Chapter 4 - The Rehearsal Dinner Raid
The next evening, the grand ballroom of the Hermitage Hotel in Nashville was bathed in soft champagne light.
Over two hundred of the city’s wealthiest residents were gathered for our wedding rehearsal dinner. Tessa stood in the center of the room, wearing a stunning white silk dress, laughing gracefully as she held a glass of Dom Pérignon.
"Rowan is just running a bit late with some final corporate approvals," Tessa told my father, smiling radiantly. "You know how he is. Always working."
"He's not late, Tessa," my voice echoed through the ballroom.
The double doors of the hall swung open.
I walked in, but I wasn't wearing a tuxedo. I wore a simple black suit, my face set in a mask of absolute, unyielding stone. Beside me walked two federal marshals, followed by a woman in a simple navy dress.
It was Maren. And in her arms, wrapped in a warm pink blanket, was a tiny baby girl with a small oxygen tube resting gently beneath her nose. Beside her, Arthur, my lead security guard, pushed a double stroller carrying the healthy twin boys.
The room fell into a suffocating, dead silence.
May you like
Tessa’s champagne glass slipped from her fingers, shattering on the polished marble floor. "Rowan... what is the meaning of this? Why is she here? And what are those children—"
"These are my children, Tessa," I said, my voice carrying to every corner of the room. "The triplets you tried to destroy. The babies you lied about, blackmailed, and tried to starve."
