Chapter 6 - The Emergency Family Meeting
The luxurious bridal suite suddenly felt like a maximum-security interrogation room. Althia’s face lost every trace of color, her expensive makeup stark against her chalk-white skin. My father, Stellin, who had just rushed into the suite after hearing the commotion from the lobby, pushed his way through the cluster of stunned bridesmaids.
""What is the meaning of this circus?"" Stellin barked, his face flushing a deep, angry crimson as he pointed a trembling finger at Vesper and me. ""Fallon, have you completely lost your mind? Bringing legal thugs into your sister’s wedding suite on her special day? Pack up this wheelchair and get out right now before I have you disowned permanently!""
""Disowned, Dad?"" I let out a dry, humorless laugh that made several guests flinch. ""That's funny, considering you and Mom already cut me out of your lives the moment I refused to smile through having my bone shattered.""
""You tripped!"" Althia shrieked, her voice cracking with hysteria as she tried to salvage her crumbling narrative. ""It was an unfortunate accident! Everyone saw you lose your balance! You’re just jealous of Sutton’s happiness, Fallon, exactly like you’ve been your entire life!""
""Is that right, Mom?"" I looked calmly at Vesper, giving him a subtle nod.
Vesper opened the heavy legal binder and flipped to a laminated page containing a high-resolution still frame from Briany’s video. He turned the binder around so it faced the entire room.
The photograph clearly showed Sutton’s arm driving forward, her stiletto hooking my ankle on the marble staircase.
Gasps erupted around the room. Several bridesmaids covered their mouths in horror, finally realizing the truth behind the ""accident"" they had witnessed the night before.
Sutton’s face drained of every drop of color. She staggered backward, her hands flying to her cheeks. ""That... that’s a fake! That’s manipulated! Fallon generated that with AI to ruin my wedding!""
""It’s not AI, Sutton,"" a quiet, steady voice spoke up from the doorway.
The crowd parted. Standing in the entrance was Alden.
He had changed out of his formal tuxedo into a simple dark polo and jeans. He looked exhausted, his eyes shadowed with dark circles, but his expression was carved from granite. He walked slowly into the center of the suite, not even glancing at Sutton, whose breath hitched in her throat.
""Alden!"" Sutton cried out, rushing forward with outstretched arms, tears finally spilling from her eyes. ""Thank goodness! Tell them this is a nightmare! Tell them you love me!""
Alden stepped firmly to the side, letting Sutton grasp at empty air. He didn't look at her. Instead, he walked over to my wheelchair, looking down at my bandaged leg with a mixture of deep shame and profound anger.
""I stood at the top of those stairs, Fallon,"" Alden said, his voice trembling slightly with emotion. ""I saw her push you. I heard what she muttered under her breath. And when I confronted her in the hallway afterward, she laughed in my face and told me you deserved it for trying to steal her spotlight.""
Alden turned his cold, piercing gaze toward Althia and Stellin.
""I spent the entire night with my legal team and the resort’s chief of security,"" Alden continued, his voice ringing clearly through the silent room. ""Not only is our wedding canceled permanently, but I have already instructed my firm to pull every single venture capital investment our holding company has placed into your family’s real development portfolio. Effective immediately.""
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Stellin staggered backward as if he had been physically struck in the chest. ""Alden... son... you can’t do that! That partnership represents forty percent of our company’s revenue!""
""I can, and I just did,"" Alden replied coldly. ""I refuse to tie my name, my reputation, or my future to a family of sociopaths and criminals.""
