I was driving toward my child, who had grown up too fast, in the dark, while I wasn’t looking, and I was terrified, and I was heartbroken, and above all I was desperate to get to her.

Chapter 11 — The Chaos

When I arrived, the lot was packed.

I hurried past the marble fountains and pushed open the grand double doors of the ballroom, and the room I walked into was in absolute chaos.

Two hundred guests sat in stunned silence.

Luca stood near the floral arch at the front, in his tuxedo, ghastly white.

Chloe held her bridal bouquet, her face red, her makeup smeared with tears.

And standing at the center of the altar, holding the officiant’s microphone in two steady hands, was my nine-year-old daughter.