She found him in the middle of the gala and finally said the words she had been holding in for years:
“You let them think I was dead.”
He looked at her like the truth still hurt him.
Then he answered:
“I let them think that to keep you alive.”
That was the moment everything changed.
She thought he had abandoned her.
She thought he had erased her.
She thought he chose his reputation over her life.
But the truth was worse.
He had buried her name so the people hunting her would stop looking.