You’ve gone too far this time, brother.
Ethan found an extra set of clothes, dressed himself, and rushed to the door. But before he headed out into the sunlight, he turned back and grabbed something from underneath his mattress.
A gun.
Thirty-Five
Sydney
The voices inside Sydney’s head were screaming so loudly, she was sure someone would hear them. She stole a few more looks at the man standing just ten feet from her, and sure enough it was Jack. Yes, Jack and Ethan were identical twins, but there were some subtle differences between them. Differences that only someone who spent a significant amount of time with them would notice. The way they stood, the nervous way that Jack tucked his hair behind his ears. The subtle difference in their hairlines, their posture.
Had they been standing side by side, you could see the differences. But in this case, everyone present assumed Jack was dead, so they had no reason to believe that the person at the altar was anyone other than Ethan.
This can’t be happening.
Sydney’s mind raced as quickly as her heart was beating. While the tropical breezes coming from the crashing waves behind them kept everyone else cool, Sydney’s pale blue chiffon dress was becoming heavy and damp beneath her long wavy hair.
She looked out into the crowd. No one looked a bit suspicious. The rows of chairs held only a sea of smiling faces. If only they knew!
Sydney stared down at the elegant bouquet of flowers she was clutching with white-knuckled fists. I’ve got to stop this. I won’t let Jack do this to Marissa.
But what could she do? If she called out Jack right there in front of everyone, it would be a huge embarrassment for Marissa. Should she wait and signal her once she made it down the aisle? Would Marissa notice something was off, that Ethan didn’t look like himself? No, Sydney had to stop things now. She began to step toward Jack.
But before she could move another foot forward in the sand, the pianist behind her began to play Pachelbel’s “Canon in D Major.” Everyone in the audience stood and turned. Sydney followed their stares and saw Marissa coming straight down the aisle.
Sydney felt like she had swallowed one of the large seashells that were displayed all around her. She held her breath to try and stop the tears from exploding down her cheeks. How could Jack do this? She finally looked at him. He was staring at Marissa, sweating profusely and clearly uncomfortable.
When Marissa finally made it to the altar, Jack reached forward and took her hands. Marissa let go and tried to push her veil toward him. Jack looked confused. Sydney wished she could see Marissa’s face, but her position behind her only gave her a view of Jack.
“Veil,” she heard Marissa whisper loudly. Jack finally took the hint and raised the veil up over her face. The netting caught on one of her earrings, and he fumbled with it, causing the crowd to stir with awkward laughter. Jack looked at the people and smiled. That’s when she heard Marissa whisper under her breath. It was so soft—unless you were a few feet next to her, you wouldn’t have caught it.
“Jack?”
She knows.
The wedding officiant began to babble away, welcoming the people gathered in front of them. Sydney could not take her eyes off Jack’s face. He was trying to force a smile on his lips and kept furrowing his eyebrows at Marissa as if she was saying something to him. He was softly shaking his head from side to side, trying to tell her to keep quiet.
The appointed minister began to speak the familiar words. “Do you, Marissa, take this man—”
Marissa turned her head to the minister and stopped him. “I’m sorry, I can’t.” She turned her head back to Jack and said, “How could you do this to me?”
She threw the large bouquet she was carrying on the ground and turned around to face Sydney.
“I’m sorry, I didn’t know he would…” Sydney began, breathlessly.
Marissa met her gaze with a shocked stare and then narrowed her eyes again.
“Did you know? Did you know Jack was alive?”
“Just last night. Marissa, I’m sorry…”
Marissa didn’t wait to hear what she had to say. She picked up the hem of her long white dress and started walking quickly down the center aisle. It was an odd sight to see all the heads in the room turn again in perfect unison and watch her as she stumbled forward. Jack looked over at Sydney.
“What the hell were you thinking?” she said, glaring at him.
Jack seemed to be frozen in place as if he wasn’t sure what his next move should be. He finally turned his face from hers and started looking over the crowd, landing directly where Estavez had been sitting. Sydney followed his gaze. While everyone else was watching Marissa charge down the aisle, the two seats where Estavez and the beautiful Latin woman had been remained empty.
Estavez was gone.
Jack looked back at Sydney. He then stepped forward and leaned closely to whisper in her ear.
“Sydney, I’m sorry about last night. I didn’t want you to get hurt. There is so much more I have to tell you.” His eyes seemed to convey that he was speaking the truth, but Sydney knew she couldn’t trust him. “But right now, I need to get out of here.”
Jack started walking down the aisle, following the same path Marissa had just stumbled down moments ago. When he arrived at the end of the row of carefully decorated chairs, he took a sharp left turn and began to run.
Sydney watched him go, too stunned by the entire scene to move. When he was out of sight, the crowd began to whisper and murmur. She could see everyone looking around, watching for what might happen next. She saw several people had taken out their cell phones to film the entire incident.
Sydney finally threw down her bouquet and started after Jack. It was most likely the worst idea to follow him, but if she didn’t get down to the truth of what had happened, she couldn’t live with herself.
Messy, imperfect or not, she was finally ready to hear the truth.
Thirty-Six
Sydney
Sydney reached the edge of the beach and stopped to locate Jack. She couldn’t see him, her eyes being blinded by the bright sun and maybe even the blood that was pumping through her veins at breakneck speed.
Where is he going? she wondered. She looked from left to right, sweeping across the broad white concrete structures dotted with perfectly coifed bushes and palm trees reaching skyward. The hotel complex was fairly quiet once you had some distance between the wedding guests and the rest of the hotel. It seemed everyone who was either staying or working at the hotel was attending the lavish wedding.
She looked across the wide beach and saw several crushed gravel pathways snaking between the buildings. She wondered if he was going back to find Ethan. It was then that a thought popped into her head: where is Ethan?
Surely Ethan did not give Jack his permission to impersonate him on his wedding day. Or was this a step in their dim-witted plan? Either way, Sydney knew that Ethan was staying in a bachelor suite at the north side of the complex and headed in that direction.
Her instincts had served her well because as soon as she rounded the next building she saw Jack walking briskly down one of the gravel paths.
“Jack! Wait!” she cried between breaths. Whether or not he heard her, he kept moving forward, into a deep tangle of trees, shrubs, and grasses that looked like a small jungle. It seemed her daily regime of workout classes was working in her favor, because she was quickly closing the distance between them.