After He Left Me Behind, My Wedding Ring Changed Hands Chapter 06

After He Left Me Behind, My Wedding Ring Changed Hands Chapter 06

Reid was breathing hard, his expression furious as he looked from Elise to his mother.

“I’ve never had feelings for Elise. Mara is my girlfriend. She always has been!”

“And once I get Mara back, both of you keep your mouths shut!”

Elise was mortified. She struggled to her feet, and tears spilled from her eyes.

“What do you mean? You don’t like me?”

Irritation radiated from Reid.

Normally, he could have handled this calmly. He wasn’t someone who lost his temper easily.

But the house felt empty without Mara’s things, and every message he sent continued to go unanswered.

Panic tightened around him until he could barely breathe.

He looked coldly at Elise.

“Of course I don’t. Get that idea out of your head.”

Elise swayed on her feet.

His mother bristled at being spoken to that way.

“Reid Mercer, what is wrong with you?”

“What is so great about Mara? I never liked her from the beginning!”

“Honestly, it’s a good thing she never showed up for Labor Day weekend. Otherwise, I would’ve—”

Reid’s head snapped up.

“What did you just say? Mara never made it to Cedarfield over Labor Day weekend?”

His mother flinched at his reaction.

“That’s right.”

Panic hit him all at once.

If Mara had never reached Cedarfield, then where had she been for those two days?

Two whole days had passed. Where had she been?

He suddenly remembered how distant she had seemed from the moment she returned to Ravenport.

So what exactly had happened during those two days?

He squeezed his eyes shut and forced out the question, “Why didn’t you tell me Mara never showed up?”

His mother looked slightly guilty, but she immediately doubled down.

“Because I don’t like her! She’s never been good enough for you!”

“Mom!”

Reid shouted, his breathing growing more ragged.

“I’m warning you. Don’t ever say that again! Mara is the woman I’m going to spend my life with, so neither of you gets a say in this!”

“Get out. All of you!”

He ignored everyone’s frightened expressions, went straight into the bedroom, and slammed the door behind him.

Sitting on the bed, Reid couldn’t think straight.

If Mara had never gone to Cedarfield, where had she been?

Then he remembered the calls from two days earlier.

There had been more than ten calls from Mara’s phone, and he vaguely remembered someone mentioning Grayhaven Hospital.

At the time, he’d been completely focused on taking care of Elise. He’d assumed Mara was making something up, so he hung up immediately.

Now he wasn’t so sure.

Reid immediately looked up the number for Grayhaven Hospital and called.

“Hi, I wanted to ask if you’ve had a patient named Mara Bennett in the last couple of days.”

After checking, the person on the other end said, “Please hold. I’ll transfer you to the surgical unit.”

A short while later, a familiar voice came on the line.

Reid recognized it immediately. It was the same nurse who had tried to contact him before.

“You’re looking for Mara?”

The nurse’s voice was openly scornful.

“Mara has already been discharged. And if you don’t mind me saying so, you were the emergency contact we tried to reach, weren’t you?”

Reid had no energy to care about her attitude.

“What happened to Mara? Why was she in the hospital?”

The nurse was silent for two seconds before answering.

“Two days ago, there was an explosion on a train platform in Grayhaven. Two people were killed and sixty-seven were injured. Mara was one of the people with relatively minor injuries.”

“She was unconscious for two full days after the explosion. We used her phone to call her emergency contact—you—but you hung up on us more than ten times.”

“Then Mara woke up and was discharged the following day. That’s what happened.”

The nurse hung up.

Reid went completely still as the color drained from his face.

There had been an explosion.

Mara had been injured.

She had been unconscious for two days.

Each word made sense on its own. Together, they hit him like a sledgehammer.

His eyes reddened.

Mara had never made it to Cedarfield because she’d been lying unconscious in a hospital.

He shut his eyes hard.

Images from the past two days rushed back to him—Mara’s pale face, her distant expression, and the way she had stopped caring enough to argue.

She hadn’t been sulking at all.

She had completely lost faith in him.

She hadn’t even wanted to fight with him anymore.

Reid’s legs gave out, and he sank onto the bed in a daze. Every breath sent a sharp pain through his chest.

Then his gaze caught on the trash can in the bathroom across the room.

A piece of bloodstained gauze was visible inside.

He shot to his feet and rushed over.

There was bloodied gauze in the trash, along with cotton swabs and ointment.

Reid froze.

“Why does it smell like medicine in here?”

“You’re imagining it.”

The conversation from that night came rushing back.

Now he understood.

The smell had come from Mara. She had been treating the injuries she’d suffered in the explosion.

His clenched hands trembled.

If he hadn’t abandoned her on that train…

If he had woken her before he left…

She would never have been there when the explosion happened, and she wouldn’t have been hurt.

And when Mara came home, if he had paid enough attention to notice her pale face or the bloody gauze in the trash, he would have realized she was injured.

He could have apologized properly.

Instead, he had let everything spiral this far.

Reid felt as though all the strength had been drained out of him.

His phone remained silent.

For five years, Mara had always answered him almost immediately.

For the first time, she didn’t reply.

For the first time, he couldn’t reach her at all.

He stared at the post pinned to the top of her Instagram profile, announcing their breakup and calling off the engagement.

The truth hurt.

He had been wrong.

“Mara, where are you?”