CHAPTER 4 – The Man Everyone Thought Was Dead
Darkness swallowed the ballroom.
Women screamed.
Someone knocked over an entire table of crystal glasses.
The emergency lights failed to activate.
Only the flashing screen of the phone inside the crate illuminated the room.
Claire instantly pulled out her service pistol.
"Nobody move!"
But panic had already begun.
Guests rushed toward the exits.
Children cried.
The orchestra hid beneath the stage.
Sophia couldn't see Ethan anymore.
She reached blindly through the darkness.
"Ethan?"
No answer.
Instead...
She heard running footsteps.
Fast.
Determined.
Heading toward the service corridor.
"He's escaping!" someone shouted.
Then—
BANG!
A heavy metal door slammed shut.
The emergency generator finally roared to life.
Dim red lights flooded the ballroom.
Ethan was gone.
Only a torn piece of his tuxedo remained caught on a broken nail near the backstage exit.
Claire cursed under her breath.
"He planned an escape."
She turned toward two officers who had just arrived.
"Seal every exit!"
Before anyone moved...
The smartphone inside the crate rang.
Unknown number.
Everyone froze.
Claire answered on speaker.
No one spoke for several seconds.
Then...
A calm male voice filled the ballroom.
"Claire..."
"I see you finally found my coffin."
Claire's face lost all color.
She whispered,
"Impossible..."
Sophia looked at her.
"You know him?"
Claire slowly nodded.
"I've been attending his funeral every year."
The voice laughed softly.
"Funny thing about funerals..."
"They only work if the dead stay dead."
A long silence followed.
Then the man continued.
"Ethan didn't kill me."
"He only thought he did."
Sophia felt ice run through her veins.
Claire tightened her grip on the phone.
"Where are you?"
The man ignored the question.
Instead he said something that made every person in the ballroom stop breathing.
"Tell the bride to check beneath her wedding bouquet."
Sophia slowly looked down.
The bouquet she had dropped during the chaos was lying beside the broken altar.
Something metallic protruded from the flowers.
Her trembling fingers pulled it free.
A small silver key.
Attached to it was a handwritten tag stained with dried blood.
Only four words were written.
THE THIRD BRIDE SURVIVED.
Before anyone could react...
A deafening explosion erupted from somewhere beneath the hotel.
The entire ballroom shook violently.
The chandeliers swayed overhead.
Concrete dust rained from the ceiling.
May you like
And somewhere below them...
Another hidden room had just been opened.
