Chapter 1 BLOODSHED AT THE ALTAR

“Sir, we've got eyes on the target.” A man said into his phone, his eyes monitoring the movements of the so called target keenly.

“Good!” A chilly voice replied from the other end of the phone.

“But…” He paused, hesitating a little before delivering the next news.

“Speak, Marco.”

“The target has an acquaintance with her on the run.” Marko replied, signaling to the henchmen with him to fall into positions.

Marco could hear the receiver of his phone call stand up from the chair he had been sitting on. The stoic sole of his shoes hitting the marble floor as he headed off towards the window that offered an ethereal view of the vast city floor.

He could hear his breathing coming out in short rasps and he— Marco awaited his boss's final order, ready for execution.

“Bring the girl to me,” The boss finally delivered. “And kill the rat she's with.”

And with that, the line went dead. Marco pocketed his phone quickly, signaling a change of task to the henchmen who were beginning to move close to the dock.

VANESSA'S POV

Today would have been the happiest day of my life.

Today should have been the happiest day of my life.

That morning, I had woken up with precious smiles welcoming me into the fabric of reality, away from my dream world.

“Good morning, Vanessa.” My best friend— Matilda who was cuddling up next to me had greeted me cozily, wrapping her hands around me in a bear hug.

“Congratulations on your wedding.” She continued, breaking out of the hug and tucking the stray strands of my hair carefully behind my ear.

“Thank you.” I had said back to her, full of smiles as my mind had blanked away from the world, only filled with flowery moments I wanted to last forever.

My wedding to Dylan Smith, the apparent heir to a million dollar company was meant to take place today and without further ado, the preparation for the bride had kicked in.

Seated behind the huge fitting mirror, a professional makeup artist was baking my face into perfection seamlessly. As she dusted the blush brush on my cheek bone, my heart fluttered as my thoughts trailed off to my husband-to-be: Dylan.

Dylan had proposed to me barely two months ago and I will confess to him over and over again how much I would love to have him as my husband and keep him as mine forever.

Ever since he slipped that ring on my finger, the days crawled slower than a slug towards our wedding day. But finally, the day was today and I could barely contain the excitement I am feeling about the entire process.

After about an hour of precession, I would be in his arms forever, with little to no thoughts about what the universe had in stake for us.

Going towards the altar with the prettiest bouquet in the world, with my exquisitely fitted wedding gown crawling behind me like a thousand minions. The happy guests who couldn't get enough of my beauty took photos as I walked down the aisle towards my husband who was standing by the altar.

…

That should have been how things should pan out, but as all these scenes fell in place, a sudden gunshot fired into the hall, creating a momentum of confusion as the loud screaming and clustering of frightened guests blared into existence.

My heart tightened with fear as I watched the commotion at my wedding uprise with each passing second. For a moment, the world seemed to stop around me, my heart shredding into tiny pieces as a single algorithm had fired into existence.

I could feel someone grab my hand in haste, the bouquet in my hand falling out with the urgent pull that came after. It was Dylan, pulling me away from the aisle and we were headed for the cathedral's backdoor.

'What was happening?’ I had asked myself as tears welled up in my eyes, not believing my wedding had just been ruined before we could take our vows.

Dylan's bodyguards cooped after us, leading the way towards the backdoor and closing up the end as they took cover for us, firing their shots continuously at the invaders who were also cocking up their guns and firing at us non-stop.

Suddenly, I could feel a restriction to my movement, forcing Dylan to stop and turn back at me. I had lost all my senses as I couldn't believe things were happening so fast.

The church, a holy sanctuary meant to give ears to my vows to Dylan, was now bathed in a cold hue of blood. Bodies running into bodies. The priest was hanging by the pew, his garment spiked with his own blood as he had been shot as well.

I fell to my knees, unable to wrap my head around what was happening.

“Get a hold of yourself, Vanessa!” I could hear Dylan's voice break through the mundane barrier that was hoarding over my ears.

His voice jolted me up and I realized the cause of the constrict to my movement was a nail which had forced itself into my dress, pulling the tail of my dress till it tore it to a certain length.

“What is going on, Dylan? What are these people?” I asked him tenderly, streaks of tears flowing down my face, washing off my makeup.

“We have to get out of here.” Dylan continued, giving no response to my questions.

His hands hurled up to my bare shoulder. I could feel his blood turn cold and his eyes filled with what seemed like regret and anger. He was trembling slightly, but he manned it all up, just to console me.

“We have to leave the country today, Vanessa.” He had said. “NOW!”

Dylan maneuvered the car to a stop, slamming the door hard as he rushed towards the passenger's seat to get me out. His bodyguards had served as a shield for us before our escape from the church and my once pure white wedding gown was also drenched in blood— which was not mine.

My trembling fingers were grapped by Dylan, leading me out of the car and towards the loading dock where a man was waiting for us looking all tense and confused.

“Sir, here are your tickets.”

The man was a henchman for Dylan, I could tell that much and the worried look in his eyes made me believe whatever was happening was not a war that could be stopped soon.

“The train will stop at Kyiv and my men will get you both to safety when you get there.”

Dylan gave him a sharp nod, his disheveled hair now sticking to his forehead due to the unending sweat that streaked down his forehead.

“Please, be safe till then. I will cover things up here.” The man assured, bowing slightly to Dylan.

“We have to go now, Vanessa.” Dylan announced, giving my hand a little squeeze and a forced smile, just to make me feel at ease.

Despite his smile being forced, I could feel the searing pain within it, but to the very least, it was heartwarming and I tried to assure him I was with him with another crooked smile of mine, but my smile never made it out of my lips.

My ear went numb for a minute as a whistling sound dashed beside me, aiming towards the man holding me tight like I was his lifeline.

Suddenly, he fell to the ground, our fingers slipping out of reach. In that moment, I remained dumbfounded as I watched his porcelain shirt tone into another color while he gasped for breath.

All I could see was blood.

Dylan had been shot.

My legs gave in and I fell beside him wearily, cooping him into my arms as I bawled my eyes out that I didn't notice the man who was with us falling to the ground dead as well.

The world turned cold and lost all its colors as I felt a sharp thin pain deepen itself into my skin from behind.

Alas, I was injected with some substance that took my consciousness away within a jiffy, pulling me into the ethereal darkness of an endless orbit and when I woke up again, he was sitting there, right in front of me with a sinister grin on his lips…

…like the devil he was.