Chapter 8 - The Grand Entrance
The silence that followed Alden’s declaration was absolute, broken only by the distant, rhythmic crash of the Pacific waves against the cliffside rocks below.
Sutton stared at Alden as if he were a stranger who had just wandered off the street and into a private movie set. Her mouth opened and closed silently, her designer veil fluttering in the coastal breeze like a white flag of total surrender.
“Alden... you can’t do this,” Sutton whispered, her voice cracking with pathetic desperation. “We have three hundred guests... the catering is paid for... what will people say?”
“People will say you’re finally facing consequences for your actions,” Alden replied quietly, turning his back on her without a trace of hesitation. He looked down at me, offering a faint, apologetic smile. “I’m sorry it took me this long to see what kind of people they really are, Fallon.”
Before I could answer, my father lunged forward, his face twisted in a mask of incandescent fury.
“You ungrateful, treacherous little leech!” Stellin roared, lunging toward my wheelchair with his hands outstretched, as if he wanted to physically overturn me right there on the grass.
He didn't even take two steps.
The two county sheriff’s deputies who had been standing quietly behind our medical transport van stepped forward with military precision. In one fluid motion, heavy steel handcuffs clicked around my father’s wrists.
“Stellin Sterling, you are under arrest for suspicion of corporate wire fraud, embezzlement, and financial identity theft,” the lead deputy announced, his voice echoing across the silent amphitheater.
Althia let out a piercing shriek that rivaled a smoke alarm and collapsed backward into a row of folding chairs, sending floral arrangements crashing to the grass.
Vesper didn't even blink. She calmly closed the leather legal binder, tucked it under her arm, and looked down at me with an approving nod.
May you like
“Well,” Vesper said smoothly. “I believe the ceremony has concluded. Shall we head back to the airport, Fallon? Your eighty-five-thousand-dollar contract isn't going to inspect itself once your cast comes off.”
I looked up at the azure sky, feeling a profound, breathtaking sense of weightlessness wash over me. The pain in my knee was still there, but for the first time in thirty-four years, the crushing weight of my family’s expectations was completely gone.
