Chapter 5: The Lie That Started Four Years Ago
Marcus read the hospital record three times.
Each time, the words became heavier.
Patient Name: Marcus Carter.
Date of Birth: Correct.
Medical Information: Correct.
But the signature at the bottom wasn’t his.
It belonged to someone else.
Brielle.
His fingers tightened around the paper.
“What did you do?””
Brielle immediately shook her head.
“Marcus, I can explain.””
His eyes lifted.
“Stop saying that.””
Her face broke.
“Because I know how it sounds.””
“No.””
His voice was quiet.
“That’s the problem. I don’t know how anything sounds anymore.””
Daniel watched silently.
Marcus turned toward him.
“Why do you have my medical records?””
Daniel looked at Brielle.
“Ask her.””
Marcus looked back.
“Brielle?””
She stepped forward.
“Daniel is manipulating you.””
Daniel smiled bitterly.
“Of course I am.””
Brielle looked at him.
“You always do this.””
“Do what?””
“Destroy everything when you don’t get what you want.””
Daniel laughed.
“That’s interesting coming from someone who destroyed two marriages.””
Marcus looked at Evelyn.
She looked equally confused.
“What does this mean?”” Marcus asked.
Nobody answered.
Then Brielle spoke.
“When I left Daniel, I had nothing.””
Marcus stared.
“I thought you said you had no money because of him.””
“I did.””
“Then what does my medical record have to do with anything?””
Brielle looked down.
That was the moment Marcus knew.
Whatever the answer was, it was something she had buried deep.
“I needed help.””
“What kind of help?””
She looked at Daniel.
Then at Evelyn.
Finally, at Marcus.
“Financial help.””
Marcus felt a cold wave move through him.
“So you used my name?””
“No.””
“The record says otherwise.””
Brielle’s eyes filled with tears.
“I didn’t hurt you.””
“You signed my name.””
“I was trying to survive.””
Marcus shook his head.
“You don’t understand what you did.””
“I do.””
“No.””
His voice cracked.
“You don’t.””
The garden became painfully quiet.
Marcus looked down at the paper.
A memory surfaced.
Four years earlier.
The week he met Brielle.
She had told him she was starting over.
She told him she had escaped a terrible relationship.
She told him she had nobody.
And he had believed her.
Because he wanted to believe her.
Daniel stepped forward.
“Four years ago, Brielle was desperate.””
Brielle glared at him.
“Don’t.””
“She needed money to disappear.””
Marcus looked at Daniel.
“From you?””
Daniel nodded.
“She knew I would find her.””
Brielle’s face hardened.
“Because you were obsessed with controlling me.””
Daniel didn’t react.
“Maybe I was.””
The admission surprised everyone.
“But that doesn’t change what happened next.””
He looked at Marcus.
“She contacted Nathan.””
Marcus frowned.
“My brother?””
“Yes.””
Daniel reached into his pocket and pulled out another photograph.
This one showed Nathan and Brielle sitting at a restaurant.
Marcus looked closer.
The date was printed underneath.
Four years ago.
Before Marcus met Brielle.
“You knew each other.””
Brielle’s eyes closed.
“Yes.””
The answer came quietly.
Marcus looked like he had been hit.
“How?””
She took a shaky breath.
“Nathan worked with Daniel.””
“Doing what?””
“Business.””
Daniel interrupted.
“Not just business.””
Everyone looked at him.
Daniel continued.
“Nathan was helping me locate missing funds.””
Marcus looked at his brother’s empty seat.
“What funds?””
Daniel stared at Brielle.
“The money she took when she left.””
Marcus looked at Brielle.
“You stole from him?””
“No.””
Her answer came immediately.
Too immediately.
Then she lowered her voice.
“I borrowed it.””
Marcus almost couldn’t believe what he was hearing.
“Borrowed?””
“I was going to pay it back.””
“With what?””
She had no answer.
Daniel looked at Marcus.
“She never planned to return.””
Brielle turned toward him.
“You’re lying.””
“Then why did you create a new identity?””
Marcus froze.
“What?””
Daniel pulled out another document.
“This is why I came today.””
He handed it to Marcus.
It was an application.
A legal name change.
The old name:
Brielle Whitmore.
The new name:
Brielle Carter.
Marcus looked up slowly.
“You changed your name?””
Brielle’s tears fell.
“I was escaping.””
“Or hiding?””
Her face twisted.
“You think I planned this?””
“I don’t know what to think.””
That was the most honest answer he had given all day.
Suddenly, a woman from the crowd stepped forward.
Everyone turned.
It was Marcus’s aunt, Clara.
She had been sitting quietly throughout the entire disaster.
“Martha?””
No.
Marcus stopped.
Because he recognized the expression on her face.
She wasn’t shocked.
She looked guilty.
“Clara,” Evelyn whispered.
Marcus turned.
“What is going on?””
Clara looked at him.
Then at Brielle.
Then finally at Evelyn.
“I think it’s time you know why your mother kept this secret.””
Marcus stared.
“My mother?””
Clara nodded slowly.
“Evelyn didn’t discover Brielle’s past by accident.””
The wind moved through the garden.
The wedding decorations shook.
Clara continued:
“She knew about Brielle before you ever met her.””
Marcus looked at his mother.
The betrayal on his face was worse than anger.
“Mom?””
Evelyn’s eyes filled with tears.
“Marcus…”
He stepped back.
“No.””
Because suddenly, the question wasn’t whether Brielle had lied to him.
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The question was:
How many people had been lying together?
