Page 69 of The Echo of Forever

You’re cordially invited…

“No, baby, they want to useus.”

She was my wife, and we would always be a package deal in my eyes, something only my mother could decipher for them.

So, you are alive.

CHAPTER 17

FOREVER

I fucked up.

It took our phone call ending, and my missing him immediately, to realize.

My heart ached, only making the headache I’d had since Lucien left worse.

“You should go home and get some rest,” Carmen said, entering my office from the secret door. “It’s going on two. I’m all done, but wanted to give you this.”

She set the file down, lit my vanilla candle, and left without another word.

There was a sticky note on top of the folder with her barely legible handwriting on it.

Go with your heart.

Carm

I lifted the top half with the tip of my nail for a peek, letting it fall completely open after reading three words that answered my earlier question.

Certificate of Marriage.

Lucien had indeed been calling me that man’s wife, and the proof was staring back at me with a raised seal.

“Goodness,” I murmured, lifting it.

The date on it meant we’d been married for eleven months already when I left for that job.

He spent our first anniversary alone, while I’d woken up in bed, confused about why my body felt like it’d been hit by a truck.

I wrote the dates down on my desk calendar.

Demetrius said we’d known one another for a year and eight months. I started doing the math in my head, tapping the desk while I counted.

Nine months.

I married him after nineshortmonths.

From the looks of the red stamp on the bottom of the certificate, it’d been blocked from public records. Only three people had the authority to do this, but the stamp belonged to Lucien’s family.

Not even my parents could dig this up without the approval of the highfuckingpriest. His protective order had been in place far longer than he alluded to.

Had Carmen gone to him on my behalf?

It was clear my…husbandand I had no regard for the consequences of our actions. The woman I was now would’ve never allowed this, but it’s obvious there was a version of myself who trusted someone with more than just our heart, but our life, too.

He made me yearn for that feeling.

I bit my lip and stood.