Chapter 4 - The Ticking Clock
The morning of the wedding dawned bright and beautiful.
The sky was a perfect, cloudless blue.
The ocean was bright behind the balcony glass of the bridal suite.
Upstairs in the penthouse, Vanessa was surrounded by hair and makeup artists.
They were drinking mimosas and listening to pop music.
Downstairs, panic was slowly starting to bloom.
At 8:45 AM, the florist arrived with thousands of white orchids.
But he refused to unload the trucks.
At 8:50 AM, the catering staff stopped prepping the wagyu beef.
At 8:55 AM, the venue manager, Marcus, knocked on the door of my parents' room.
My father opened it, still in his bathrobe.
"Mr. Miller, we have a problem," Marcus said, holding a stack of invoices.
"The credit card on file has been revoked. We need a new form of payment for the remaining $85,000, or the event cannot proceed."
My father laughed nervously. "There must be a mistake. Mara took care of this."
"Mara removed her authorization last night," Marcus replied, his tone strictly professional.
"She stated she is no longer involved in the event."
The color drained from my father's face.
He rushed to wake my mother.
They scrambled to find their own credit cards, but they knew it was useless.
Their combined credit limit couldn't even cover the cocktail hour.
The clock struck 9:00 AM.
The music downstairs stopped.
The florist started packing the orchids back into the refrigerated truck.
The bartenders began locking up the top-shelf liquor.
Word spread quickly through the resort.
Guests were mingling in the lobby, noticing the sudden halt in preparations.
And up in the bridal suite, Vanessa's phone started to ring.
May you like
It was the wedding planner.
"Vanessa... you need to come downstairs immediately."
