Chapter 4
Daniel stopped three feet from the curtain.
The heavy brown fabric moved slightly from the air inside the shop, but Emily remained perfectly still behind it.
She could see the side of his face through the gap.
His expression was no longer smooth.
He was thinking too quickly.
That was always when the truth showed at the edges.
“Frank,” Daniel said, “I don’t appreciate games.”
Frank stepped out from behind the curtain first, leaving Emily hidden.
The old tailor’s posture changed as he crossed into view.
He no longer looked like a frightened shopkeeper.
He looked like retired Army.
Back straight.
Chin level.
Measuring tape still around his neck like some strange civilian ribbon.
“No games here, Captain,” Frank said.
Daniel’s eyes flicked to his phone.
Frank held it low, but Daniel saw enough.
“Are you recording me?”
Frank did not blink.
“This is my shop.”
Daniel smiled then.
Cold.
“Careful.”
Emily’s fingers curled slightly.
Frank answered, “I was careful when I pulled the colonel behind the curtain.”
The shop went silent.
Daniel’s face emptied.
Evan closed his eyes for half a second, as if hearing a door slam shut.
Emily stepped closer to the curtain gap but did not reveal herself.
Frank had said her rank deliberately.
Not Emily.
Not your bride.
The colonel.
He had moved the conversation out of romance and into record.
Daniel recovered faster than most men would.
“Colonel Mercer is here?”
Frank looked toward the curtain.
“She can hear.”
Daniel’s jaw worked once.
Then his voice changed again, softening into concern.
“Emily?”
That was the voice he used when she had migraines.
When she lost soldiers under her command.
When she doubted whether accepting another promotion would cost her too much of herself.
That voice had worked on her before.
It would not work now.
Emily remained silent.
Daniel tried again.
“You’re misunderstanding a classified conversation.”
Frank’s mouth tightened.
“Classified conversations don’t happen in my uniform shop over cuff links.”
Evan shifted behind Daniel.
He looked toward the open storefront, where daylight spilled across polished shoes and brass rails.
No one else had entered.
No witnesses beyond Frank.
No military police.
No public exposure.
No final consequence.
Yet Evan looked trapped.
Emily understood why.
The conversation had already happened.
The recording existed.
And Daniel did not know how much Emily had heard before the cuff link slid onto the counter.
Daniel lowered his voice.
“Emily, come out and let me explain.”
She looked through the gap at the man she had planned to marry.
Then she looked at the cuff link on the counter.
“No,” she said quietly.
Only one word.
May you like
Daniel flinched anyway.
Read Chapter 5 👉 Because Emily’s refusal to step out forced Daniel to keep speaking without knowing how much of his lie had already been captured.
