Emily Carter had imagined this morning a thousand times.
In every version, she woke up nervous but happy.
In every version, her mother cried when she saw the dress.
In every version, Daniel would take her hand at the altar and tell her that everything was finally going to be okay.
None of those versions included a stranger standing in the garden ten minutes before her wedding.
Emily stepped through the back doors of the Carter estate, her white bouquet held tightly against her waist. The summer air was warm, the flowers were blooming, and somewhere inside the house, her bridesmaids were arguing over a missing earring.
Then she saw him.
A man stood at the end of the stone walkway.
He wore dark jeans and a black jacket despite the heat. He wasn't dressed like a guest. He wasn't dressed like staff.
And he was staring directly at her.
Emily stopped.
"Can I help you?"
The man didn't answer immediately.
His eyes moved to the ring on her finger.
Then back to her face.
"Emily Carter?"
"Yes."
"My name is Jack Mercer."
Something about his voice made her uneasy.
"Are you a friend of Daniel's?"
"No."
"Then how did you get onto this property?"
Jack reached into his jacket.
Emily instinctively stepped backward.
He pulled out an old photograph.
It was yellowed around the edges, the corners bent from years of being handled.
Jack held it toward her.
Emily looked down.
The photograph showed two young men standing together outside an old brick building.
She recognized one immediately.
Her father.
David Carter.
He was younger than Emily had ever seen him, perhaps twenty-five years old, smiling with his arm around the shoulder of another man.
Emily's eyes moved to the stranger.
"Who is he?"
Jack looked toward the house.
"That's what your father spent the last twenty-six years trying to make people forget."
Emily's heart tightened.
"My father died when I was six."
"I know."
"What does that have to do with my wedding?"
Jack turned the photograph over.
There was writing on the back.
Emily read it.
DON'T LET HER MARRY HIM.
Her fingers went cold.
"What is this?"
"Your warning."
"From whom?"
"Your father."
Emily stared at him.
"My father has been dead for twenty-six years."
Jack nodded.
"That's why I said this was your warning. Not necessarily his message."
Emily looked toward the mansion.
Daniel was supposed to be inside.
Her fiancé.
The man she was about to marry.
The man she had known for three years.
"What are you saying?"
Jack lowered his voice.
"I'm saying Daniel isn't who you think he is."
Emily's fear instantly turned into anger.
"You have five seconds to explain yourself."
Jack took one step closer.
"Ask Daniel where he got his mother's ring."
Emily's eyes dropped to her engagement ring.
"My ring?"
"Ask him why your father had a photograph of Daniel's father."
Before Emily could respond, footsteps sounded behind them.
Daniel came through the garden doors.
He was wearing his navy wedding suit. His tie was slightly loose, and his face was tense.
"Emily."
She turned.
Daniel's eyes moved to Jack.
For one brief second, the color seemed to leave his face.
"You."
Jack didn't move.
Daniel walked toward them.
"What are you doing here?"
Emily looked between the two men.
"You know him?"
Daniel's jaw tightened.
"No."
Jack laughed once.
"You still lie exactly the same way."
Daniel stepped closer.
"Emily, come inside."
"Do you know him?"
"He's nobody."
Jack looked at Emily.
"That's what his father used to call your father."
Daniel grabbed Jack's arm.
"Enough."
Emily stared at Daniel's hand.
"Let him go."
Daniel released him.
The silence that followed felt heavier than the wedding itself.
Emily looked at Jack.
"Tell me the truth."
Jack opened his mouth.
Daniel interrupted.
"Emily, don't listen to him."
"Why?"
"Because he wants money."
Jack's expression changed.
"Tell her what happened to her father."
Daniel went pale.
Emily's eyes narrowed.
"What does he mean?"
Daniel stepped toward her.
"Nothing."
"Then why are you shaking?"
"I'm not."
"You are."
Jack reached into his pocket again.
This time he pulled out a small folded paper.
He held it toward Emily.
"I found this inside the photograph's frame."
Emily took it.
There was only one sentence.
IF SHE EVER GETS CLOSE TO THE CARTERS AGAIN, STOP HER.
Emily looked up.
"Who is 'she'?"
Jack stared at Daniel.
"That's the question you should be asking."
Daniel suddenly looked terrified.
Not angry.
Terrified.
Emily had known him for three years.
She had seen him furious.
She had seen him embarrassed.
She had seen him heartbroken.
She had never seen that expression.
"What aren't you telling me?" she whispered.
Daniel said nothing.
Jack stepped forward.
"Ask him about Rosewood."
Daniel's eyes snapped toward him.
"Don't."
Emily heard the fear in that single word.
"What's Rosewood?"
Daniel shook his head.
"Emily, please."
"What's Rosewood?"
Jack answered.
"The company your father owned before he disappeared."
Emily looked at Daniel.
"You told me your family had nothing to do with my father."
Daniel closed his eyes.
Jack quietly said,
"That's because his family didn't just know your father."
Emily waited.
Jack looked at the old photograph.
"They destroyed him."
Emily's hand trembled.
She looked at Daniel, then at the photograph.
The man standing beside her father suddenly seemed familiar.
She had seen that face before.
In Daniel's house.
In an old framed photograph above the fireplace.
Emily looked at Daniel.
"That's your father."
Daniel didn't answer.
The silence was enough.
Emily's eyes filled with disbelief.
"You lied to me."
"Emily—"
She slapped him.
The sound echoed across the garden.
Daniel stood frozen.
Emily stared at the man she was supposed to marry.
Then she looked down at the photograph again.
And noticed something she hadn't seen before.
On the bottom corner was a date.
June 14, 2000.
The same day her father disappeared.
Emily slowly turned the photograph over.
Underneath the warning was another line of handwriting.
One sentence.
THIS WAS THE LAST DAY YOUR FATHER TRUSTED HIS FRIEND.
Emily looked at Daniel.
"Who was my father's friend?"
Daniel finally whispered the answer.
"My father."
And before Emily could ask another question, the mansion doors opened behind them.
Emily's mother stood there.
Her face had gone completely white.
"Emily," she said.
Then she looked at Jack.
"You were never supposed to come back.