryan leaned back calmly and took a sip of whiskey.
“She’s obsessed with fairy-tale love,” he laughed. “Makes this whole thing easy.”
The woman laughed too.
“What happens after the wedding?”
Ryan smirked.
“People die in accidents every day.”
The phone slipped from my hands onto Claire’s desk.
For several seconds, neither Megan nor I spoke.
I could hear my own heartbeat.
Loud.
Violent.
Wrong.
“No…” I whispered.
Megan’s eyes filled with tears.
“Claire found out two months ago.”
I stared at her.
“She hired a private investigator after she saw Ryan with another woman.”
I remembered Claire begging me to cancel the wedding.
The fear in her voice.
The desperation.
And suddenly every cold glance she ever gave Ryan made horrible sense.
“She wanted proof before telling you,” Megan continued shakily. “She was terrified you wouldn’t believe her.”
My knees nearly gave out.
“But the crash…”
Megan looked toward the office door like she was afraid someone might hear us.
“That’s not all.”
She reached into Claire’s desk drawer and pulled out a folder.
Inside were printed emails.
Bank transfers.
Photos.
And one police report.
I froze when I read the title.
VEHICLE TAMPERING INVESTIGATION.
My hands turned numb.
Megan swallowed hard.
“The mechanic called Claire the morning of your wedding.”
I looked up sharply.
“What?”
“He told her someone had been near her car the night before.”
Every hair on my arms rose.
“There were scratches near the brake line,” Megan whispered. “Claire said she’d deal with it after the ceremony because she didn’t want to ruin your wedding.”
I couldn’t breathe anymore.
Rain slammed harder against the windows.
“She took a different road because she was upset,” Megan said. “And then…”
Her voice broke.
I looked back at the phone lying on the desk.
At Ryan’s smiling face frozen on the screen.
Suddenly, I remembered something I hadn’t thought about before.
The night after Claire disappeared…
Ryan had insisted I sign several insurance forms because he said “the paperwork would be overwhelming later.”
At the time, I had been too numb with grief to think clearly.
“Oh my God…”
Megan nodded slowly.
“Claire believed he wasn’t only after your money.”
Cold terror spread through my chest.
“He was planning to kill me.”
Before Megan could answer—
My phone rang.
Ryan.
Both of us stared at the screen.
Calling again.
And again.
Then a text appeared.
BABY, WHERE ARE YOU? I’M WORRIED.
Another message arrived immediately after.
WHY AREN’T YOU ANSWERING?
Then one final text came through.
And this time, my blood froze completely.
I KNOW YOU WENT TO CLAIRE’S OFFICE.
Megan looked horrified.
“He shouldn’t know that.”
But deep down…
I already knew something worse.
Claire hadn’t died by accident.
And Ryan knew we were starting to figure it out.
