Chapter 13 - The Wedding That Never Happened
The Blackwood wedding venue had been prepared for a ceremony that would never take place.
Thousands of white roses covered the ballroom.
Crystal chandeliers glowed above empty tables.
A string quartet had been ordered to play despite the absence of guests.
Damon wanted the room to look exactly as Serena had imagined it.
Victor entered through the main doors.
Lily walked beside him.
Thomas carried the trust transfer.
The commissioner’s team surrounded the building from hidden positions.
Ethan remained at the secure property with Margaret.
At least, that was the plan.
Damon stood beneath the wedding arch.
He wore a tuxedo.
Serena stood beside him in the wedding gown she had chosen for Victor.
Her wrists were bound with white ribbon.
The sight was cruelly theatrical.
Damon smiled.
“Welcome.”
Victor looked at Serena.
“Are you injured?”
Serena laughed bitterly.
“Now you care?”
“I need to know whether you can testify.”
Damon’s smile faded.
“Still making plans.”
He gestured toward Thomas.
“The transfer.”
Thomas placed the folder on a table.
Damon did not approach it.
“Lily signs first.”
Lily looked at the document.
It transferred control of the trust to Damon.
In return, he claimed he would surrender the adoption records.
“You forged your blood test,” Lily said.
“You are not a Blackwood.”
Damon’s face tightened.
“I earned that name.”
“By killing the woman who carried it?”
“Elena had everything.”
“She treated me like family.”
“But when it mattered, she chose Victor.”
Victor’s voice was cold.
“She chose the truth.”
Damon looked at him.
“She chose your blood.”
Victor glanced toward Lily.
“Blood is not what made Ethan my son.”
The words silenced the room.
Serena looked at him.
For a moment, she seemed to understand what she had never possessed.
Love without ownership.
Damon pointed toward the document.
“Sign.”
Lily picked up the pen.
Then the ballroom doors opened.
Margaret entered carrying Ethan.
Lily’s heart stopped.
“What are you doing here?”
Margaret’s face was pale.
A gun pressed against her back.
Dr. Reeves stepped from behind her.
Water still stained his coat from the river.
A bandage covered his shoulder.
Serena stared at him.
“You survived.”
Reeves smiled.
“Disappointed?”
Damon raised his weapon.
“You were supposed to be dead.”
“You were supposed to follow instructions.”
Reeves pushed Margaret forward.
Damon looked at him.
“You told me the records were in the chip.”
“Some were.”
“Where are the others?”
Reeves nodded toward Ethan.
“Inside the child.”
Lily moved toward him.
“What does that mean?”
Reeves held up a small medical scanner.
“Elena implanted a data capsule beneath his skin during a routine procedure.”
Victor’s face changed.
“Where?”
“Near the fractured arm.”
Lily remembered the unexplained scar beside Ethan’s shoulder.
Reeves looked at Damon.
“Give me the trust.”
“I give you the records.”
Damon laughed.
“You came with one gun.”
Reeves looked toward the musicians.
The quartet stopped playing.
Each musician reached beneath a chair.
Weapons appeared.
Damon’s guards raised their guns.
The ballroom became a standoff.
Serena looked at Lily.
“Untie me.”
Lily moved carefully toward her.
Damon noticed.
“Stop.”
Serena turned on him.
“You kidnapped me.”
“You used me.”
“You used me first.”
“At least I never pretended otherwise.”
Lily reached the white ribbon.
She began loosening it.
Damon fired into the ceiling.
Ethan screamed.
Victor moved in front of Margaret and the baby.
“Everyone lowers their weapons.”
Nobody obeyed.
Victor looked at Reeves.
“You cannot remove the capsule without killing him.”
Reeves smiled.
“Not necessarily.”
Lily saw the surgical case near the wedding altar.
He planned to operate inside the ballroom.
“No.”
She stepped in front of Ethan.
Reeves pointed his weapon at her.
“You were always the unnecessary variable.”
Serena’s hands came free.
She grabbed the heavy wedding candle beside her.
Before Lily could react, Serena struck Damon’s wrist.
His gun fell.
The ballroom erupted.
Victor pulled Margaret and Ethan behind the marble bar.
Lily dropped beside them.
Reeves’s men fired toward Damon’s guards.
Glass shattered.
Flowers exploded from their arrangements.
Serena crawled beneath the wedding table.
Damon followed her.
Lily saw him grab the fallen gun.
“Serena!”
Serena turned.
Damon aimed at her chest.
Victor fired first.
The bullet struck Damon’s shoulder.
Damon collapsed against the wedding arch.
Reeves seized Ethan from Margaret’s arms.
Lily lunged after him.
Reeves held a scalpel against the child.
“Back away.”
Lily stopped.
The main ballroom screens suddenly turned on.
Thomas appeared on every display.
“The data capsule has already transmitted its files.”
Reeves looked up.
Thomas continued.
“The scanner you activated connected it to the venue network.”
“Every record is now being copied.”
Reeves looked at the device in his hand.
Victor smiled coldly.
“Elena knew you would search for it.”
“She designed the trap for you.”
Police sirens surrounded the building.
Reeves backed toward the side exit with Ethan.
Serena stepped into his path.
“Give him to Lily.”
Reeves laughed.
“You think one good act changes what you are?”
“No.”
Serena looked toward Lily.
“But it may change what happens to him.”
She grabbed Reeves’s injured shoulder.
He screamed.
Ethan slipped from his arm.
Lily caught the baby.
Reeves drove the scalpel into Serena’s side.
Victor struck him to the floor.
Officers flooded the ballroom.
Lily held Ethan against her chest.
Serena collapsed beneath the white roses.
Lily knelt beside her.
Serena looked at Ethan.
“Does he still fear me?”
Lily did not lie.
“Yes.”
Serena closed her eyes.
“I thought power would make people stay.”
Lily pressed fabric against her wound.
“You never gave them a reason.”
Serena looked at her.
“Will you testify against me?”
“Yes.”
A weak smile crossed Serena’s face.
“Good.”
Then the chandelier lights went out.
A final gunshot echoed through the darkness.
When the lights returned, Damon was gone.
Victor stood beneath the wedding arch.
May you like
Blood spread across his shirt.
And the trust transfer had disappeared with Damon.
