CHAPTER 4 – The Bride's Impossible Choice
Victoria couldn't stop shaking.
Everyone in the room suddenly looked suspicious.
Board members.
Lawyers.
Family friends.
Even her own mother.
The lead federal agent spoke into his radio.
"The final suspect is still inside the ballroom."
Silence.
No one dared breathe.
Then Jonathan slowly turned...
Not toward the executives.
Not toward Victoria's father.
He pointed directly at the wedding officiant.
Gasps erupted across the hall.
"The priest?" someone shouted.
The elderly officiant removed his glasses.
Then, to everyone's horror...
He smiled.
"I wondered how long it would take."
With one swift motion, he pulled off his gray wig.
Underneath was a much younger man.
The room erupted in screams.
He had never been a priest.
He was the Carter family's former chief financial officer—the man who disappeared the same night Jonathan was presumed dead.
"I've been hiding in plain sight for twenty-five years," he said calmly.
Before anyone could react, he pulled a remote control from inside his robe.
A red light flashed beneath the wedding stage.
Bomb.
The countdown appeared on the giant LED screen.
05:00
Panic swept through the ballroom.
Guests rushed toward the exits.
Locked.
Every door was sealed.
The fake priest laughed.
"If I lose everything... none of you leave alive."
Victoria collapsed in tears.
"Ethan... please do something!"
Instead of running...
Ethan walked toward the bomb.
Jonathan grabbed his arm.
"No!"
Ethan looked at the old man with calm determination.
"You didn't save me twenty-five years ago so I could spend my life hiding."
He knelt beside the device.
Then his face changed.
"There are no explosives."
Everyone stared.
"What?"
Ethan held up the device for all to see.
Inside was nothing but wires connected to speakers.
The fake priest burst into laughter.
"It was never about the bomb."
He pointed toward the ballroom windows.
Outside...
More than fifty journalists had already arrived.
Every camera was broadcasting live.
"Millions are watching," he said.
"They've just witnessed the Carter family destroy itself."
Jonathan slowly smiled.
"No..."
He looked directly into one of the cameras.
"They've just witnessed the truth."
At that exact second...
Hundreds of police officers stormed the ballroom through hidden security entrances.
The fake priest froze.
Then he whispered something no one expected.
"You caught the wrong man."
Before anyone could stop him...
He swallowed a tiny capsule hidden inside his ring.
Seconds later, he collapsed.
Dead.
As the paramedics rushed in, the lead investigator found a folded note inside the man's pocket.
It contained only one chilling sentence:
"The real mastermind has never been inside this room."
The investigator slowly looked up.
May you like
Someone was still out there...
Watching everything.
