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Home / Imagination Short Story / Ten Minutes Before I Do / Chapter 1 - Chapter 8

All Chapters of Ten Minutes Before I Do: Chapter 1 - Chapter 8

8 Chapters

Chapter 1

My heart jumped, but I caught myself and gave the screen a cold laugh.I was minutes from walking down the aisle. Who had time for a prank this cheap?I typed, "That edit is terrible. Who is this?"The reply came back instantly. "I'm you.""You don't believe me? Check the inside left pocket of Harrison's suit, right over his heart. There's a plain silver band in there. Celeste gave it to him.""Celeste's bridesmaid dress had a broken zipper. Harrison sewed it himself in the changing room.""And there's a fresh needle mark in the web of his right hand."Click.The dressing-room door opened.Harrison Blake walked in wearing a custom white suit.He was handsome in a polished way, gold-rimmed glasses, an expression built to look gentle and devoted."Nat, are you ready?"He smiled as he crossed to me, eyes full of warmth.I didn't say anything. I stood up and put both arms around him.Harrison went still for a second, then laughed softly and hugged me back."You're about to b

Chapter 2

The dressing-room door opened again.Celeste Monroe came in wearing her bridesmaid dress, eyes already red."Harrison, Nat, why are you fighting?"She came forward like she meant to break it up.Instead her heel came down with perfect accuracy on the wedding shoe I'd left beside the chair.Crack. The crystal work across the toe shattered.Celeste cried out and let herself fall toward Harrison.He caught her."Celeste, are you hurt?"She leaned into him and turned wounded eyes on me."Nat, I'm so sorry. I didn't mean to break your shoe."If it's ruined, wear mine. I don't mind stepping down as a bridesmaid."What a beautifully rehearsed little performance.The woman I used to be would have swallowed it to keep the ceremony on schedule.My phone lit up again.The messages from ten years ahead came fast."She did that on purpose.""I walked out there in her ruined shoes and became a joke in Wrenford for a decade.""Harrison stood onstage and complained that I'd embarrass

Chapter 3

Harrison snorted when I agreed to go wait in the wings."At least you know when to be reasonable."If you'd been this agreeable an hour ago, none of this would have happened."Celeste immediately kicked off her worn heels and slid them across the floor to me."Sorry, Nat. You'll have to make do with mine."They rub a little, but it beats going out there barefoot."I looked at the peeling old shoes and said nothing.There was a deep scratch across one of them.I could swallow it for one more hour.I pushed my feet into shoes a full size too big and stood up.The soles were rigid and bit into my arches.Harrison straightened his jacket, satisfied."Let's go, future Mrs. Blake."Outside the dressing room, a long corridor ran toward the staging doors.Harrison walked ahead of me and took a call.He thought I'd given up completely, so he didn't bother lowering his voice."Yeah. Is our guy at the Montessa Department of Revenue taken care of?"The second the video plays, file

Chapter 4

I kept my head down and moved fast.I opened the link to the venue's control system.I entered Harrison's phone number.Then the long string my future self had sent."Login successful."The screen loaded the back end of the ballroom's media console.From ten years ahead: "Find the drive. There's a folder on it called Surprise.""That's the forged material he's going to use on Dad."I scrolled and found it right away.Inside sat one high-definition video file and a stack of fabricated ledger photos.I hit delete.Then I opened my photo library.My future self had already sent through the real ammunition.Unedited hotel surveillance of Harrison and Celeste.Screenshots of Celeste discussing the transfer of Fairbourne assets.And a recorded call of Harrison paying off a doctor to put my father on a slow poison.Any one of them would put the two of them in a cell.This was my care package.I bundled the whole thing and uploaded it.Straight into the folder called Surpris

Chapter 5

The screen came alive, and the sound of two people who were very much not alone filled the ballroom.The room went dead silent.Then it detonated."What am I looking at?""Is that the groom? And the maid of honor?""They're playing this at their own wedding?"Flashes went off in waves and phones came up all over the room.Harrison's expression split apart.He stared at the screen like he'd seen a ghost."Shut it off. Shut it off right now."He screamed at the sound tech until his voice cracked.Celeste shrieked, covered her face, and dropped into a crouch."Stop filming! All of you, stop!"The tech hammered at his keyboard, sweat running down his face."Mr. Blake, the console's locked out. I can't kill the feed from here."Harrison bolted off the stage toward the equipment rack, going for the power.I stood behind the staging doors and laughed."Something wrong, Mr. Blake?"Isn't this the surprise you put together so carefully?"I pushed the doors open and walked tow

Chapter 6

The screen went black, and a phone recording came through the speakers, perfectly clear.Harrison's voice, flat and cold enough to raise the hair on your arms."Dr. Feld, you're sure the drug won't show up on anything?"As long as the old man takes it on schedule, his heart gives out inside six months."Once it's done I'll wire you the rest. Get out of the country and stay quiet."When the recording ended, nobody in the ballroom made a sound.The cruelty in his voice had knocked the air out of the room.This wasn't an affair and some missing money anymore. This was murder.My father's eyes went red.He came up out of his chair, swung his cane, and brought it down across Harrison's back."You ungrateful animal. You aren't fit to sleep in a kennel."My family fed you, and you wanted me dead."Harrison cried out and went down on the floor.With the evidence out in the open, neither of them had anywhere left to stand.So Harrison stopped trying.He hauled himself up and star

Chapter 7

I stood barefoot on the red carpet and felt lighter than I had in years.Then sirens came up outside the hotel.A line of officers came through the ballroom doors.The detective leading them held up her badge."Which of you is Harrison Blake, and which is Celeste Monroe?"We have a signed complaint naming you both. Large-scale embezzlement and conspiracy to commit murder."We've got the warrant. You're both under arrest."The cuffs went on cold and fast.That was the end of Harrison.He fought the officers and shouted at me across the room."Nat! I was wrong!"I do love you, I swear. Everything I said was anger talking."Speak for me. If I don't have to go in, I'll wash your feet every day for the rest of my life!"I looked down at him."Three meals and a bed, on the state. Call that my last gift to you."Enjoy your new roommates."They pulled Celeste up and she started screaming."Get off me! I didn't kill anybody! I just wanted money!"Natalie, you witch, I hope you

Chapter 8

Five minutes later they brought Harrison in.The man who used to walk into a room like he'd bought the building was hunched over now.Bright restraints on his wrists, eyes gone dull and flat.Then he sat down and saw me, and the hate came roaring back into his face."Natalie. Did you come to watch?"Don't kid yourself that you're special. You were born on third base."If I'd had a rich father I'd have buried you ten thousand times over."Facing the rest of his life inside, and the wiring hadn't changed at all.I tapped a finger on the table and didn't bother hiding the contempt."You were handed everything and you still couldn't do it."Five hundred million in your hands, and your first instinct was to park it in your mother's account."With judgment like that, you couldn't hold down a decent corner with a cardboard sign."The muscles in his face jumped.He stared at me and got it out through his teeth."Why do you think I did it? To prove I wasn't beneath you!"Five yea

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