Chapter 6 - The Wedding Trap
“Mina?”
I ran down three steps before Daniel caught my arm.
“Wait.”
Police moved ahead of us.
The cellar smelled of dust and damp stone.
A flashlight beam swept across shelves.
Then a figure stumbled forward.
Mina.
Alive.
I reached her.
She was barefoot.
One side of her face was bruised.
Her wrists were raw.
But she was standing.
“Eli?”
“He’s safe.”
Her knees gave way.
I caught her.
“He’s safe, Mina.”
She began sobbing.
Not the quiet tears from the kitchen.
Real sobs.
The sound of someone who had been holding her breath for years.
Daniel knelt nearby.
“I’m sorry.”
Mina looked at him.
“For what?”
“For the hotel.”
She understood.
“You didn’t tell Nathan?”
“No.”
She stared at him for several seconds.
“I always wondered.”
“I used my company card.”
Mina laughed weakly through tears.
“Then Charles found me.”
Daniel closed his eyes.
Police searched the property.
Nathan was gone again.
So were Eleanor and Charles.
Mina was taken to the hospital.
Her injuries were serious but not life-threatening.
For the first time, she agreed to make a full statement.
Everything came out.
The financial control.
The threats.
The isolation.
Nathan’s violence.
Eleanor rationing food as punishment.
Charles arranging legal pressure.
Eli being used as leverage.
The acquired businesses.
The manipulated reports.
The hidden cameras.
And something none of us expected.
Mina had copied years of internal financial records onto a secure server.
“Where?”
She looked at me.
“Your company.”
I stared.
“What?”
“When Daniel told me his mother was researching your business, I knew what they were planning.”
“How did you access my servers?”
“I didn’t.”
She looked at Daniel.
“He gave me a guest account.”
Daniel blinked.
“For the wedding planning files.”
“I used it to hide encrypted backups.”
A tiny smile appeared on Mina’s bruised face.
“They never thought I understood cybersecurity.”
Rebecca laughed.
“What’s in the backups?”
“Everything.”
Mina looked at me.
“Enough to destroy them.”
By noon, federal financial investigators were involved.
The Whitmore empire was not merely controlling daughters-in-law.
Investigators found evidence of fraudulent transfers, forged authorizations, tax violations, intimidation, and money moved through family trusts.
My company transfer was frozen.
My accounts were restored.
The wedding was officially canceled.
But the venue remained booked.
That gave me an idea.
A terrible idea.
A useful one.
Eleanor had vanished.
Nathan had vanished.
Charles had vanished.
But they believed I possessed evidence.
So I gave them a reason to come back.
I released a message through the wedding coordinator.
THE CEREMONY WILL PROCEED AT 5 P.M. AS PLANNED.
Daniel stared at me.
“You want to use the wedding as bait.”
“Yes.”
“No.”
“You don’t get to decide.”
“I’m not letting you stand in a chapel while Nathan is out there.”
“Police will be everywhere.”
“He doesn’t care.”
“Neither do I.”
Daniel stepped closer.
“I do.”
For a moment, all the anger between us disappeared beneath something more painful.
I still loved him.
That was the problem.
“I don’t know if I can forgive you.”
“I know.”
“I don’t know if I can trust you.”
“I know.”
“But today isn’t about us.”
“No.”
“It’s about ending this.”
He nodded.
At five o’clock, I walked into the Whitmore chapel.
Not in a wedding dress.
In a navy business suit.
Rows of chairs stood empty.
Police officers waited in hidden positions.
Daniel stood near the altar.
Mina watched remotely from the hospital.
Rebecca and Marcus remained in a secure room with investigators.
I carried one thing.
The unsigned acquisition contract.
At 5:07, the chapel doors opened.
Eleanor walked in.
Alone.
Perfect posture.
Ivory coat.
Calm expression.
She looked around.
“No guests?”
I held up the contract.
“I thought you only cared about the signature.”
She smiled.
“Where is Daniel?”
“Here.”
He stepped out.
For the first time, Eleanor’s composure cracked.
“You.”
Daniel said nothing.
She looked at me.
“You think you’ve won.”
“No.”
I placed the contract on the altar.
“I think you’ve lost.”
“You have no idea what you’re doing.”
“Then explain it.”
She walked closer.
“You built a company. Impressive. But companies fail. Employees leave. Markets change. Family is permanent.”
“Mina probably believed that once.”
Eleanor’s eyes hardened.
“Mina is sick.”
“Mina is finally free.”
Something flashed in Eleanor’s face.
Fear.
Not anger.
Fear.
“She talked.”
“Yes.”
Eleanor looked toward the doors.
She realized.
“You brought police.”
“Yes.”
She laughed.
“You really think Nathan will let this happen?”
My blood chilled.
“Where is he?”
Eleanor smiled.
Daniel moved toward me.
A gunshot exploded outside.
Everyone ducked.
Police shouted.
Another shot.
Eleanor ran.
Officers intercepted her at the side door.
Daniel grabbed me and pulled me behind a stone column.
“Stay down.”
Sirens.
Shouting.
Then silence.
A police radio crackled.
“Suspect vehicle west entrance.”
Nathan.
He had come.
Officers pursued him across the property.
Charles was found in the passenger seat.
Nathan crashed through a service gate.
He continued on foot.
For twenty minutes, nobody knew where he was.
Then my phone rang.
Unknown number.
I answered.
Nathan.
“You ruined everything.”
“Where are you?”
“You should have signed.”
“Where is this coming from, Nathan?”
His breathing was fast.
“You think Mina is free because she talked?”
“She is.”
“No.”
A pause.
“She still belongs to me.”
My stomach turned.
“You’re finished.”
“So are you.”
The call ended.
An officer rushed toward me.
“We traced it.”
“Where?”
He looked toward the hill behind the chapel.
Before he could answer, every light in the building went out.
Emergency alarms began screaming.
Then Daniel disappeared.
One second he was beside me.
The next, he was gone.
His phone lay on the chapel floor.
May you like
A message appeared on its screen.
COME ALONE OR YOUR BROTHER DIES.
