Chapter 2 - THE GUN THAT COULDN’T FIRE
The weapon was not loaded.
It could not be.
It was a decommissioned movie prop.
Two days before the wedding, a production company had finished filming an action sequence on a neighboring beach. One of the resort managers, a former college friend of Madison’s brother, had arranged for several harmless props to remain for a charity auction.
The six-barrel rotary cannon had no firing mechanism.
No ammunition feed.
No functional internals.
It was enormous, theatrical, terrifying.
And useless as a weapon.
Tyler did not know that.
Sienna did not know that either.
That was the point.
Madison held it for three seconds.
Long enough.
Then she lowered it onto the sand.
Tyler shouted:
“ARE YOU INSANE?!”
Madison looked at him.
“No.”
Sienna scrambled backward.
“You threatened us!”
“No.”
“You pointed a gun at us!”
“A prop.”
Tyler stared.
“What?”
Madison turned the side panel toward them.
Bright orange safety plate.
FILM PROP—NONFUNCTIONAL.
Sienna went pale for an entirely different reason.
Madison reached back into the beach bag.
This time she pulled out a black folder.
Tyler’s face changed again.
That folder scared him more than the barrels.
Madison noticed.
Good.
She placed it on the small table beside the champagne.
“I wanted to know which one would make you panic first.”
Tyler looked at the folder.
“What is that?”
May you like
Madison smiled.
“The reason you invited her.”
