The note in my hand felt like a death sentence. My mother-in-law had slipped it to me moments before the ceremony, her face pale with fear. “Sergei plans to kill you. Run now.” Around me, the wedding guests laughed and toasted, oblivious to the danger I was in.
I should have dismissed it as a cruel joke. But the pieces fell into place—Sergei’s secretive phone calls, the way he stiffened whenever I asked about our future. When our eyes met across the room, his gaze turned cold. That wasn’t the man I loved. It was a predator who saw me as a paycheck.
I didn’t hesitate. While the guests waited for the bride, I fled through a back door, my wedding dress tearing on the pavement. I didn’t stop running until I was on a train to another city, another life.
For fifteen years, I lived as Vera—a quiet barista in a sleepy coastal town. I thought I was safe. Until the day Sergei’s face appeared on the news, accused of massive fraud. The reporter mentioned his “mysterious missing fiancée,” and my blood ran cold.
Lena, the only person who knew my secret, begged me to act. “He’s weak now,” she said. “This is your chance.” But facing Sergei meant risking everything. I started with his mother, now a frail old woman in a nursing home.
She recognized me instantly. “I knew you’d return,” she said, her voice trembling. Then she told me the truth—Sergei had planned my death for my inheritance. Worse, he’d done it to others. “I’ve spent years gathering proof,” she whispered, handing me a key. “It’s time.”
Walking into Sergei’s office was like stepping into a nightmare. His shock turned to rage when he saw me. “You were supposed to stay gone,” he spat. But this time, I held the power. With his mother’s evidence and a terrified accountant’s testimony, I watched as the police dragged him away.
Now, as the rain clears outside my café, I take a deep breath. The past is settled. The future? That’s mine to write.
