I turned away from the breathless bride, the paralyzed groom, and the trembling matriarch. With perfect poise, I led my sons away from the altar and walked toward the very back of the estate, right toward the noisy, bustling kitchen doors.
Table 27.
It was exactly as miserable as Eleanor had intended. The table was small, tucked behind a massive floral arrangement meant to hide the service entrance. The swinging doors to the kitchen were constantly opening and closing, filling the air with the smell of heavy garlic and the shouting of stressed catering staff.
The other guests at the table were distant, third-cousins of the Montgomerys who had been deemed too unimportant for the front rows. They looked at me and my boys with wide, terrified eyes, actively moving their chairs away as if we were contagious.
“Mama, it’s loud here,” Caleb said, covering his ears as a waiter slammed a tray of dirty glasses behind us.
“I know, baby,” I said, pulling him close and kissing the top of his head. “But don’t worry. We won’t be sitting here for long.”
I pulled out my phone and sent a single text message to my assistant, Sarah.
Clara: Phase two. Now.
The Power Shift
Ten minutes later, the wedding ceremony attempted to resume, though the atmosphere was completely ruined. The priest stammered through the vows, Ethan kept looking back toward Table 27 instead of at his bride, and Caroline looked like she wanted to strangle both of them with her veil.
Just as the priest said, “I now pronounce you…” the heavy roar of a helicopter engine began to echo from the sky.
The guests looked up in confusion. The sound grew louder, vibrating through the crystal chandeliers hanging from the garden tents. A massive, sleek, matte-black corporate helicopter bearing the logo of Aegis Global Media—my company—hovered directly over the Lake Geneva estate.
