Chapter 1 - THE RING IN THE FIRE
Adrian ripped Daniel’s wedding ring from Conrad’s hand and threw it into the fireplace.
My nine-year-old screamed.
“Give it back! That was Dad’s!”
The gold ring hit one of the burning logs, disappeared between orange flames, and for one horrible second Conrad just stared.
Adrian looked directly at him.
Not embarrassed.
Not sorry.
Cold.
“Your father is dead. Stop bringing him back into my house.”
Conrad collapsed beside the hearth.
“NO!”
I heard him from the hallway.
The birthday party downstairs had been loud enough that nobody else seemed to understand what had happened.
I ran into the study and saw my son crying beside the fire.
Adrian stood over him.
I didn’t ask questions.
I shoved Adrian away, grabbed the fireplace tongs, and pulled Daniel’s ring from between the logs.
It was blackened and smoking.
But intact.
Then I turned and slapped Adrian across the face.
“You burned my son’s last memory of his father?!”
Adrian touched his cheek.
Conrad rushed behind me.
For once, Adrian was the one staring at us as if he’d lost control of the room.
Then he said something that changed everything.
“Daniel gave me that ring himself.”
I froze.
Adrian froze too.
I heard the sentence replay inside my head.
Daniel gave me that ring himself.
I tightened my hand around the scorched gold.
“You swore you never saw Daniel the night he died.”
Silence.
Adrian’s face changed.
Just slightly.
But I saw it.
Conrad stepped out from behind me.
His eyes were still wet.
“Mom…”
I looked down.
“He told me something different.”
Adrian went pale.
“Conrad,” he said sharply.
My son flinched.
I moved in front of him.
“What did Dad tell you?”
Conrad stared straight at Adrian.
“He said Dad was still breathing when he took the ring.”
The room seemed to lose all sound.
Downstairs, forty people were singing happy birthday to my sister.
Upstairs, my second husband was staring at my dead husband’s ring in my hand.
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And my nine-year-old son had just told me that Adrian had been with Daniel during the final minutes of his life.
Minutes Adrian had spent five years pretending never happened.
