Chapter 5: The Walk Down the Aisle
Chapter 5: The Walk Down the Aisle
The ballroom doors opened.
Four hundred guests rose from their seats.
A string quartet began playing.
Mary stood at the entrance in her perfect gown, holding a bouquet of white roses.
From a distance, she looked radiant.
Only her father noticed that she was no longer wearing her engagement ring.
“Are you certain?” Richard whispered.
“No,” she admitted. “But I’m done being afraid of ugly truths.”
They began walking.
Camera flashes illuminated the room.
At the altar, Daniel stood in his tuxedo, freshly dressed and painfully pale.
Victoria sat in the front row beside her husband, Charles Harrington. Her posture was stiff, her lips pressed into a thin line.
Sophia was not in the ballroom.
Mary had asked security to take her somewhere safe.
The music stopped.
Richard kissed Mary’s cheek.
“I’m proud of you.”
He took his seat.
The officiant smiled nervously.
“Friends and family, we are gathered here today—”
“Actually,” Mary interrupted, “before we begin, I prepared something for Daniel.”
A few guests laughed warmly.
Daniel did not.
Mary faced him.
“For the past two years, Daniel has told me marriage is about complete honesty.”
She handed her bouquet to the officiant.
“So today, I would like us to begin with the truth.”
She nodded toward the audiovisual technician.
The giant screen behind the altar flickered to life.
At first, it showed a romantic photograph of Mary and Daniel.
Then the image changed.
A screenshot of Daniel’s message appeared.
Once the shares transfer, Mary won’t have the power to stop us.
A gasp moved through the ballroom.
Daniel turned toward the technician.
“Turn that off!”
The screen changed again.
A photograph showed Daniel kissing Sophia in a restaurant six weeks earlier.
Then another.
And another.
Victoria stood.
“This ceremony is over.”
Mary looked directly at her.
“No, Victoria. The presentation is just beginning.”
The recording from the hotel suite played over the speakers.
Sophia’s voice echoed through the ballroom.
He told me you were only getting married because of the merger.
Then Daniel’s voice:
She’s confused. She’s unstable.
Board members began whispering.
Journalists raised their phones.
Mary spoke over the growing noise.
“Less than thirty minutes ago, I found my fiancé in bed with another woman.”
Daniel grabbed her arm.
“Stop.”
Mary calmly removed his hand.
“I also discovered a forged contract designed to steal ninety million dollars from my family.”
Charles Harrington surged to his feet.
“What contract?”
Mary looked at Victoria.
Her expression had gone completely white.
Mary turned back toward the screen.
“Show them page three.”
The forged agreement appeared.
Charles read the signature.
Then he looked at his wife.
“Victoria, what did you do?”
Before she could answer, the ballroom doors opened.
Two police detectives entered.
And between them walked Sophia.
May you like
She was dressed now.
And she was carrying a red folder.
