Chapter 8 - The Wedding TrapOn Saturday morning, I wore white for the first time.
Not because I was marrying Lucien Bellamy.
Because Theo asked me to marry him first.
The actual ceremony took place at 6:12 a.m. in a private chapel inside the federal courthouse.
No photographers.
No flowers.
No Bellamy board.
Only Rachel, two witnesses, and an irritated federal judge who informed Theo that carrying a firearm during a civil marriage ceremony was “deeply inappropriate.”
Theo removed it.
Then placed it on the table within reach.
The judge decided not to continue the argument.
I wore a simple cream dress.
Theo wore a black suit.
When the judge asked whether I took Theodore Lucien Bellamy as my lawful husband, I looked into the same impossible blue eyes that had first watched me across table nine.
“I do.”
Theo’s voice was lower when his turn came.
“I do.”
He slid the sapphire ring back onto my finger.
The real marriage certificate disappeared into federal custody within minutes.
At noon, I entered St. Patrick’s Cathedral wearing a different wedding gown.
This one cost more than my father’s old apartment.
Lucien had sent it.
I almost refused to wear it on principle.
Then Theo said, “If the man is financing his own arrest, let him buy the dress.”
I married well.
The cathedral was filled with people.
Politicians.
Financiers.
Old family representatives.
Media had gathered outside after anonymous tips about a “historic Bellamy announcement.”
Lucien wanted spectacle.
Power required witnesses.
I walked down the aisle alone.
Every step felt unreal.
At the altar stood the man I had known from old photographs as Theo’s uncle.
Lucien Bellamy looked remarkably good for seventy-eight.
Silver hair.
Tall.
Elegant.
Theo’s jawline.
Theo’s eyes.
Seeing him alive was like looking at a corrupted future version of the man I loved.
He smiled when I reached him.
“Clare.”
“Lucien.”
“You have Juliet’s defiance.”
“You mean she hated you too?”
His smile widened.
“She was entertaining.”
“Where is Eleanor?”
“Safe.”
“Show me.”
He nodded toward the first pew.
A tablet rested beside an elderly priest.
The screen displayed Eleanor seated in a room, apparently unharmed.
Live video.
She saw me.
Her face tightened.
“Clare, don’t—”
The audio cut.
Lucien smiled.
“After the ceremony.”
“You promised an exchange.”
“And you brought the ledger?”
I lifted a jeweled clutch.
His gaze fixed on it.
“Yes.”
Technically true.
A copy.
Carefully altered by federal cyber specialists.
“Then we understand one another.”
I looked around.
Theo was nowhere visible.
That was the plan.
Lucien could not see him.
Neither could most of Lucien’s security.
But I knew exactly where he was.
Behind the organ loft.
Watching.
The ceremony began.
Every instinct in my body screamed.
Lucien looked completely relaxed.
Halfway through the priest’s opening remarks, I noticed something wrong.
Trent.
He stood near a side aisle wearing a dark suit.
His eyes met mine.
He touched his cuff once.
Signal.
Problem.
Then twice.
Abort.
I kept smiling.
Lucien noticed my glance.
“Something troubling you?”
“My shoes.”
“You’ll become accustomed to discomfort.”
“I doubt it.”
The priest reached the vows.
Outside, camera shutters clicked through the open doors.
Lucien turned toward me.
“Clare Maro, do you—”
“No.”
The priest stopped.
Lucien’s smile remained.
“Excuse me?”
“I said no.”
Murmurs spread through the cathedral.
“This was not our agreement.”
“I changed my mind.”
His eyes chilled.
“Eleanor.”
I looked toward the tablet.
The video feed remained.
I smiled.
“She isn’t there anymore.”
For the first time, Lucien’s expression changed.
The screen flickered.
Then displayed an empty chair.
Trent had done it.
Lucien looked toward the aisle.
Trent was gone.
I opened my clutch.
No drive.
Only a phone.
Theo’s voice sounded through the cathedral speakers.
“Hello, Father.”
Every person in the church froze.
Lucien slowly looked upward.
Theo stepped into view on the balcony.
Black suit.
No tie.
Gun concealed but obvious beneath his jacket.
Lucien stared.
“You.”
Theo descended the side stairs.
“You sound disappointed.”
“You were told to remain away.”
“I’ve never been good with instructions.”
Lucien’s guards began shifting.
So did men and women seated throughout the congregation.
Not federal agents.
Bellamy employees personally loyal to Theo.
Restaurant owners.
Drivers.
Executives.
Security.
People Lucien had dismissed as servants of the empire.
They stood one by one.
Theo reached the aisle.
Lucien looked around.
“What is this?”
“A vote.”
Theo continued walking.
“The Bellamy Group board voted at 8:00 this morning.”
Lucien’s face tightened.
“They have no authority without quorum.”
“They had quorum.”
“Vale is detained.”
“Adrian voted by secured deposition.”
Lucien stared.
Theo stopped beside me.
“The board rejected your succession claim.”
“You are my son.”
The words echoed through the cathedral.
Gasps rippled through the guests.
Theo did not flinch.
“Biologically.”
“You carry my blood.”
“So does every mosquito unfortunate enough to bite you.”
I almost laughed.
Lucien’s expression turned cold.
“You think this girl has changed you.”
Theo took my hand.
“No.”
His thumb brushed my ring.
“She reminded me I had a choice.”
Lucien looked down.
Saw the sapphire.
Then saw the wedding band beneath it.
His face changed.
“What is that?”
I smiled.
“My wedding ring.”
“You haven’t married.”
“Actually, I have.”
Theo lifted our joined hands.
“Six twelve this morning.”
The cathedral erupted.
Lucien’s composure finally shattered.
“You idiot.”
Theo smiled.
“Good morning to you too.”
“You have activated the trust.”
“No,” I said.
Lucien turned.
“I activated it.”
His eyes narrowed.
“The Madeleine succession clause gives voting authority—”
“To me.”
Lucien froze.
I had been waiting for that moment.
“My mother amended the trust in 2013.”
“That is impossible.”
“She had help.”
Adrian Vale appeared near the cathedral doors accompanied by federal marshals.
Lucien stared as though seeing a ghost.
Adrian smiled tiredly.
“Hello, old friend.”
“You betrayed the Circle.”
“About twenty-eight years ago.”
Federal agents entered from both transepts.
Not agents selected from New York.
Teams flown in from four districts after Rachel cross-referenced the ledger for compromised names.
Lucien stepped backward.
“You think arrest changes anything?”
“No,” Theo said.
“It helps.”
Lucien laughed.
“The Circle has survived kings.”
Rachel Cohen approached.
“And yet tax records remain remarkably effective.”
I liked her.
Lucien’s gaze fixed on me.
“You have no idea what you possess.”
“I possess my grandmother’s evidence.”
“You possess leverage over half the Western financial system.”
“Not anymore.”
Something dangerous entered his eyes.
“What did you do?”
I held up the phone.
“At exactly noon, encrypted copies of the ledger went to prosecutors in six countries.”
The color left his face.
Theo looked at me.
Even he had not known that part.
“Clare.”
“What?”
“That wasn’t the plan.”
“I made an adjustment.”
“You released the entire ledger?”
“To authorities.”
“Which authorities?”
“All of them.”
Rachel cleared her throat.
“Nearly all.”
Lucien stared.
“You stupid child.”
His voice shook with rage.
“You surrendered the only weapon keeping you alive.”
“No.”
I looked at Theo.
“I surrendered the reason everyone wanted to kill me for possessing it.”
For a fraction of a second, pride crossed Theo’s face.
Lucien moved suddenly.
His hand went inside his jacket.
Theo shoved me behind him.
Gunfire erupted.
Not from Theo.
Trent appeared from the side aisle and fired once.
Lucien’s weapon dropped.
Blood spread across his shoulder.
Chaos exploded through the cathedral.
Guests screamed.
Federal agents tackled two guards.
Theo moved toward Lucien.
I grabbed his arm.
“Don’t.”
Lucien lay against the altar steps, conscious and furious.
Theo could have killed him.
Everyone knew it.
Lucien smiled through pain.
“Do it.”
Theo stared at his biological father.
“You want me to prove I am you.”
Lucien’s smile faltered.
Theo stepped back.
“That must be disappointing.”
Federal agents restrained him.
Trent lowered his gun.
Theo turned.
For a long moment, the two men simply stared at each other.
“Boss.”
“You lied.”
“Yes.”
“You put Clare at risk.”
“Yes.”
“You worked for him.”
“Yes.”
Trent swallowed.
“And then I worked against him.”
Theo’s voice was quiet.
“Why?”
Trent looked at me.
“Because Lucien ordered Sullivan Street cleared.”
My stomach tightened.
“What does that mean?”
“No witnesses.”
Zoe.
If I had returned home—
Trent continued.
“I warned Theo about the Calabrians indirectly. Made sure you left Luciel Blue.”
Theo stared.
“You staged the threat?”
“No. Russo was real. But I redirected your extraction route.”
My mind raced.
“So you saved Zoe?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
Trent looked almost uncomfortable.
“Because she made me coffee once.”
I blinked.
“What?”
“At the apartment. When I installed surveillance.”
“You installed—”
“Not important.”
Despite the cathedral full of armed agents, I almost laughed.
Theo did not.
“What happens now?” Trent asked.
Theo studied him.
“You testify.”
“Yes.”
“You tell them everything.”
“Yes.”
“And if you ever lie to me again—”
“You’ll kill me.”
“No.”
Theo glanced at Rachel.
“I’ll let federal prosecutors handle you.”
Trent visibly grimaced.
“Cruel.”
Hours later, after statements and arrests and more legal explanations than any bride should hear on her wedding day, Theo and I stood alone inside the empty cathedral.
The gown Lucien bought was stained near the hem.
My hair had collapsed.
Theo had blood on one cuff.
Not ours.
“Beautiful wedding,” I said.
“Exactly as I imagined.”
“Really?”
“No.”
He touched my face.
“You could have told me about distributing the ledger.”
“You would have argued.”
“Yes.”
“I saved time.”
“You terrify me.”
“That seems fair.”
His expression softened.
“We’re actually married.”
“We are.”
“Do you regret it?”
I looked around the cathedral.
Bullet mark in one pillar.
Broken flowers.
Blood near the altar.
Federal evidence markers.
“Ask me somewhere less romantic.”
Theo laughed.
A real laugh.
Rare enough that I felt it in my chest.
Then his arms came around me.
“No,” I whispered.
His forehead rested against mine.
“No what?”
“No regrets.”
He kissed me.
For several seconds, there was no Circle.
No Bellamy empire.
No dead relatives.
No four-billion-dollar inheritance.
Just Theo.
Then his phone rang.
He sighed against my mouth.
“If that is another resurrected family member, I’m throwing it away.”
He checked the screen.
His expression changed.
“What?”
“Hospital.”
“Eleanor?”
He answered.
Listened.
Then looked at me.
“She’s awake.”
Relief flooded me.
But Theo did not look relieved.
“What else?”
His face became carefully blank.
“Eleanor says we released the wrong ledger.”
I stared.
“What?”
Theo lowered the phone.
“The Circle list was real.”
“Then what does she mean?”
He looked toward the darkened altar.
“It wasn’t the master ledger.”
Cold crept through me.
“Where is that?”
Theo’s eyes met mine.
“She says Sebastian hid it in the only place Lucien would never search.”
“Where?”
May you like
Theo paused.
“Inside Bellamy Tower.”
Related Stories
