Chapter 6 - The Groom Switches Sides
Before my mother could recover enough breath to scream, the heavy glass doors of the resort's main ballroom swung open again. All heads turned. It was Alden. He had changed out of his formal tuxedo jacket into a crisp white linen shirt with the sleeves rolled up to his elbows. He looked tired, his eyes dark with exhaustion, but his posture was resolute and unyielding. He walked with a steady, purposeful stride straight down the center aisle, ignoring the gasps of the seated guests. Sutton’s face lit up with desperate relief. She rushed toward him, her white lace train dragging across the grass, arms outstretched. "Alden! Oh, thank God!" she cried out, her voice dripping with practiced vulnerability. "Where have you been? Everyone is staring! Some crazy people are disrupting our wedding with ridiculous lies! Tell them you're here to marry me!"
Alden stopped dead in his tracks, inches away from her. He didn't reach out to hug her. He didn't even look at her face. Instead, his eyes drifted slowly down to Sutton's manicured hands, and then over to where I sat in my motorized wheelchair. "I haven't been answering your calls, Sutton, because I spent the entire night reviewing the resort's security footage with the general manager," Alden said, his voice terrifyingly calm, devoid of any warmth or emotion. Sutton froze, her arms hovering awkwardly in the air. "What... what are you talking about? What footage?" Alden reached into his trouser pocket, pulled out a small black flash drive, and held it up between them. "The security camera footage from the grand staircase yesterday evening. The one that clearly recorded you looking directly at Fallon, stepping up behind her, and deliberately shoving her down a flight of marble steps just so your cousin could film a viral TikTok clip."
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The silence in the courtyard became absolute. You could hear the wind rustling through the palm trees. Sutton’s mouth opened and closed like a fish out of water, her face turning a mottled shade of purple. "That's... that's a lie!" she shrieked, her voice cracking with hysteria. "She tripped! She's clumsy, she's always been a crippled mess! She fell on her own!" "I watched the high-definition angle three times in the manager's office, Sutton," Alden interrupted, his voice dropping an octave, filled with a quiet, lethal disgust. "I heard what you said to Briany right before you pushed her. I watched you laugh while your own sister lay at the bottom of the stairs with a shattered bone. And then I spent the morning talking to your parents' corporate accountants. I found out how you routinely bullied your suppliers, how you charged thousands of dollars of personal luxury shopping sprees to corporate accounts without telling anyone... and how you treated Fallon like an expendable slave."
Althia lunged forward, her face twisted in rage. "Alden, you listen to me right now! You are marrying into this family! You cannot—" "I am not marrying into anything, Althia," Alden snapped, turning his gaze to my mother with pure ice in his eyes. "The wedding is canceled. I've already instructed my family's attorneys to dissolve the prenuptial agreement and notify all three hundred invited guests that the ceremony will not take place." Sutton let out a blood-curdling scream, collapsing onto the grass in a heap of white tulle and silk, sobbing hysterically as her expensive makeup smeared across her cheeks. "You can't do this to me!" she wailed, pounding her fists against the turf. "I'm the bride! Everyone is watching! My life is ruined!" Alden didn't even look down at her. He turned his back, walked past my wheelchair, and stopped right beside me. He looked down at my cast with a gentle, sorrowful expression. "I'm so sorry, Fallon," he said softly. "I should have spoken up sooner. I should have protected you from them years ago." I looked up at him, offering a quiet, genuine nod. "Thank you, Alden. You made the right choice."
