Chapter 7 - the wedding without a groom
Julian entered the chapel alone.
Nearly two hundred guests turned toward him. Whispers spread through the rows as he walked down the aisle without music.
Evelyn waited beneath the white floral arch.
To everyone else, she was a bride abandoned at the altar.
Her expression was perfectly measured: embarrassed, confused and close to tears.
Marcus stood beside the registrar.
Julian’s mother, Victoria, sat in the front row. She gave her son a questioning look, but Julian could not risk drawing her into the danger.
Evelyn stepped forward.
“Where have you been?”
“Looking for someone.”
“On our wedding day?”
Her voice was loud enough for the nearest guests to hear.
Julian stopped several feet from her.
“I need to speak to you privately.”
“We have kept everyone waiting long enough.”
She reached for his hand.
Julian did not take it.
A murmur passed through the chapel.
Evelyn lowered her voice.
“Where is Nora?”
“Somewhere you cannot reach her.”
The emotion vanished from her eyes.
“You have no idea what that child is capable of.”
“She recorded you and Marcus.”
Marcus’s face changed.
Only for a second.
It was enough.
Evelyn smiled.
“She records everyone. Elena taught her to collect secrets.”
“Stop speaking about yourself as though you are Elena.”
A guest near the aisle gasped.
Evelyn’s eyes glistened with carefully controlled tears.
“Julian, my sister has spent years trying to steal my life. She has used Nora before. Whatever the child told you, it was prepared.”
“Where is your sister now?”
“I don’t know.”
“You do.”
The registrar closed his folder.
“Perhaps we should postpone.”
Marcus placed a hand over the documents.
“No one is postponing anything because of a family disagreement.”
Julian looked at him.
“You are no longer authorized to act for the foundation.”
Marcus stared back.
“You cannot remove an executive officer without a board vote.”
“I can suspend one during an investigation.”
“What investigation?”
“The attempted theft of sealed records.”
Several guests began whispering more loudly.
Evelyn raised her hands.
“Please. We do not need to humiliate each other publicly.”
“You locked a child behind a wall.”
The chapel fell silent.
Evelyn’s face tightened.
Then she looked toward the guests.
“My sister’s child has severe behavioral problems. Julian found her trespassing in a restricted part of the estate. I was trying to keep her safe until a guardian arrived.”
Mrs. Bell’s voice rose from the back.
“That is a lie.”
Everyone turned.
Mrs. Bell stood beside Claire. Neither Nora nor the recorder was visible.
“You ordered the girl sealed inside the old sleeping room,” Mrs. Bell continued.
Evelyn looked at Marcus.
The chapel doors slammed shut.
The electronic locks engaged.
Several guests stood.
Marcus lifted a hand.
“Remain calm. There is a security threat inside the estate.”
Julian saw two security guards positioned near the side exits. They were not part of his regular team.
Evelyn approached him.
“You should have brought Nora.”
“Why?”
“Because Marcus has your sister.”
Julian looked toward the back.
Claire was gone.
Mrs. Bell stood alone.
The side door beside the choir balcony was swinging slightly.
Evelyn’s voice dropped to a whisper.
“Sign the register and open the archive. Claire walks out unharmed.”
Julian fought to keep his face still.
“You need my key.”
“We need your blood.”
He remembered the biometric lock his father had installed beneath the eastern wing. It required the foundation chairman’s fingerprint and a blood confirmation from a small medical scanner.
“No one else can open it,” Evelyn said. “Not even Marcus.”
“What is inside?”
“The truth your father buried.”
“If he wanted it buried, why create a lock only his heir could open?”
“Because he believed you would be ready someday.”
“And you believe today is that day?”
“I believe you have no choice.”
Marcus opened the register and placed a pen on the altar.
Evelyn extended her hand.
“Marry me, Julian.”
Julian looked past her toward the locked doors, the frightened guests and his mother in the front row.
Then he smiled.
Evelyn’s confidence faltered.
“You made one mistake,” he said.
“What mistake?”
“You assumed Claire came into this chapel without a plan.”
A sharp tone sounded from every phone in the room.
The signal jammer shut down.
The recording of Marcus’s voice began playing through the chapel speakers.
“The signatures are all we need.”
Evelyn spun toward the balcony.
Nora stood above the guests with the recorder connected to the sound system.
Claire was beside her.
Marcus reached inside his jacket.
Julian moved toward him.
May you like
Before either man could act, every light in the chapel went out.
In the darkness, Nora screamed.
