Chapter 5 - The Wedding Day Sunrise
Saturday morning broke over Chicago with a brilliant, freezing autumn glare. The sky was a hard, flawless blue, but a bitter wind swept off Lake Michigan, rattling the iron gates of St. Augustine Cathedral downtown.
Inside the cathedral, florists were putting the final touches on nine million dollars’ worth of white roses, orchids, and cascading ivy imported directly from the Netherlands. The pews were already filling with high-society elites, politicians, judges, and syndicate capos who had flown in from across the country to witness the ultimate consolidation of power between the DeMarco and Kensington families.
In the master bridal suite on the top floor of the Drake Hotel, Isabella Kensington stood before a gilded mirror, her blonde hair styled in intricate cascading curls, her face painted with professional perfection. She smoothed down the yards of silk and imported lace of her gown, smiling at her reflection with absolute, unyielding triumph.
Today, she would sign the wedding registry. Today, she would become legally intertwined with the most powerful logistics empire in the Midwest. And by midnight, with Gabriel eliminated aboard the Belladonna and Vincent DeMarco managing the transition, she and her father would control everything.
Her phone buzzed on the vanity.
A text message from Damian: Everything is in place. The federal filings are sealed until midnight. The yacht crew is loyal. Is Gabriel at the vestry yet?
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Isabella typed back with a smirk: He’s on his way. The groom is walking straight into his own funeral.
She picked up her bouquet of white lilies, took one last, admiring look at herself in the mirror, and walked out the door to meet her father in the private limousine waiting downstairs.
