Page 14 of Shattered Dreams

My brother’s gaze lands on Stella, and the look on his face brings tears to my eyes.

“Stella,” he says, his voice low and gravelly.

“Hi.” She blushes.

It’s sweet they can still be nervous around each other, even if they have been waiting seven years to do this.

We slip our jackets off, and I greet the judge. I grab his name off the plaque on his desk, and a woman whom he identifies as his secretary stands with us. She’ll be the second witness, signing her name where Gage’s would have gone had he been here.

I’m sad he’s not, but it’s for the best. It would have been difficult not to picture us getting married as we listened to Zane’s and Stella’s vows. My future is so uncertain and Gage and I didn’t talk about it much. He was always trying not to crowd me, and while I was relieved he didn’t press, at the same time I felt unwanted, never good enough.

“You look gorgeous,” Zane says, cuddling her close to his chest. “Christ, why do you love me?”

“Your money, you fool,” she says tenderly, smoothing the lapel of his jacket and looking into his eyes like there’s no one watching them.

“Liar,” he whispers, then kisses her, gently covering her lips with his.

The judge lets out a belly laugh that breaks the quiet, and his secretary titters.

I force back a smile. Everyone knows Stella couldn’t care less about our money.

Sitting in a chair off to the side, I sniffle through their vows. They decided to make them up as they went along, and Zane speaks from his heart. By the time he’s done, he can’t see, and the judge passes him a tissue. He laughs a little, wipes his eyes, and pushes a gold band onto Stella’s finger.

She makes her promises, her voice watery, and tears are running down her cheeks when she’s finished.

I cry too, listening to them, loving each other so much despite the odds. Yes, maybe they were torn apart because Zane hadn’t believed her and his relationship with Nathalie hurt her, but Stella could have stayed in Florida and made a life near her family. She never gave up, even when things were at their worst, or felt like they were.

Not like I did. Times weregoodand I ran away. How will Gage ever trust I’ll stand by him when things get rocky?

He won’t.

I gave him up because I felt like I didn’t deserve him, and my own actions prove I don’t.

Stella slides a gold ring onto Zane’s finger, and he looks at it like he can’t believe he’s finally wearing it. I don’t know when she bought it. I’ve been so caught up in what’s happening with Gage, I’d checked out of almost everything else.

The judge pops a bottle of champagne and congratulates them, slapping Zane on the back. He looks so happy, dazed, his arm around Stella. I’m glad I insisted they do this. At least I was right about one thing.

After a flurry of congratulations, good lucks, and goodbyes, we ride the elevator to the ground floor and Douglas is waiting outside, standing near the limo. A soft snow started falling, and the sky is an inky, winter purple. Douglas holds the door open, and we climb in. We’ll eat at a restaurant near the Crowne, andZane and Stella will stay there for a couple of days in lieu of a honeymoon.

I sit back, satisfied. Zane and Stella are married, just as they should be.

She sits as close to him as she can, practically in his lap, but sighing, he straightens and she shifts, dropping her hands into her lap and twisting her fingers together. The festive air turns heavy in the blink of an eye.

“Zarah, we have a couple of things we need to tell you,” he says.

My mind immediately flies to Gage. “Is Gage okay?”

“He’s fine. We found out where Ingrid is, and she’s dead, Z. Someone killed her in one of the industrial parks, in a warehouse near the river. We don’t know why, and we don’t know who. Wethinkshe was negotiating a deal to sell information about you, and it went bad. The cops questioned me, and Gage and Linc are looking into it more.” He pauses. “He thinks I should tell you this kind of thing, and he’s right.”

Tears fill my eyes. Ingrid’s dead. She’d been my nurse for a long time. “Is it because I fired her?”

“Maybe. You know how people can be.”

I do. When it comes to money, people will do anything. We paid her well, well above what she may have been paid at a different job, and as I grew closer to Gage, she earned her paycheck doing nothing. She must have resented it when I decided I didn’t need her anymore and hoped to get revenge by selling details about my life, only, I never did anything. I’m not a partier. I don’t get into trouble like a lot of bored socialites who have too much time and money on their hands. I don’t know what kind of information she hoped to sell. The kinds of drugs I’m on? That I go to therapy? Whom I see? Everyone knows that already.

“If they find out anything, will you tell me?”

“Yeah. The cops are looking into her personal life. Maybe she was messed up in something that has nothing to do with us.”

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