Ethan's POV
The detective's words keep echoing in my head: "Ms. Monroe may be in danger."
I've been sitting in my apartment for six hours, calling every hospital, every police station, every place I can think of. Nothing. Isla has vanished like she never existed.
Except she did exist. And I was too stupid to see her until she was gone.
My phone shows forty-three missed calls from my mother. I can't talk to her yet. Can't explain how I lost the best thing in my life because I was chasing a ghost.
At 7 AM, someone knocks on my door. I jump up, hope exploding in my chest. Maybe it's Isla. Maybe she came back.
I throw open the door.
It's Vivienne.
My hope dies instantly.
"Ethan, thank God." She pushes past me into the apartment. "I came as soon as I heard. The police called me last night asking about Isla. What's happening?"
I close the door slowly, suddenly exhausted. "She's gone. She left me."
"I know." Vivienne's voice is soft, sympathetic. "Ethan, there's something you need to see."
She pulls an envelope from her purse and hands it to me. I recognize it immediately—it's the envelope Isla took with her yesterday morning.
"Where did you get this?" My voice comes out harsh.
"Someone delivered it to your office yesterday. It was addressed to me." Vivienne opens it carefully and pulls out a diamond ring.
Isla's engagement ring.
My chest tightens so hard I can't breathe.
"There was a note too," Vivienne says, handing me a piece of paper. "I think you should read it."
I take it with shaking hands:
"He was always yours. I'm just keeping him warm. Take him back—I won't stand in your way."
The words hit me like bullets. Each one tearing through the fog in my brain.
She knew. Isla knew about Vivienne. She saw us together, heard something, figured it out somehow.
And instead of fighting, she just... left. Quietly. Like she didn't think she was worth fighting for.
"When did she see us?" I whisper.
Vivienne touches my arm gently. "Does it matter? Ethan, she left. She gave you back to me. Maybe she realized you were never really hers."
I stare at the ring in my hand. The ring I put on Isla's finger six months ago without a romantic proposal or heartfelt speech. Just a business dinner and a question asked between courses.
I never even told her I loved her first. She said it to me, and I just... nodded. Said "me too" like it was an afterthought.
"I never meant to hurt her," I say, more to myself than Vivienne.
"I know you didn't." Vivienne steps closer, her perfume filling my space. "But Ethan, maybe this is for the best. We can finally be together like we should've been five years ago. No more waiting. No more obstacles."
She puts her hand on my chest, looking up at me with those eyes that used to make my heart race.
But I feel nothing.
Where's the overwhelming love I remembered? Where's the desperate need that kept me awake for years after she left?
I look at Vivienne—really look at her—and for the first time, I see her clearly. Beautiful, yes. Elegant, absolutely. But there's something calculating in her eyes. Something cold behind the warm words.
"Why did you come back?" I ask suddenly.
She blinks, surprised. "What?"
"You've been back for four days. You keep saying you missed me, that leaving was a mistake. But why now? Why after five years?"
"Because I finally realized what I lost—"
"Your husband divorced you three weeks ago," I interrupt. "I looked it up last night. He found out about your affair and left you with nothing."
Vivienne's face goes pale. "Ethan, that's not—"
"Is that why you came back? Because you need money?"
"How dare you!" She steps back, her sympathy mask slipping. "I came back because I love you!"
"Do you?" I move closer, watching her carefully. "Or do you love my money? My success? The fact that I'm worth ten times what I was five years ago?"
"You're being cruel—"
"I'm being honest. For the first time in days, I'm actually seeing things clearly." I hold up the ring. "Isla gave this to you because she thought I wanted you. She thought I was in love with you. Was I, Vivienne? Or was I just in love with the idea of you?"
Vivienne's expression hardens. "This is about her? That plain little woman who kept secrets from you for three years?"
"What secrets?"
She laughs bitterly. "You don't even know, do you? Your precious Isla isn't who you think she is."
"What are you talking about?"
"She's rich, Ethan. Not just rich—wealthy. Your boring fiancée is the founder of Lumière Couture. She's worth half a billion dollars and never told you."
The room spins. "That's impossible."
"Check your phone. It's all over the news. Someone leaked her identity yesterday." Vivienne's smile is sharp. "She's been lying to you this whole time. Using you. And you're standing here defending her?"
I pull out my phone with shaking hands and search Isla's name.
The results flood my screen. Photos of Isla at fashion shows. Articles calling her a genius. Headlines about her being a secret billionaire.
My Isla. Quiet, simple Isla who I thought needed me.
She never needed me at all.
"She was using you for publicity," Vivienne says. "Dating a powerful CEO while building her secret empire. And when she got exposed, she ran."
"No." The word comes out firm. "No, that's not who Isla is."
"How would you know? You didn't even know her real identity!"
And that's when it hits me. The truth that's been sitting in front of me this whole time.
"You're right," I say slowly. "I didn't know her. Not really. I never asked about her dreams or her work or what made her happy. I just... let her orbit around my life without ever stepping into hers."
"Ethan—"
"She built an empire and I never noticed. She was extraordinary and I treated her like she was ordinary. No—worse than ordinary. Like she was lucky to be with me."
Vivienne's face twists with frustration. "So what? You're going to chase after her now? Beg her to come back?"
I look at the ring in my hand. At the note written by a woman who thought she wasn't enough.
"I don't know if she'll ever forgive me," I say quietly. "But I need to try. I need to tell her the truth."
"What truth?"
"That I love her. That I was an idiot. That Vivienne Hart was a fantasy I held onto because it was easier than opening my heart to someone real."
Vivienne's expression goes cold. "You're making a mistake."
"No. I made the mistake three days ago when you walked back into my life and I didn't immediately tell you to leave. I made the mistake every day for three years when I kept Isla at a distance instead of letting her in. This is me trying to fix it."
"She won't take you back. She's too smart for that."
"You're probably right," I admit. "But I have to try."
Vivienne grabs her purse, her face twisted with rage. "Fine. Destroy your life for a woman who lied to you. But don't come crawling back to me when she rejects you."
She storms toward the door, then pauses. "You know what the saddest part is, Ethan? She loved you completely. She would've given up everything for you. And you threw it away for nothing."
The door slams behind her, and I'm alone again.
I look at my phone, at all the articles about Isla. At photos of her smiling—really smiling—in a way she never smiled with me.
I'm about to start calling investigators again when my phone rings. Detective Morrison.
"Mr. Blackwell, we need you to come to the station immediately."
"Did you find Isla? Is she okay?"
"We found something. But you need to see it in person."
"What did you find?"
There's a long pause. "Security footage from three days ago. From your office building. The day before Ms. Monroe disappeared."
My blood runs cold. "What's on the footage?"
"You and Ms. Hart. In your office. The door was open. And Ms. Monroe was standing outside, watching."
Oh God. She saw us. She saw everything.
"Mr. Blackwell, there's something else on that footage. Something that changes everything."
"What?"
"After Ms. Monroe left, Ms. Hart made a phone call. We tracked the number. She was calling a man named Vincent Russo. Does that name mean anything to you?"
Vincent Russo. My biggest business rival. The man who's been trying to destroy my company for years.
"Why would Vivienne be calling Vincent Russo?"
"That's what we need to find out. Because according to our investigation, they've been in contact for weeks. Since before Ms. Hart returned to New York."
The realization hits me like a truck.
Vivienne didn't come back for me.
She came back to destroy me.
And I almost let her.