Chapter 1 - The Man Who Was Supposed to Be DeadFor three seconds, nobody moved.
The heart monitor continued its impossible rhythm.
Beep.
Beep.
Beep.
I stared at Alessandro Romano's hand.
Between his bloodstained fingers was a wedding ring.
My wedding ring.
Or at least one exactly like it.
The engraving on the inside was impossible to mistake.
D.W. — C.W.
David Winters.
Catherine Winters.
My knees nearly gave out.
"Where did you get that?"
Alessandro looked at me.
His breathing was shallow.
His skin was gray.
But his eyes were frighteningly alive.
"David gave it to me."
I shook my head.
"David is dead."
"No."
His voice was barely audible.
"He wanted you to believe that."
My three-year-old son was still lying across his chest.
Logan looked at me, completely unaware that the world I had built around him was collapsing.
"Mommy," he whispered, "the scary man woke up."
I rushed forward.
"Logan, come here."
But Alessandro's fingers tightened around the stuffed bear.
Not Logan.
The bear.
He looked at my son.
"Captain Bear."
Logan nodded.
"His name is Captain."
Something almost resembling a smile appeared on Alessandro's face.
"Your father gave him that?"
I froze.
"What?"
Alessandro looked directly at me.
"David bought that bear in Prague."
My blood turned cold.
I had bought Captain Bear at a Baltimore thrift store six months after David supposedly died.
At least, that's what I thought.
I pulled Logan into my arms.
"How do you know that?"
Alessandro closed his eyes.
"Because I was with your husband when he bought it."
The room erupted.
Doctors shouted.
Guards moved.
Someone called security.
But I heard only one sentence.
I was with your husband.
A physician grabbed Alessandro's shoulder.
"Mr. Romano, you need immediate surgery."
"No."
"You've lost an enormous amount of blood."
"Later."
"You nearly died."
Alessandro opened his eyes.
"I know."
Then he looked at me.
"Get your son out of here."
I didn't move.
"Why?"
"Because whoever killed David knows you're here."
The room suddenly felt colder.
A guard stepped forward.
"Boss, we need to move."
Alessandro shook his head.
"Not yet."
He reached toward the ring.
"Take this."
I hesitated.
"Why?"
"Because David told me to give it back to you if I survived tonight."
My fingers trembled as I accepted it.
The engraving felt warm.
Real.
I looked at the ring I had worn every day for six years.
The one currently on my finger.
Then I looked at the ring in my palm.
Identical.
Two wedding rings.
One husband.
One impossible truth.
David had always worn his ring on his right hand because his left finger had been injured years before.
I remembered that.
I remembered slipping the ring onto his right hand myself.
Then the funeral.
Then the closed casket.
Then the certificate.
Everything suddenly felt wrong.
"Show me the body," I whispered.
Alessandro's expression changed.
"What body?"
"My husband's."
Silence.
"You never saw his face?"
"No."
"Why?"
"The police said the burns were too severe."
Alessandro closed his eyes.
"Catherine."
His voice softened.
"That wasn't David."
I couldn't breathe.
Logan touched my cheek.
"Mommy?"
I looked down.
His little face was frightened.
I hugged him.
Alessandro watched us.
Then he said the words that changed my life.
"Your husband didn't work for me."
I stared at him.
"He worked for someone far more dangerous."
A doctor tried to interrupt.
Alessandro ignored him.
"David was undercover."
"For whom?"
Alessandro looked toward the locked door.
"That's what they are going to kill you for discovering."
Suddenly, the lights went out.
The heart monitor screamed.
Someone shouted.
May you like
Then a gunshot exploded through the darkness.
And Alessandro pulled Logan against his chest.
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