What happened after my wedding to Aiden? Breathe, in and out, keep your cool. Don’t panic. Slow on the exhale. The moments swirl in eddies and currents. What is going on here? What happened on the dive?
I click back to Google and read through the news. We were rescued, Jacob and I, but there was a third person diving with us. The shadowy diver. Aiden. He was there all along. Jacob must’ve altered the news, controlling what I saw on my computer. It seems too fantastic, unreal. And yet entirely possible, especially for a former programmer and hacker.
The news articles, the real news, reveal the truth.
Aiden Finlay was swept away by the currents in Deception Pass, but he was picked up by a coast guard boat, unconscious. He fell into a coma.
He was on the dive with us.
He was picked up.
My heart gallops; I can’t catch my breath. Where is he now? What led to the three of us diving together? Why did Jacob lie to me? What am I doing here? I’m blinded by intense loathing for Jacob, a wild rage, and . . . an overwhelming sense of relief. Aiden was on the dive, and he’s still alive.
Aiden Finlay’s friend, Jacob Winthrop, who was also on the dive, and Aiden Finlay’s wife, Kyra Munin-Finlay, who suffered a traumatic head injury, made it to a secluded beach. Munin-Finlay was airlifted to Harborview Medical Center in Seattle for treatment. I am Kyra Munin-Finlay. I’m still Aiden’s wife.
What life have I been living here? The office, Jacob’s computer—everything in here. It’s all unreal. What happened? How did I end up here?
I remember sleeping with Jacob before. I know I did. But when? Did I leave him to marry Aiden? Or was I never married to Jacob? None of this makes any sense. My breathing comes fast and shallow.
Jacob is not my husband. He is not my husband. My heart hammers. My hands are tingling. Breathe, in and out, focus. Keep yourself together.
I was married to Aiden. I am married to Aiden. He’s still alive. Jacob, Aiden’s friend—how did he manage to take me away, to bring me to the island? Who else knows I’m here? Does anyone know?
Why didn’t I notice? There is no picture of Jacob and me reciting our vows. No image of the exchange of rings. In the blue-tinted pictures in the living room, we’re posing with friends, or dancing, or eating wedding cake. The pictures were printed from his computer. He was at the wedding.
There is Jacob, standing to the left of the wedding cake, walking toward me, while I stood to the right. Aiden was out of the picture. Jacob kissing my cheek. Jacob swinging me on the dance floor . . . May I dance with the bride?
Was this Jacob’s plan all along, to take away my memory? But it couldn’t have been. He could not have known I would hit my head on the dive. Did he try to kill me? Or Aiden? Or both of us?
I’m shaking all over, my heart beating so fast I’m afraid I might pass out. Jacob will find me on the floor of his office, and what will he do? On his desktop, he has arranged several folders in alphabetical order. Many of them are work-related document folders, but a familiar name catches my eye. I click on the folder marked Linny. A series of message files pops up—containing her emails to me.
Kyra, did you get my message yesterday? Something is wrong with my email.
. . . I’m trying your old email address . . .
. . . I’ve been trying to email you for two weeks, no reply. I’m worried about you . . .
. . . called the hospital. The doctors won’t tell me what’s going on, only that you checked out of rehab last week . . .
Making plans to come back, can’t reach you. Aiden says you left him.
How could Jacob do this? How could he intercept her messages and keep them from me? Why? In another subfolder, he included my messages to her, the ones that never reached her. He read the messages and sent me fake replies. You’re in the perfect marriage to Jacob . . . Don’t mess this one up. No wonder I thought Linny had changed so much in four years. She wasn’t Linny at all.
A little further down on the desktop, I find a folder marked Aiden. I wipe tears from my eyes, take a deep breath. The first message reads,
Dear Kyra,
When I woke in the hospital, you weren’t here. Why didn’t you come to see me? The doctors told me you’d been rescued, but you had head injuries and for a while, memory gaps. Even after you recovered, it’s hard for me to believe that you remember everything, otherwise, how could you leave me—us—so abruptly?
Jacob tells me that you were never quite the same after your injuries. That the Kyra we both knew had become cold, distant—and that you kept saying that you’d made a mistake in coming back to me. I didn’t believe him—until he brought me your letter. Why didn’t you bring it yourself? Were you afraid if you faced me, you wouldn’t be able to go through with it? At first, seeing your familiar handwriting filled me with hope. Until I kept reading.
We need to meet. I have to talk to you in person. I love you.
Aiden
Did I meet him in person? What happened after he wrote this first message? I click on the next one.