Chapter 12 - The Wedding Rehearsal
The Blackwood Grand Hotel had been closed to the public for renovations.
Serena had selected its bridal ballroom months earlier.
She wanted crystal walls, white roses, and a view of the Chicago River.
The wedding had been moved after Amelia’s former friends refused to attend.
Now the empty hotel stood beneath a winter sky with only one floor illuminated.
Mercer wanted to evacuate the building and send tactical officers through every entrance.
Victor refused an immediate assault.
Ethan could be anywhere inside.
Serena had already demonstrated that she would use medication against him.
A forced entry might provoke her.
Lily examined the message inside the cast.
The handwriting belonged to Peter Lang.
He had written household inventory notes with the same narrow letters.
“The time is not only an instruction,” she said.
“What else?” Mercer asked.
“Peter always used twenty-four-hour time in security logs.”
“He wrote midnight as 0000.”
“Here he wrote the word.”
Victor understood.
“Someone wanted us to recognize that it was personal.”
“Serena.”
Lily nodded.
“She talked about midnight during the wedding plans.”
“She said the ballroom lights would change at exactly twelve.”
Naomi opened the original wedding schedule.
At midnight, Victor and Serena were supposed to sign a ceremonial family agreement before selected guests.
The document had been presented as symbolic.
Naomi examined the draft.
Hidden inside the language was a clause acknowledging Serena as Ethan’s intended guardian.
Victor had never seen the final version.
“They planned to turn the wedding into a legal event,” Naomi said.
“Witnesses would watch you sign.”
“Photographs would prove your consent.”
Victor looked toward the hotel.
“Tonight they want the same signature.”
Charles arrived despite medical orders.
He wore a formal black suit.
He carried himself with the dignity of the man who had once controlled every Blackwood room he entered.
Victor looked at him.
“You are not going inside.”
“Julian expects me.”
“That is why you stay here.”
Charles handed him a small key.
“The bridal ballroom contains an original freight lift.”
“It opens behind the musicians’ gallery.”
“No modern security system shows it.”
“How do you know?”
“I used the ballroom to meet federal investigators in 1998.”
Victor stared.
“You almost exposed Julian.”
“I lost my nerve.”
Charles’s voice tightened.
“I will not lose it again.”
Lily wore the same dark dress she had owned for Claire’s graduation.
Her ribs were wrapped beneath it.
Victor wore the tuxedo prepared for his wedding.
He hated the symbolism.
Serena wanted to force him into the image she had designed.
He would enter it long enough to destroy her control.
Mercer fitted them with transmitters.
Marco and Hargrove entered through the freight lift.
Federal teams surrounded the hotel.
At 11:56 p.m., Victor and Lily walked through the front doors.
White candles lined the corridor.
Recorded wedding music played through hidden speakers.
Photographs of Victor and Serena covered the walls.
In several, Ethan had been edited into their arms like an accessory.
Lily saw one photograph of herself in the background.
Her face had been crossed out.
The ballroom doors opened.
Serena stood beneath a crystal arch.
She wore her wedding gown.
Julian waited beside her.
Peter Lang stood near a table containing legal documents.
Judge Voss occupied a chair near the stage.
His hands were tied.
A strip of tape covered his mouth.
Victor looked at Serena.
“You paid him.”
Serena smiled.
“He became inconvenient.”
“Where is Ethan?”
“Close.”
Lily heard a soft cry above them.
She looked toward the musicians’ gallery.
A crib stood behind the railing.
Ethan was inside.
A clear tube ran beneath his nose.
A portable medical pump rested beside him.
Lily stepped forward.
Peter raised a gun.
“Stay where you are.”
“What did you give him?”
Serena adjusted her veil.
“Only enough to keep him calm.”
“You nearly stopped his breathing before.”
“That was an imperfect dosage.”
Lily’s hands clenched.
Serena enjoyed provoking her.
Victor kept his attention on Julian.
“What do you want me to sign?”
Julian opened the document.
“An acknowledgment that Claire Carter carried Ethan without your informed consent.”
“A transfer of guardianship to Serena.”
“A temporary assignment of Blackwood voting control.”
Victor almost laughed.
“You expect that to survive a court challenge?”
“I expect the witnesses to survive long enough to confirm it.”
Lights activated around the room.
Several Blackwood board members sat bound behind the floral arrangements.
Naomi’s senior partner was among them.
Charles’s private trust administrator sat beside him.
Julian had gathered legal witnesses.
Serena held out a pen.
“Sign.”
Victor looked toward Ethan.
The boy moved weakly.
Lily saw the pump indicator.
The drug was being delivered at timed intervals.
She touched her bracelet twice.
It was the signal to Marco.
No response came through her earpiece.
Serena noticed.
“Your security chief is occupied.”
A monitor came on.
Marco and Hargrove were trapped inside the freight lift.
Gas filled the compartment.
Victor’s face changed.
Julian smiled.
“You continue mistaking preparation for power.”
Charles entered the ballroom behind them.
Julian’s expression shifted.
“You came.”
“I should have ended this twenty-eight years ago.”
Charles walked toward the table.
He placed Thomas Carter’s original report beside the documents.
Julian stared at it.
“You kept it.”
“I kept proof of my cowardice.”
Charles turned toward the bound board members.
“Julian Blackwood is not legally related to our family.”
“He obtained shares through falsified birth records.”
“Every inherited voting interest he controls is invalid.”
Julian raised his gun.
Charles did not stop.
“He used the Montigue Foundation to manipulate medical records, bribe officials, and conceal crimes.”
“He arranged Amelia Blackwood’s death.”
Serena moved toward Charles.
“Stop talking.”
Charles looked at her.
“You inherited his anger.”
“You did not have to inherit his cruelty.”
Serena slapped him.
Victor moved.
Peter aimed toward Ethan.
Victor stopped.
Julian examined the report.
“This is a copy.”
“Yes,” Charles said.
“The original is already with federal prosecutors.”
Julian’s control cracked.
He struck Charles with the cane.
Lily used the moment to run toward the gallery stairs.
Serena caught her dress.
Lily turned and drove her shoulder into Serena’s chest.
Pain tore through her ribs.
They fell against the stage.
Victor attacked Peter.
The gun fired into the ceiling.
Judge Voss threw himself sideways.
Julian moved toward the exit.
Charles grabbed his coat.
The brothers crashed against the table.
Lily reached the gallery.
Ethan’s eyes opened slightly.
“Li-Li.”
“I’m here.”
She examined the pump.
The tube delivered medication through a patch near his shoulder.
Lily disconnected it.
An alarm sounded.
Serena appeared at the top of the stairs.
Her veil had torn away.
Blood marked her lower lip.
“You should have disappeared like your sister.”
Lily placed herself between Serena and Ethan.
“Claire survived you.”
“She survived because my father needed her.”
“After tonight, no one needs you.”
Serena smiled.
“Victor does.”
“He just does not know it yet.”
She lifted a remote control.
The ballroom doors locked.
Red lights appeared along the walls.
Smoke entered from the ventilation system.
Serena pressed another button.
The crib began moving along a track toward the outer glass balcony.
Lily grabbed it.
The motor continued pulling.
Below, Victor shouted Ethan’s name.
The glass doors opened automatically.
Winter air struck Lily’s face.
The crib rolled onto the balcony.
Serena kicked Lily’s injured ribs.
Lily fell.
The crib continued toward the railing.
Victor reached the gallery.
Serena blocked him with the remote in her hand.
“One more step, and the balcony floor opens.”
Victor stopped.
Serena looked at Lily.
“Tell him the truth.”
“What truth?”
“You were never hired to protect Ethan.”
“You were hired because Claire needed someone to blame when she took him.”
Lily stared.
“That’s a lie.”
“Ask her why the nanny application was submitted from her computer.”
Victor looked at Lily.
She had no answer.
Serena continued.
“Claire placed you in this house.”
“She knew Ethan was her biological child.”
“She planned to take him after the wedding.”
“You were her access point.”
Lily shook her head.
“No.”
“Your sister used you.”
A section of the balcony floor shifted beneath the crib.
Ethan cried.
Lily reached for him.
Serena held up the remote.
“Choose carefully.”
Below them, Peter Lang escaped through the smoke.
He carried the signed ceremonial document.
Victor had not signed it.
Someone else had.
May you like
The signature at the bottom belonged to Charles Blackwood.
The document transferred temporary control of Ethan’s trust to Claire Carter.
