Chapter 9 - THE WEDDING VALERIA REFUSED TO CANCEL
Lucas expected Valeria to cancel after Elena was found.
She refused.
“If we cancel now, Carter files the incapacity petition and tells the board you collapsed under an extortion scheme,” she said. “If we proceed, we control where he expects everyone to be.”
Lucas did not trust the proposal. Priya saw strategic value if the marriage documents were replaced with a public acknowledgment preserving Mia and Elena’s claims. Carter might reveal his final mechanism to stop it.
The wedding became a controlled legal operation, but not a fake romance. Lucas had not decided whether he could marry Valeria after her lies.
“Do not use a ceremony to make that decision for me,” he told her.
Valeria accepted. The church booking remained while vows and licenses were held pending Lucas’s consent.
Only a small team knew. Carter believed the wedding had resumed unchanged.
Mia was not part of the plan. Her advocate insisted she remain away from the church and protected from publicity.
Grace agreed.
Two days later, Grace vanished while transporting evidence to Priya. Her car was found near a bus station. No sign of violence appeared, but her phone and the original guardianship ledger were gone.
Mia disappeared from protective housing the same hour.
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Security footage showed her leaving alone in a dirty oversized hoodie.
She carried the torn church program.
