Chapter 144 Chapter 144

Chapter 144 Chapter 144
Chapter 144

Saturday. The wedding day. Morning light streamed through the stained glass windows of Saint Thomas Church, painting everything in colors that seemed almost holy.

The church was packed. Five hundred guests filling every pew, everyone dressed in their finest, everyone waiting for what they’d been calling the wedding of the century. Media outside behind barriers, cameras ready to capture every moment for tomorrow’s headlines.

Inside the bridal suite at the back of the church, Sienna stood in front of a full length mirror, barely recognizing herself.

The wedding gown was a masterpiece. Lora had spent months creating it, every stitch placed with love and care and skill that came from knowing Sienna completely. The fabric was pure white silk that caught the light and seemed to glow. The bodice fit perfectly, showing Sienna’s growing belly in a way that was beautiful rather than hidden. Lace sleeves fell delicately to her wrists, and the train spread behind her like something from a fairy tale.

But what took Sienna’s breath away was the necklace.

Eleanor had presented it to her that morning, pulling it from a velvet box with tears already in her eyes. Fifteen million dollars worth of diamonds and sapphires arranged in a design so intricate it looked like frozen starlight against Sienna’s skin. The weight of it was substantial, but somehow it felt right. Like everything today felt right.

“You’re shaking,” Lora said softly, standing beside her in a bridesmaid dress of soft lavender that complemented her skin tone perfectly.

“I know,” Sienna whispered back, hands trembling as they touched the necklace, as they smoothed down the gown, as they tried to convince herself this was real.

“Good shaking or bad shaking?” Lora asked, always knowing the right questions.

“Good,” Sienna said, laughing through sudden tears. “So good it’s terrifying.”

Victoria appeared behind them, already crying, mascara threatening to run even though the ceremony hadn’t started yet.

“My baby,” Victoria whispered, touching Sienna’s hair, careful not to disturb the delicate updo Lora had arranged. “You look like a dream.”

“I feel like one,” Sienna admitted.

Music started filtering through from the main church. The processional would begin soon. Guests were all seated, waiting. Landon was at the altar, Noah standing beside him as best man, probably keeping his brother calm or at least pretending everything was under control.

“It’s time,” Lora said gently.

Sienna took a deep breath. Then another. Her hand went to her belly where the baby was, where new life grew, where their future existed. She closed her eyes for just a second, gathering herself, preparing for the moment she’d walk down that aisle and change everything forever.

The doors to the bridal suite opened. Richard stood there in his tuxedo, tears already visible in his eyes too. He would walk her down the aisle, giving her away, doing what he had always wished to do.

“Ready?” he asked, voice thick with emotion.

“Ready,” Sienna said.

They walked together to the entrance of the main church. The doors were still closed, music building on the other side. Lora went first, walking down the aisle with her bouquet, taking her place at the front.

Then the music changed. The wedding march began. The doors opened.

Every single person in that church stood, turning to look at her. Five hundred faces watching, waiting, witnessing.

But Sienna only saw one.

Landon stood at the altar in a black tuxedo that made him look like he’d stepped out of some perfect dream. His eyes found hers immediately, and even from this distance, she could see them getting wet, could see emotion overwhelming him as he watched her walk toward him.

Noah stood beside his brother, steady and supportive, but even he looked affected by the moment.

Richard walked Sienna down the aisle slowly, each step deliberate, giving her time to absorb everything. The flowers decorating every surface. The candles flickering in holders. The faces of everyone they loved watching them with joy and hope and belief in what was happening.

When they reached the altar, Richard kissed Sienna’s cheek, whispered something she couldn’t quite hear through the rushing in her ears, and placed her hand in Landon’s.

Landon’s fingers closed around hers, warm and strong and shaking just like hers were.

“Hi,” he whispered, just for her.

“Hi,” she whispered back, smiling through tears that were already falling.

The officiant began speaking, words Sienna barely heard because all her focus was on Landon, on this moment, on the reality that after everything they’d survived, they were here. Together. About to promise forever.

Then came the vows. The part Sienna had been nervous about, the part where they had to speak their hearts in front of everyone.

The officiant nodded to Landon first.

Landon cleared his throat, looking down at their joined hands, then back up at Sienna. When he spoke, his voice carried through the church, steady despite the emotion clearly threatening to break him.

“Sienna,” he began, and just saying her name seemed to cost him. “When I met you, I was lost. I didn’t know it then, but I was moving through life without really living. Without really feeling. Without really knowing what any of it meant.”

He paused, swallowing hard.

“Then you walked into my world and everything changed. You showed me what it means to be alive. What it means to love someone so completely that their pain becomes yours, their joy becomes yours, their future becomes the only future you care about.”

Several guests were already crying. Sienna heard sniffles from the pews, saw tissues being pulled from purses.

“You survived things nobody should survive,” Landon continued, his voice breaking slightly. “You fought when anyone else would have given up. You came back to me when I was terrified I’d lost you forever. And now you’re carrying our child, giving me a family I never thought I deserved.”

Tears were streaming down his face now, not bothering to hide them.

“So I vow to you, here in front of everyone we love, that I will spend every day of the rest of my life protecting you, loving you, building the life we both deserve. I vow to be the husband you need, the father our child needs, the partner you chose when you could have chosen anyone else. I vow to never take you for granted, to never forget how lucky I am, to never stop fighting for us.”

His hands tightened on hers.

“You are my home, Sienna. My heart. My everything. And I will love you until the day I die and probably long after that.”

The church was silent except for crying. Even grown men were wiping their eyes, moved by the raw honesty in Landon’s words.

Then it was Sienna’s turn.

She looked at Landon, at the man who’d saved her in more ways than one, and found her voice somehow.

“Landon,” she started, and her voice was already shaking. “I came into your life broken. I’d been forced to choose family obligation over myself.”

She took a breath, steadying herself.

“You could have walked away from all that brokenness. You could have chosen someone easier, someone without family obligation.”

“But you didn’t. You stayed. You fought for me when I couldn’t fight for myself. You loved me when I didn’t think I was worthy of love. You showed me that even after the worst things happen, there can still be beautiful things waiting on the other side.”

Her free hand touched her belly.

“You gave me this baby. This miracle. This proof that life continues, that hope exists, that we can build something new from the ashes of everything that tried to destroy us.”

She was crying now too, tears falling onto the white silk of her gown.

“I vow to love you with everything I am. I vow to be your partner through whatever comes next, good or bad, easy or hard. I vow to build our family with you, to raise our child with you, to grow old with you if we’re blessed enough to have that time.”

Her voice grew stronger.

“You are my miracle, Landon. My second chance. My proof that the universe still has good things planned for people who survive the bad. And I will love you forever. Not because I have to. Because I choose to. Every single day.”

There wasn’t a dry eye in the church. Eleanor was sobbing openly. Victoria had given up on saving her makeup. Even Noah looked affected, his jaw tight with emotion.

The officiant spoke again, asking for the rings, going through the final parts of the ceremony.

“By the power vested in me,” he finally said, smiling at both of them, “I now pronounce you husband and wife. You may kiss your bride.”

Landon didn’t wait. He pulled Sienna to him, careful of her belly, and kissed her like they were the only two people in the world. The church erupted in applause and cheers and joy.

When they pulled apart, both crying and laughing, Landon whispered against her lips, “Mrs. Callahan.”

“Mrs. Callahan,” Sienna repeated, loving how it sounded, loving how it felt, loving everything about this moment.

They turned to face their guests, ready to walk back down the aisle as husband and wife, ready to start their life together officially.

But they didn’t make it even one step.

The church doors at the back burst open. Every head turned. The cheering stopped.

Isabella stood in the doorway.

Her hair was wild, her clothes disheveled, her eyes absolutely insane. And in her hand, raised and pointing directly at Sienna, was a gun.

“No,” Isabella said, her voice carrying through the shocked silence. “No. This doesn’t happen. This doesn’t end like this.”

Screams started. People diving for cover. Chaos erupting.

But Isabella didn’t move. She just stood there, gun aimed at Sienna, finger on the trigger, madness written all over her face.

And the wedding of the century became something else entirely.

A nightmare.

A tragedy waiting to happen.

An ending nobody saw coming.