Chapter 1 - The Shattered Vows
The heavy oak doors of the cathedral swung open with a deafening crash.
She ran into her father’s wedding and screamed.
“Dad!”
“Don’t marry her!”
The entire congregation gasped in unison.
Whispers immediately flooded the silent room as guests turned to stare at the frantic young woman.
Ethan dropped Victoria’s hands and stepped away from the altar in absolute shock.
Everyone believed Olivia had died nine years ago in a tragic car accident.
They thought the closed-casket funeral had been the absolute end of her story.
But Lucy had proof that she was still connected to Ethan’s past.
She marched down the velvet aisle with trembling hands.
She held up one old photo.
She presented one cancelled check.
She revealed one signature that changed everything.
The priest backed away slowly as the tension in the room thickened into a suffocating fog.
Ethan stared at the documents fluttering in his daughter’s shaking grip.
He recognized his late wife’s handwriting instantly.
The date on the cancelled check was from exactly two weeks ago.
Ethan slowly turned his head and looked at Victoria.
His eyes burned with a terrifying, quiet fury.
“What did you do to Olivia?” he asked.
Victoria’s perfect, porcelain face drained of all its color.
Her hands shook violently as she gripped her expensive white lace gown.
Victoria was about to reveal the truth.
She opened her mouth to speak the words that would destroy everything.
Then the story went black.
Every single light in the massive cathedral completely shut off.
The stained glass windows offered no light under the dark, stormy sky.
Guests screamed as the massive building was plunged into total darkness.
Ethan blindly reached out in the pitch black to grab Victoria’s arm.
His fingers closed around absolutely nothing.
The emergency generators finally kicked in with a loud mechanical hum.
The golden chandeliers flickered back to life.
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Victoria was completely gone from the altar.
In her place on the marble floor rested a single, blood-stained wedding veil.
