Chapter 5 - Alden’s Defection and the Hidden Footage
The next morning, the sun broke through the heavy Chicago cloud cover, casting a brilliant, sharp light across Vesper’s high-tech command center on the thirty-second floor.
I sat in my ergonomic wheelchair before a massive multi-monitor display, my right leg resting comfortably on an elevated cushion. On the central screen, a high-definition, crystal-clear video file looped silently. It was the unedited security footage sent by the anonymous witness—who had turned out to be none other than one of the resort’s senior audio-visual technicians hired by the wedding planner.
The camera angle was positioned perfectly from the upper balcony, capturing every single detail of the grand marble staircase.
We watched in silence as I carefully descended the steps, holding onto the wooden crutch. We watched Sutton abruptly rush past me, shouting about flower arrangements. And then, played in slow motion at sixty frames per second, the truth was laid bare: Sutton’s stiletto heel deliberately hooked my good ankle, and her shoulder drove forcefully into my upper back, sending me flying downward into empty space.
There was no accident. There was no clumsy misstep. It was calculated, malicious, and vicious assault.
""The resolution is pristine,"" Vesper remarked, leaning over my shoulder with a cup of black coffee. ""Even if your parents try to claim it was edited, the metadata from the resort's server confirms it's authentic down to the nanosecond.""
My phone buzzed on the armrest.
An incoming video call request flashed on the screen. The caller ID read: Alden Vance.
I looked up at Vesper. She gave a single, encouraging nod and tapped the accept button, routing the secure audio and video feed directly to the main conference monitor.
Alden’s face appeared on the screen. He looked exhausted, his hair rumpled, wearing a wrinkled dress shirt with the tie loosened around his collar. He was sitting inside a quiet hotel room somewhere downtown, away from the resort and away from my family.
""Fallon,"" Alden said, his voice cracking slightly as he looked at my wheelchair and the heavy medical brace on my leg. ""Are you... are you okay? I heard you had to have emergency surgery on the pins.""
""I survived, Alden,"" I replied evenly, keeping my tone completely neutral. ""Which is more than I can say for your wedding.""
Alden bowed his head, rubbing his hands over his face in a gesture of profound shame and exhaustion. ""I am so sorry. I am deeply, sickeningly sorry. I saw what she did. I was standing right there, but I was so used to making excuses for her behavior—so used to your parents gaslighting everyone into thinking Sutton was just 'spirited'—that my brain refused to process what my eyes were seeing until you hit the floor.""
""She laughed, Alden,"" I reminded him quietly, my voice hard. ""While my tibia snapped, she stood over me and laughed about content.""
""I know,"" he said, lifting his head, his eyes burning with quiet fury. ""And that's why I walked out. I packed my bags an hour after the rehearsal. I called off the wedding, I fired the wedding coordinator, and I told your parents that if they ever contact me again, my family's legal team will dismantle their manufacturing business piece by piece.""
I raised an eyebrow, genuinely surprised. ""You called off the entire wedding?""
""It was never a wedding, Fallon,"" Alden said bitterly. ""It was a performance put on by Althia and Stellin to secure a corporate merger using my family's name, with Sutton acting as the star of a show she had no business directing. I spent last night reviewing our joint financial disclosures... and I found some very disturbing wire transfer requests originating from your corporate accounts.""
He held up a tablet toward his camera, displaying a digital copy of the exact fraudulent $240,000 wire transfer my parents had attempted to pull from my reserve account.
""Your father used my wedding planning portal as a pass-through shell to siphon funds from your company,"" Alden stated firmly. ""I pulled the authorization logs. I have the digital signature stamps belonging to Stellin Miller. If you're planning to press charges for wire fraud and corporate embezzlement, consider me your star witness.""
May you like
Vesper stepped into the camera frame, a brilliant, shark-like smile spreading across her face.
""Mr. Vance,"" Vesper said smoothly, extending a hand toward the camera lens. ""It sounds like you and I have a very interesting legal strategy to coordinate before the sun sets today.""
