Chapter 7: The End

Tuesday, 11:47 PM

The sirens had finally stopped. Luna sat in the back of the ambulance, a shock blanket draped over her shoulders, watching them load Eli’s body into the coroner’s van. Her hands still trembled—not from fear anymore, but from the weight of what she’d discovered in those final moments before she pulled the trigger.

Detective Rivera approached with careful steps. “Mrs. Chapman, I know this is difficult, but we need to understand what happened here tonight.”

Luna’s voice came out hollow, barely recognizable as her own. “He wasn’t who I thought he was. None of it was real.” She looked up at the detective, her eyes empty. “Three years. Three years of lies.”

The wedding ring on her finger felt like it weighed a thousand pounds. She’d put it on that morning thinking she was married to a financial advisor named Eli Chapman. Now she knew she’d been living with David Kozlov, a man wanted by the FBI for embezzling twelve million dollars from his previous employer.

“The gun was registered to him,” Rivera said gently. “Self-defense is—”

“It wasn’t self-defense.” Luna’s voice cracked. “I found the files. I knew what he’d done, who he really was. When he came at me, I could have run. I chose not to.”

The house behind them stood dark except for the crime scene lights. Through the window, she could see investigators photographing the home office where she’d discovered the truth. Where love had died before Eli—David—whatever his name was—had.

Chapter 6: The Discovery

Tuesday, 11:23 PM

Luna’s hands shook as she opened the third drawer of Eli’s desk. She’d come looking for their insurance papers after the pipe burst in the basement, never expecting to find a life that wasn’t theirs.

The passport fell out first. David Kozlov. The photo was unmistakably Eli, but younger, cleaner-shaven. Born in Chicago, not San Francisco like he’d told her. She flipped through pages stamped with countries he’d never mentioned visiting.

Behind it, a manila folder thick with documents. Bank statements from accounts she’d never seen. Wire transfer receipts. And then the newspaper clipping that made her blood freeze: “Local CFO Vanishes with Company Funds.”

The article was dated four years ago. David Kozlov, chief financial officer of Meridian Industries, had disappeared with over twelve million dollars in client funds. The photo showed the same man who’d kissed her goodbye that morning, who’d celebrated three years together earlier that evening, who’d promised to pick up dessert on his way home from the office where he claimed to have some extra work to finish as a financial advisor.

She heard his key in the front door.

“Luna? I’m home!”

Her heart hammered as she quickly photographed the documents with her phone. The gun—his gun, the one he’d insisted they keep for protection—sat in the top drawer. She’d never touched it before.

Footsteps on the stairs.

“Luna? Where are you?”

She slipped the papers back into the folder, closed the drawer. When Eli appeared in the doorway of his office, she was standing by the window, trying to look casual.

“Hey,” he said, loosening his tie. “Sorry I’m late. Traffic was insane.” He moved toward her for their usual hello kiss, but stopped when he saw her face. “What’s wrong?”

“Who is David Kozlov?”

The color drained from his face so quickly she thought he might faint. For a moment that stretched like an eternity, they stared at each other across the room that had once felt like their sanctuary.

“Luna—”

“Who is David Kozlov?” she repeated, her voice stronger now.

He looked at the desk, then back at her, and she saw the exact moment he decided to stop pretending.

“How much did you find?”

Chapter 5: The Dinner

Tuesday, 7:30 PM

“To three years,” Eli said, raising his wine glass across the candlelit table at Romano’s, their favorite restaurant. “And to many more.”

Luna clinked her glass against his, smiling despite the strange mood that had been following her all day. “Three years. Can you believe it?”

“Best three years of my life,” he said, and the sincerity in his voice made her chest warm. “I never thought I could have this. A normal life. Someone who loves me for who I am.”

Something in his phrasing nagged at her, but she pushed it aside. Eli had always been slightly dramatic about their relationship, grateful in a way that sometimes surprised her. She’d attributed it to his difficult childhood, the way he’d had to make his own way in the world.

“You deserve happiness,” she said, reaching across to squeeze his hand. “We both do.”

He brought her hand to his lips, pressing a soft kiss to her knuckles. “I love you, Luna Chapman.”

“I love you too.”

The waiter brought their usual—she didn’t even remember when they’d stopped looking at menus here. The familiar routine felt comforting. Eli asked about her day at the clinic, she asked about his clients. Normal couple conversation.

“Oh, I forgot,” she said between bites of pasta. “The basement pipe burst this afternoon. I called the plumber, but he can’t come until Thursday. I’ll need to find our insurance papers tomorrow, make sure we’re covered for any damage.”

Eli’s fork paused halfway to his mouth. “Insurance papers?”

“Yeah, they’re in your office somewhere, right? With all the other important documents?”

“I’ll handle it,” he said quickly. “Don’t worry about going through my work stuff. You know how paranoid I am about client confidentiality.”

She laughed. “Eli, I’m not going to steal your client files. I just need our homeowner’s policy.”

“I know, I know. It’s just easier if I do it. Less chance of anything getting mixed up.”

She studied his face. He was smiling, but there was tension around his eyes she didn’t recognize. “Is everything okay?”

“Of course. Just tired. Long day. And, I’m sorry to say, I have to run back to the office tonight.”

As they finished dinner, she noticed he kept checking his phone, kept glancing toward the restaurant’s exit. When she excused herself to use the restroom, she saw him make a quick phone call, his voice too low to hear but his posture urgent.

By the time she returned, he was back to normal. Relaxed, attentive, the man she’d fallen in love with. But the seed of unease had been planted.

Chapter 4: The Morning

Tuesday, 6:45 AM

Luna woke to the smell of coffee and bacon. Eli stood at the stove in his boxers and her favorite of his t-shirts, humming something under his breath. The domestic scene made her smile—three years in, and these quiet morning moments still felt like a gift.

“Morning, beautiful,” he said without turning around. He always seemed to sense when she was watching him.

“Morning.” She wrapped her arms around his waist from behind, pressing her face against his back. “You’re up early.”

“Couldn’t sleep. Figured I’d make my wife breakfast before she saves the world one sick kid at a time.”

Wife. They’d been married two months, but the word still sent a thrill through her. She’d never thought she’d be the type to care about titles, but somehow being Eli’s wife felt different than just being his girlfriend. More solid. More real.

“What’s the occasion?” she asked, accepting the cup of coffee he handed her.

“Do I need an occasion to spoil my wife?”

“No, but you usually save the fancy breakfast treatment for anniversaries or apologies.” She studied his face. “Did you do something I should know about?”

He laughed, but it sounded forced. “Well, even though we’ve only been married a couple of months, it was this day three years ago that I met the most amazing woman in the world. But even if that wasn’t the case, can’t a man just want to take care of the woman he loves?”

“Of course he can.” She kissed his cheek. “Thank you.”

As she got ready for work, she noticed him checking his phone more than usual. When she asked about it, he said he was expecting an important call from a client.

“Nothing to worry about,” he assured her. “Just some paperwork that needs to be filed today.”

She believed him. Why wouldn’t she? In three years, Eli had never given her a reason not to trust him. He was reliable, steady, honest about everything from his feelings to his finances. The kind of man who remembered to pick up milk without being asked and who never made her guess where she stood with him.

“I’ll probably be late tonight,” he said as she grabbed her keys. “This client thing might run long.”

“That’s fine. I’ve got inventory at the clinic anyway. Maybe we can grab dinner after? Romano’s?”

“Perfect.” He pulled her close for a goodbye kiss that lasted longer than usual. “I love you, Luna.”

“Love you too.”

At the door, she turned back. He was watching her with an expression she couldn’t quite read—intense, almost memorizing. “See you tonight,” she said.

“Yeah. Tonight.”

Chapter 3: The Wedding

Two months earlier

The ceremony was small, just the way Luna had wanted it. Eli’s college friend Jake as his best man, her sister Emma as maid of honor, and thirty of their closest friends and family gathered in the garden behind the community center.

Eli looked handsome in his navy suit, but more than that, he looked happy. Genuinely, radiantly happy in a way that made Luna’s heart skip. She’d seen him content, seen him pleased, but this was different. This was joy.

“You look beautiful,” he whispered as she reached him at the altar.

Judge Martinez, a friend of Luna’s from school, began the ceremony. The words washed over them—love, honor, cherish, for better or worse—but Luna found herself focused on Eli’s face. He was crying, she realized. Not just misty-eyed, but actual tears streaming down his cheeks.

“Hey,” she whispered, reaching up to wipe them away. “You okay?”

He nodded, unable to speak.

When it came time for vows, Eli pulled a folded piece of paper from his pocket. His hands shook as he opened it.

“Luna,” he began, his voice rough with emotion. “Three years ago, I thought I knew what life had in store for me. I thought I was destined to be alone, to keep moving, to never find a place where I belonged. Then I met you, and everything changed.”

He paused, looking out at their guests, then back to her.

“You made me want to be better than I was. You made me believe I deserved happiness, deserved love, deserved a future. You saved me in ways you’ll never know.” His voice broke. “I promise to spend every day of our marriage trying to be worthy of the gift you’ve given me.”

Luna was crying now too. In the audience, she saw her mother dabbing her eyes, saw Jake nodding with approval.

“I promise to love you with everything I have,” Eli continued. “To protect what we’ve built together. To never let anything or anyone destroy what we have. You are my home, Luna. My only home.”

When Judge Martinez pronounced them husband and wife, Eli kissed her like a man who’d been drowning and had finally found air.

At the reception, she caught him staring at their wedding rings, turning his over and over on his finger.

“Having second thoughts?” she teased.

“Never,” he said fiercely. “Never, ever.”

But something in his intensity puzzled her. It was as if he was trying to convince himself as much as her.

Chapter 2: The Proposal

Six months earlier

Eli was acting strange. Luna had noticed it for weeks—the way he kept checking his phone, the secretive conversations that ended when she entered a room, the nervous energy that seemed to follow him everywhere.

“Are you breaking up with me?” she asked one evening as they walked along the pier. It was meant to be a joke, but something in her voice must have revealed her actual concern.

He stopped so abruptly she nearly walked into him. “What? Luna, no. God, no. Why would you think that?”

“You’ve been… different lately. Distracted. Secretive.” She shrugged, suddenly feeling foolish. “I don’t know. My imagination, probably.”

Eli ran his hands through his hair—a gesture she recognized as his tell when he was nervous. “You’re not imagining it. I have been distracted. But not because I want to leave you.”

“Then what?”

He looked out at the water, then back at her. “I’ve been thinking about the future. Our future. And I realized something.”

Her heart started beating faster.

“I realized that every plan I make, every decision I consider, every dream I have—you’re in all of them. I can’t imagine my life without you in it.” He reached into his jacket pocket. “So I was hoping you might make it official.”

The ring box was small, black velvet. When he opened it, the diamond caught the light from the pier lamps, sending tiny rainbows across his face.

“Luna Brooks, will you marry me?”

She stared at the ring, then at his face. He looked terrified and hopeful and so completely vulnerable that her chest ached.

“Yes,” she whispered. Then louder: “Yes, of course, yes.”

As he slipped the ring onto her finger with shaking hands, she saw something in his expression she’d never noticed before. Relief, yes, but more than that. Gratitude so profound it was almost desperate.

“I love you,” he said, pulling her close. “I love you so much it scares me.”

“It scares you?”

“I’ve never had anything this good before. I keep waiting for something to go wrong.”

“Nothing’s going to go wrong,” she said, meaning it completely. “We’re solid, Eli. We’re going to be fine.”

He held her tighter. “Promise me,” he said into her hair.

“Promise you what?”

“That if something does go wrong—if you find out something about me that changes how you feel—promise me you’ll remember this moment. Remember how much I love you.”

She pulled back to look at him. “Eli, what could I possibly find out that would change how I feel?”

“Promise me.”

There was something almost frantic in his voice. She cupped his face in her hands. “I promise. But Eli, you’re scaring me a little. What’s this about?”

“Nothing,” he said quickly. “I’m just… I’ve never been this happy before. I don’t want to lose it.”

“You won’t lose it. You won’t lose me.”

But even as she said it, she wondered what had put that haunted look in his eyes.

Chapter 1: The Beginning

Two and a half years earlier

The coffee shop was crowded, typical for a Tuesday morning, and Luna was running late for her shift at the pediatric clinic. She placed her order—large coffee, no cream, extra shot—and stepped aside to wait, checking her phone for messages from her supervisor.

That’s when someone bumped into her, hard enough to make her stumble.

“I’m so sorry,” a man’s voice said. “I wasn’t watching where I was going.”

She looked up to find apologetic brown eyes and a genuinely distressed expression. He was attractive in an understated way—dark hair slightly messy, like he’d been running his hands through it, wearing a simple button-down and jeans that actually fit properly.

“It’s fine,” she said. “No harm done.”

“Are you sure? You’re not hurt?”

“I’m sure.” She smiled. “Really, it’s okay.”

He seemed disproportionately relieved. “Can I buy your coffee? To make up for nearly knocking you over?”

“You don’t need to—”

“Please. I’d feel better about it.”

There was something earnest about him that made her reconsider. Plus, he was cute, and she hadn’t been on a date in three months.

“Okay,” she said. “Thank you.”

“Eli,” he said, extending his hand.

“Luna.”

His handshake was firm, warm. He held on just a moment longer than necessary.

“So, Luna, what do you do when you’re not being accosted by clumsy strangers in coffee shops?”

“I’m a pediatric nurse. You?”

“Financial advisor. Much less exciting than your job, I’m sure.”

They talked while waiting for their orders, then continued talking at a small table by the window. He was easy to talk to, asking questions that showed he was actually listening to her answers. When she mentioned she was running late, he immediately stood.

“I should let you go. But…” He hesitated. “Would you maybe want to have dinner sometime? Somewhere with less risk of collision?”

She found herself saying yes before she’d fully decided.

Three days later, over dinner at a quiet Italian place, she learned he’d moved to the city six months ago for work. No family nearby, few friends yet. He seemed lonely in a way that tugged at her heart.

“Starting over is hard,” she said. “But you’ll find your tribe.”

“Maybe I already have,” he said, then blushed at his own boldness.

By their third date, she was charmed by his thoughtfulness—the way he remembered she didn’t like mushrooms, how he always offered to walk her to her door, the genuine interest he showed in her work.

By their sixth date, she was falling.

“You’re different,” she told him one evening as they walked through the park.

“Different how?”

“Good different. Real different. Like you actually care about the answer when you ask how my day was.”

He stopped walking and turned to face her. “I do care. Everything about you interests me, Luna. Your work, your thoughts, your dreams. I…” He paused, as if weighing his words. “I haven’t felt this way about anyone before.”

“What way?”

“Like I want to tell you everything. Like I want to build something with you.”

She reached for his hand. “I’d like that too.”

That night, when he kissed her goodnight at her door, she felt something shift between them. Something that felt like the beginning of everything.

Later, she would remember this moment—the way he looked at her like she was salvation itself, the way his hands shook slightly as he cupped her face, the way he whispered “thank you” against her lips as if she’d given him something precious.

She would remember, and she would understand that for Eli—for David—she had been his last chance at a different life. And for three beautiful, terrible years, she had been enough to make him believe he could outrun his past.

But the past, Luna would learn, always catches up in the end.