Chapter 1 - The Cannon Fired From Two Feet Away
The silver confetti cannon exploded less than two feet from Rachel Mercer’s face.
Something struck her left eye before she understood that the blast had been aimed directly at her.
She stumbled backward in her blue satin bridesmaid gown, one hand flying to her face as silver strips of paper drifted through the bright reception hall outside Columbus.
Guests laughed at first.
Derek Sloan laughed too.
He still held the cannon.
“Stop screaming,” Vanessa snapped, grabbing Rachel’s wrist. “Your pain is finally making my wedding entertaining.”
Rachel tried to pull away.
“Don’t touch my eye.”
Vanessa jerked her hand down anyway.
“You’re embarrassing me.”
Pain burned beneath Rachel’s eyelid. Her vision had become a wash of light and moving shapes.
“I need to leave.”
Derek stepped into her path.
“You’re not leaving until everyone gets a better video of you crying.”
Several guests still had phones raised.
That was the part Rachel would remember later—not simply that people recorded, but that Derek seemed to want them recording.
Vanessa gripped the shoulder of Rachel’s gown and hauled her upright.
“Wash your face and smile, or I’ll tell everyone you ruined this wedding on purpose.”
Rachel tore free and stumbled against a cocktail table. Champagne glasses toppled.
Across the dance floor, wedding videographer Aaron Price lowered his professional camera.
Something metallic glittered beside Rachel’s heel.
He picked it up.
A narrow curved fragment, heavier than confetti.
Derek noticed.
His expression changed.
Aaron slipped the fragment into an empty memory-card case.
Rachel’s mother, Diane Mercer, finally pushed through the guests.
“What happened?”
“Rachel made a scene,” Vanessa said.
Rachel stared at her sister through one functioning eye.
“He fired it into my face.”
“It was confetti.”
“No,” Aaron said quietly.
Derek looked toward him.
Aaron had already begun rewinding one of his camera feeds.
His second camera had been left running near the service doorway fifteen minutes before the blast.
On its screen, Vanessa stood beside Derek with the opened cannon between them.
Her hand tipped something metallic into the barrel.
Then her voice came through the camera microphone.
“Aim for her left eye. Then everyone will believe it was just confetti.”
Derek lunged for the camera.
Aaron stepped back and kept recording.
Rachel understood before anyone said another word.
May you like
The cannon had not malfunctioned.
Her sister had planned where it would hit.
