All Chapters of Wedding Day Ultimatum: Shackle All Your Kin: Chapter 1 - Chapter 9

9 Chapters

Chapter 1

My fiancee, Giselle Warren, singled out two electronic tracking monitors from the bag. Number one was for Dad, and number two was for Mom. She held them out to me. I glanced down at the names printed on the labels, making no move to take them as I kept my phone pressed to my ear. "Mr. Crawford, we've been preparing for this reception for months," the hotel manager pleaded on the other end of the line. "The lobster and king crab were flown in fresh this morning. Ms. Warren personally requested the premium dry-aged steak, and the cuts are already prepped. These ingredients are extremely rare and expensive. If you pull the plug now, we simply can't absorb that kind of loss. "Think about the money you've already—""Is any of that food actually going to my family's tables?" I cut in. Five seconds of dead silence hung over the line. I hadn't been there when the menu was finalized. By the time I showed up, Giselle and Shawn Warren had already locked everything in. Seafood towers, l

Chapter 2

When my family came downstairs, Mom was the only one smiling. The rest of my relatives hovered in the lobby doorway, refusing to take another step forward. "It's a happy day. Let's not bring up monitors," Mom pleaded, her back slightly hunched as she bowed toward Giselle's car window. "It sends the wrong message. It's like saying you don't trust anyone here. "Let's not jinx the day. If there's anything wrong with what my son did, we can sort it all out after the ceremony.""Absolutely not!"Giselle's mother, Donna Harding, shoved Mom aside. "If they can't even handle this one small compromise, my daughter is going to be walked all over by your entire family after she marries in! They're putting them on today, end of story!"Giselle reached out and pulled her mother back. "Mom, don't make a scene."She looked at me through the car window, her eyes filled with hurt and disappointment."Fine, forget the monitors. They don't have to wear them," Giselle said coldly. "As long as yo

Chapter 3

Jenna's face flushed bright red with fury. She opened her mouth to snap back, but her mother instantly clamped a hand over her mouth, hushing her. My aunt, a woman who had never held back her tongue a day in her life back home, didn't say a single word. She just quietly unpinned her corsage.Nobody in my family wanted to make the scene any uglier than it already was. Shawn whipped out his laptop. "Watch closely, everyone."He booted up a software application, and a high-resolution map appeared on the screen. He zoomed in once, then twice, until two distinct pulsing dots appeared in the center of the hotel layout. "This is the live monitoring software synced directly to the electronic tracking monitors. Every activated unit tracks the wearer's movements in real time and projects them right here. During the reception, I'll have this feed broadcast live on the hotel's secondary screen."The two tiny dots sat motionless on the map. Shawn enlarged the labels, bolded the text, and

Chapter 4

Mom and Dad were already a step ahead of me. They'd grabbed the bag of tracking monitors before I could touch it.Inside the car, Giselle shifted in her seat and began to step out, one high-heeled shoe reaching for the pavement. The rigid tension in her posture melted into the beginning of a triumphant smile. "Don't touch it," Dad said, turning back to me. "I told you, your mother and I will handle this. You're the groom today. Don't let anyone make you feel small today."They were going to take this so I wouldn't have to."Hold on a second!" Shawn stepped forward, blocking them. He looked around at the rest of my relatives who were still standing near the entrance, sizing them up like inmates in a police lineup. "If we don't let them steal and freeload, they're obviously going to hold a grudge. Once they get inside the venue, they'll be looking for payback."He turned to Giselle. "Trashing the venue would be the least of it. What I'm really worried about is them sabotaging the c

Chapter 5

"There must be some mistake."Giselle gripped the hem of her dress so hard her knuckles went white. The decorations that had looked perfect when she left that morning were completely destroyed. The building's maintenance crew was clearing away the last of the wedding decorations outside the building.The car wasn't moving, and she wasn't getting out."Ms. Warren, don't hold up my schedule," the driver said. "If you want to sit outside your in-laws' place and refuse to move, that's not my problem. But you're not pulling that with me."Giselle flinched, and her eyes were bloodshot."Turn around!" Her lips trembled. "Tell the whole motorcade to turn around and go to the new house!"I didn't expect Giselle to come back.She'd always been obsessed with doing things the right way, and I never thought she'd have the motorcade drive through the neighborhood a second time. But whatever she was thinking didn't matter to me anymore.Giselle's face appeared in the car window. Her perfect m

Chapter 6

The living room went dead silent."Mom? Dad? Are you in there?"It was Giselle. She'd swallowed her pride and followed someone through the building entrance to get upstairs."Please, open the door!" Her voice was thick with tears. "It's your son's wedding day. You have to let your daughter-in-law in. Please!"Nobody in the living room moved. Mom and Dad looked uncomfortable, their eyes drifting to the blank TV screen.There was a time when they'd looked forward to welcoming Giselle into the family. Now all they could do was pretend she wasn't there.The knocking stopped."I'm sorry. I was wrong. I wasn't thinking straight and got caught up in the moment."Mom, Dad, we're really running out of time. Can you just let me in so we can talk? This wedding means everything to me."Her last words dissolved into a sob."Are you serious right now?" Jenna had finally had enough, and this time nobody covered her mouth. "They already deleted your access. Don't you know what that means? Yo

Chapter 7

"From the way you're dressed, I'm guessing you're heading to the courthouse today?"The cab driver kept glancing at her. He'd seen plenty of women in his car, but almost never one dressed like this."Not the courthouse. The wedding."Giselle had planned the timeline down to the last detail. The license was supposed to come three weeks after the ceremony.Now she was starting to think she'd gotten her priorities wrong. If she'd signed the papers first, she'd still have something to fall back on."A wedding?" The driver perked up. "I've never picked up a bride going to her own reception in a cab. Is your husband just cheap? Couldn't even spring for a wedding car?"I've seen budget weddings before, but at least the couple drives themselves. He didn't even come with you? And you're still marrying the guy?"Giselle pressed her lips together. She had no answer for him.Every step of the wedding had been done her way. Whatever she wanted, I gave her. Whenever we disagreed, I was the o

Chapter 8

Things escalated fast, and the hotel manager stepped in immediately. He took one look at the cheaper spread and winced."Use your eyes!" Giselle's uncle kept going. "Who taught your kitchen to serve food like this? Do you want to lose your business?"The manager gave a practiced, apologetic nod. "According to the original booking, all the seafood was only supposed to go to the bride's tables.""Then serve it! What happened to it? Did you eat it, or did this punk eat it?"The "punk" he was talking about was me."The booking is one thing, but the groom paid for the entire reception. Per the contract, all of the food is his."The cheaper spread for the groom's side was Mr. Warren's specific request, and we prepared it accordingly. Today we simply swapped the menus on Mr. Crawford's instructions."If you'd like the seafood, you're welcome to order and pay for it yourselves. But the food at this reception is Mr. Crawford's to distribute. He decides which tables get what."The Warren

Chapter 9

It was the same ring box I'd thrown in the trash. Two diamond-studded bands caught the sunlight and glittered.Giselle had gone back and dug through the garbage to find them.She was the kind of woman who couldn't stand anything dirty. She'd always hated even being near a trash can."I picked these out with you," she said, still out of breath. "Forget the rest of the ceremony. Let's just exchange rings."I know I was wrong. Roy, please, give me one more chance."We had picked them out together. But the only reason she'd gone with this set was that the one Shawn wanted had already been sold to someone else. Mine was her second choice.I took the box from her. Under her hopeful gaze, I threw both rings into the lake behind the hotel.…There was no shortage of things tied to Giselle. Getting rid of it all took time. Most of it I had housekeeping box up and throw out.The apartment was the last thing to go. It was in a prime location and wouldn't be hard to sell. The day I went t

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