Chapter 4 - The Unraveling at the Altar
Three hundred miles away, on the sun-drenched lawn of the Cliffside Ocean Resort, the wedding ceremony was scheduled to begin in fifteen minutes.
Sutton stood inside the bridal suite, her ivory silk train pooling around her satin heels. Her face was flushed with anger as she stared at her phone.
“What do you mean her phone is going straight to voicemail?” Sutton shrieked at Althia, who was nervously adjusting her mother-of-the-bride corsage. “She’s trying to sabotage my wedding! She’s doing this on purpose!”
“Calm down, sweetheart, your makeup will run,” Althia cooed, though her own hands were trembling. “Your father is calling her bank right now to figure out why that wire transfer was flagged.”
Just then, the heavy oak door of the bridal suite swung open without a knock.
It wasn't Stellin.
It was Alden.
He wore a pristine black tuxedo, but his tie was slightly loosened, and his eyes were cold as winter ice. He didn't look at Sutton with adoration; he looked at her the way an auditor looks at a fraudulent tax return.
“Alden!” Sutton gasped, rushing forward with a practiced, breathless smile. “You’re not supposed to see me before the ceremony! Is everything—?”
Alden held up a single sheet of paper. It was a printed bank fraud notification attached to a corporate audit summary.
“Where did the forty-two thousand dollars for the open bar come from, Sutton?” his voice was dangerously quiet.
Sutton’s smile faltered. Her eyes darted toward Althia. “What? That’s... that’s just a family arrangement. My father handled the catering deposit—”
“Your father used Fallon’s commercial business account without her authorization,” Alden interrupted, his tone cutting through the room like glass. “My legal team reviewed the ledger thirty minutes ago. It’s not just an unauthorized withdrawal; it’s corporate identity theft tied to a federal contracting ID.”
“It’s a family loan!” Althia shrieked, stepping between them. “Fallon is just being dramatic because she’s jealous of her sister’s happiness!”
“Jealous?” Alden let out a harsh, humorless laugh. “Althia, I stood at the top of that staircase two nights ago. I watched Sutton deliberately trip her sister. I heard the bone snap. And then I heard Sutton laugh.”
The room went dead silent. Even the makeup artists in the corner stopped breathing.
“Alden, that’s a lie!” Sutton cried, tears finally springing to her eyes, though they were tears of panic, not remorse. “Fallon is clumsy! She tripped over her own crutches!”
“Briany’s phone recording was backed up to the family cloud storage,” Alden said evenly, pulling out his own phone and pressing play.
The audio echoed clearly through the bridal suite: the sound of the string quartet, Sutton’s snide remark about dragging the tempo, the heavy thud of a body hitting marble, and then Sutton’s unmistakable, gleeful laughter ringing out across the ballroom, followed by Althia hissing, “Get up off the floor right now, Fallon... Alden’s parents are watching.”
Sutton stared at the phone, her face draining of all color. The illusion had shattered completely.
“And to top it all off,” Alden continued, his voice dropping an octave, “the resort manager just informed me that your wedding accounts have been locked due to suspected financial fraud. The venue is canceling the reception in two hours unless cash is paid upfront.”
May you like
He pulled the heavy platinum diamond engagement ring off his finger and tossed it onto the ivory silk vanity table. It landed with a sharp clink against a bottle of perfume.
“The wedding is off,” Alden said calmly. “Tell your guests to go home.”
