Chapter 7 - The Bride's Grand Finale
Before my parents could scramble to salvage what was left of their ruined reputation, the heavy double doors at the top of the grand staircase swung open.
Sutton stood there in her multi-thousand-dollar custom wedding gown, veil cascading behind her, a triumphant smile plastered across her face. She had clearly expected to walk down the aisle to applause.
Instead, she walked into a room full of staring, hostile faces, silence, and her own felony assault playing in 4K resolution on the big screen behind the altar.
Sutton froze. Her smile crumpled. She looked down at the screen, then down at me sitting in my wheelchair at the end of the aisle.
“What... what is this?” Sutton shrieked, her voice cracking as she clutched her bridal bouquet. “Mom! Dad! Why is she playing videos? Arrest her! Ruin her!”
“Save the dramatics for the holding cell, Sutton,” I called out, my voice ringing clear and steady through the ballroom. “The only thing getting arrested today is your wedding license.”
Heavy footsteps echoed from the rear entrance. Two local police officers, accompanied by federal fraud investigators, marched briskly down the center aisle. They didn't look at Sutton in her wedding dress; they walked straight past her parents and stopped right in front of my father.
“Stellin Vance and Althia Vance,” the lead officer announced, pulling out a pair of gleaming steel handcuffs. “You are under arrest for corporate fraud, identity theft, and conspiracy to commit financial embezzlement. You have the right to remain silent...”
A collective murmur rippled through the crowd as the silver cuffs clicked firmly around my father’s wrists. My mother let out a shrill, theatrical shriek and collapsed dramatically onto a velvet chair, though no one rushed to comfort her.
Upstairs on the landing, Sutton burst into explosive, furious tears, ripping her veil from her hair and throwing her bridal bouquet across the ballroom floor in a wild temper tantrum.
“This was supposed to be my day!” she screamed, stamping her stiletto heel against the wood. “You ruined everything, Fallon! I hate you! I hate all of you!”
May you like
She turned and sprinted back down the hallway, her wedding dress trailing behind her like a white ghost of shattered vanity.
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