Chapter 8 - The Grand Ballroom Confrontation
The chaos inside the Grand Meridian ballroom reached a deafening crescendo as guests scrambled toward the exits, eager to escape the unfolding scandal. Flashbulbs from independent reporters blinded the room, and the murmurs of outrage created a wall of sound that bounced off the crystal chandeliers.
Althia was sobbing hysterically, burying her face in her manicured hands as she realized that her social standing, her carefully curated friendships, and her entire illusion of high-society status had evaporated in less than five minutes. Stellin stood frozen near the edge of the stage, his face a mottled shade of purple, furiously hissing threats at the retreating guests that nobody was paying attention to anymore.
Upstairs in the bridal suite, the heavy oak door flew open with a violent crash.
Sutton stormed out, wearing her multi-thousand-dollar Vera Wang wedding gown, her veil askew, her makeup smeared with angry tears. She marched down the grand staircase—the very same staircase where she had pushed me twenty-four hours earlier—screaming at the top of her lungs.
"What is the meaning of this?! Turn those screens off right now! Who did this?!" Sutton shrieked, her eyes wild with panic as she glared at the projected financial statements and the video of her crime playing on a loop.
When she reached the ballroom floor, she spotted Alden standing calmly by the microphone. She lunged toward him, her manicured nails clawing at the air.
"Alden! Tell them to turn it off! Tell everyone it's a sick joke! Fallon did this! That lying, pathetic cripple hacked our systems and ruined my wedding!" Sutton screamed, grabbing the lapels of his suit jacket and shaking him furiously.
Alden didn't flinch. He slowly reached up, gently unhooked her fingers from his jacket, and pushed her hands away with absolute disdain.
"Don't touch me, Sutton," Alden said, his voice cold enough to freeze boiling water. "I saw you push your sister down these exact stairs. I heard every single word you said. And now, thanks to your parents' brilliant decision to loot Fallon's corporate accounts to pay for this absurd party, you're not just losing a groom—you're facing felony criminal charges for wire fraud and aggravated assault."
Sutton froze, her mouth opening and closing like a fish out of water. She spun around, searching the crowd for our parents, but Althia was too busy hyperventilating into a napkin to offer any defense.
Before Sutton could launch into another hysterical tirade, heavy footsteps echoed behind her. Two police officers stepped forward, gently but firmly placing a pair of shining steel handcuffs around her wrists.
"Sutton Torres, you have the right to remain silent," the lead officer stated clearly, his voice cutting through the remaining noise in the ballroom. "Anything you say can and will be used against you in a court of law."
"Get these off me! You can't do this! Do you know who my family is?!" Sutton screamed, thrashing wildly as the officers guided her toward the rear exit, her expensive wedding dress dragging across the discarded champagne glasses and shattered floral arrangements on the floor.
As the heavy doors closed behind her, a profound, heavy silence settled over what remained of the grand ballroom. The multi-million-dollar wedding had officially transformed into a crime scene.
May you like
My phone buzzed softly in my pocket. I pulled it out and saw a live video feed streaming directly from Vesper's tablet in my apartment. I watched on my screen as Sutton was led out of the resort's front entrance past a wall of flashing news cameras, her face hidden beneath her ruined veil.
I set the phone down on my dining table, let out a long, shuddering breath that felt like dropping a fifty-pound weight off my chest, and smiled for the first time in eighteen months.
