Chapter 2: The Bride Who Disappeared
The morgue door slammed shut behind them.
The sound echoed through the basement like a gunshot.
Emily's fingers tightened around the scalpel.
She knew she should be afraid.
Anyone with common sense would be terrified.
Three strangers had entered a restricted hospital area in the middle of the night. One of them had drugged a woman lying on her examination table. The man standing in front of her had just admitted that the person everyone believed was dead wasn't the bride.
But something else was stronger than fear.
Confusion.
Because the groom wasn't acting like a murderer trying to hide a crime.
He was acting like someone trying to stop a disaster.
And that made him even more dangerous.
"Who are you?" Emily demanded.
The man stared at her for several seconds.
Then he looked at the woman on the table.
"Her name is not Amina."
Emily's eyes narrowed.
"I figured that out."
"Good."
He walked around the table slowly.
Emily followed every movement.
"Then you understand why this cannot leave this room."
A bitter laugh escaped Emily.
"You broke into a hospital morgue and attacked a patient. You don't get to decide what leaves this room."
The man's expression changed.
Not anger.
Disappointment.
"You still think this is about hiding a murder."
"Isn't it?"
"No."
He looked at the unconscious woman.
"It's about preventing one."
Emily froze.
Before she could respond, the woman on the table suddenly moved.
Her fingers twitched.
The fake security guard checked her pulse.
"She's waking up."
The groom immediately turned.
"How long?"
"Maybe two minutes."
For the first time, Emily saw panic in his eyes.
Real panic.
Not fake.
The groom grabbed Emily's arm.
"Listen carefully."
She pulled away.
"Don't touch me."
"You need to understand something. The woman lying here is the only person who knows where Amina is."
Emily stared.
"Where is she?"
The groom didn't answer.
Instead, he looked toward the door.
"Because the people who took her are coming."
Emily's blood ran cold.
"You expect me to believe you?"
"No."
He reached into his jacket.
Emily immediately raised the scalpel.
But he didn't pull out a weapon.
He pulled out a photograph.
And placed it on the table.
Emily looked down.
Her breath stopped.
It was a wedding photograph.
Amina stood in the center.
Smiling.
Beautiful.
Happy.
But behind her...
Standing among the guests...
Was the same woman currently lying unconscious on the morgue table.
Emily looked up.
"Who is she?"
The groom's voice became quieter.
"Her name is Sara Malik."
"Why was she wearing Amina's wedding dress?"
"Because Amina never made it to the wedding."
The room went silent.
Emily stared at him.
"What are you saying?"
The groom looked at the clock on the wall.
2:23 a.m.
"At 6:40 that evening, Amina disappeared."
Emily shook her head.
"Impossible. I saw videos from the wedding. Hundreds of people saw her."
"No."
He pointed at the photograph.
"They saw someone dressed as her."
Emily's mind raced.
The ballroom.
The first dance.
The phones recording.
The smiles.
The applause.
Everything suddenly felt wrong.
"Why would someone replace a bride?"
The groom looked at her.
"Because Amina discovered something."
"What?"
He hesitated.
Then said:
"Her family has been lying for twenty years."
Emily felt a chill.
"What kind of lie?"
Before he could answer...
The lights went out again.
This time, nobody moved.
The darkness was different.
Heavy.
Intentional.
The fake security guard immediately pulled out a weapon.
Emily's eyes widened.
"You said you weren't here to hurt anyone."
The groom didn't look at her.
"I said I wasn't the person you should fear."
A sound came from the ventilation shaft.
A metallic scraping.
Someone was crawling through it.
The woman on the table suddenly opened her eyes.
She whispered:
"He's here..."
Emily looked at the vent.
A shadow moved behind the metal cover.
Slowly.
A hand appeared.
The groom grabbed Emily and pulled her behind a storage cabinet.
"Stay down."
Emily hated that she obeyed.
But something about the fear on his face convinced her.
The vent cover fell.
A man dropped onto the floor.
He wore a hospital worker uniform.
But Emily immediately knew something was wrong.
She had worked every night shift for years.
She knew every employee.
She had never seen him before.
The stranger looked around.
His eyes landed on the examination table.
Then on Emily.
A smile appeared.
"There she is."
Emily's heart raced.
The man walked toward Sara.
The groom stepped forward.
"Don't."
The stranger laughed.
"You still think you can protect her?"
Then he looked at Emily.
"You have no idea what you just uncovered."
Emily gripped the scalpel tighter.
"Who are you?"
The man ignored her.
Instead, he reached into his pocket and pulled out a small device.
A recording.
He pressed play.
A woman's voice filled the morgue.
Amina's voice.
"If anyone finds this..."
Emily froze.
The groom froze.
Even the stranger stopped moving.
The recording continued.
"That means they failed to stop me."
A pause.
Then Amina whispered:
"My wedding was never a wedding."
Emily felt her stomach drop.
"It was a trap."
The recording ended.
Nobody spoke.
Then the stranger slowly smiled.
"Now you understand."
Emily looked at the groom.
"What's happening?"
The groom looked at the dead woman's wedding dress.
Then at the recording device.
His face became pale.
Because he realized something.
Something that even he didn't know.
"Amina wasn't kidnapped."
Emily waited.
The groom whispered:
"She planned this."
The room fell silent.
May you like
"And she wanted everyone to believe she was dead."
End of Chapter 2
