All Strings Attached

All Strings Attached Sara Vice © 2023 Sara Vice. All rights reserved. Contents Chapter 1 Chapter 2 Chapter 3 Chapter 4 Chapter 5 Chapter 6 Chapter 7 Chapter 8 Chapter 9 Chapter 10 Chapter 11 Chapter 12 Chapter 13 Chapter 14 Chapter 15 Chapter 16 Chapter 17 Chapter 18 Chapter 19 Chapter 20 Chapter 21 Chapter 22 Chapter 23 Chapter 24 Chapter 25 Chapter 26 Chapter 27 Chapter 28 Chapter 29 Chapter 30 Chapter 31 Chapter 32 Chapter 33 Chapter 34 Please Read! It’s Important! Chapter 1 The Altar “I do not.” The words announced by Victor Crane echoed throughout the venue, sullying the bright flowers and whimsical décor. Erin’s breath caught in her chest as she clenched her bouquet. She sat in the front row, drowning in the sound of five hundred gasps. The seconds that followed were of the most deafening silence she’d ever experienced. Her wet eyes trembled as they tried to focus. The priest’s mouth hung open. Victor’s eyes were hardened steel as they pierced right through Erin’s best friend. After a few frantic blinks, she could see Reneya shivering in place. Why would he do this to her? How could he do this to her? Is this a sick game billionaires like to play with their prey? The thoughts rushed a hundred miles a minute through her mind, before she finally gathered herself and rose from her seat. She could feel the tenseness of a thousand confused eyes focusing on her. Erin’s legs numbed with fear. She was sure her heart forgot how to keep rhythm, and positive she sweat through the backside of her beige dress. But that embarrassment was just a tenth, or perhaps a hundredth of Reneya’s torment. She had to be strong for her best friend in her darkest hour. And so, with no voice from a dry throat, and poor grip from clammy hands, she hoisted up her dress and took the widest strides she could to make it to the altar. She could hear the rustling of the other bridesmaids following suit, which allowed her the slightest relief. But she couldn’t look back. Reneya was about to collapse into tears – one pristinely manicured hand Chapter 2 Escape! Erin and Reneya’s third friendiversary had just past a week before this dreadful day. On the first one, they celebrated with cupcakes in their tucked away cubby of the marketing department, taking a break from working behind the scenes on designs for the Crane’s forty-billion-dollar empire – Dolly’s Media. It was hard to imagine how much their lives had changed since then. She blinked back from the reminiscence to see a row of limos waiting to escort them from the ceremony section of the estate to the reception, and so she quickly pulled out her phone to order a-hopefully-nearby Uber. Erin scowled at what may as well have been chariots riding them straight to hell, and continued walking the jilted bride away from the show that all of a sudden seemed so ridiculous. Erin made a futile attempt to wave down the trumpet players with her phone in hand, holding onto her friend as tight as she could. “C’mon. C’mon…” Erin stared at the moving image of a car on her screen, waiting for it to be admitted into the estate. She then glanced down at Reneya, who was mumbling between sobs, and then to the stains of mascara all over her left breast. Once again, she fell back into memories, when Reneya and Milly threw their first holiday party. If it wasn’t for those two, Erin would still be staring at the three walls of her cubicle, designing banners and ads until carpal tunnel dragged her career into an early grave. It was on that late eve after submitting an enormous three-month project, when the two of them burst into their shared, tiny workspace, and popped the