“Right now?” I managed, my voice barely above a whisper.
“Yes, Commander,” he replied, his gaze steady. “If you could accompany us.”
And just like that, the world around me vibrated with tension, the mystery of why they stood before me at my front door deepening with every heartbeat. I felt a weight settle in my gut, a warning that things were about to unravel in ways I couldn’t begin to understand. The guards shifted, and I instinctively wanted to reach for my phone, call Rachel, ask what had happened, but I knew better. She’d erased me. She didn’t want me in her perfect day.
Unraveling Threads
I stepped onto the porch, the hardwood creaking beneath my feet. The guards formed a tight formation around me, and I felt as if I were stepping into an alternate reality, one where I didn’t belong. I fought desperately against my rising panic—the fear of being whisked away to face the royalty that now claimed my sister’s heart.
“What’s this about?” I stammered, glancing back at my townhouse, feeling the weight of the world pressing into my shoulders. I wasn’t ready for whatever awaited me. I was suffocated by a sense of impending doom, the specter of my sister’s choices close at hand.
“You’ll find out shortly,” the guard said, his tone unyielding. Something in his demeanor assured me that they were not simply here for a friendly visit.
As we walked towards the waiting black vehicles, my mind raced back to everything Rachel had said about the wedding, the importance of appearances, the implication of who belonged and who didn’t. How had it come to this moment? “Where’s Rachel?” I asked, a knot tightening in my throat.
