The bridal suite hums under soft light and hard smiles. That empty father’s chair sits where the room expected a witness, but the truth lands colder. The Covington office has him.
Dallas Fontaine
The seat was never empty by accident.
Dallas catches the edge of a folded escort slip tucked under a champagne tray, Covington stamp still visible. Clara goes pale as a guest near the wall lowers her eyes, afraid to look at the chair again.
The Bride's Mother
They said he would miss the ceremony if we caused trouble. That is all they said. Please, just keep this quiet.
At the doorway, Jackson Temple steps in with a security badge and a hard expression. He has found the chain behind the lie, a routed order to hold the father until the office gets its timing right.
Jackson Temple
Covington moved him offsite. Not drunk, not late, detained. They wanted this room nervous and off balance.
Murderbone bristles at the hall, nose up, while Dallas looks from the vacant chair to the stamped paper. The wedding is not being disrupted by chaos. It is being managed.
✓ Quest Accepted
Expose who detained the bride's father
✓ Quest Accepted
Find where the bride's father was taken
“Press the bride's mother for the exact time and location she received the threat.”
SUCCESS (Legendary Interrogation, rolled +4)
Dallas Fontaine
When did they tell you, and where did they say he was being kept?
The Bride's Mother
Eight-thirty. In the service office by Dockside Two. They said he would sit there until the office signed off.
Her voice cracks on the word office. Clara straightens, already tracking the timing against the escort slip.
The Bride's Mother
A man in a Covington coat handed me the note by the ballroom lift. He never looked at me, only at the chair.
Jackson's badge tilts in his hand as he checks the route name against the evidence packet. The paper trail is now a place, not a rumor.
The Bride's Mother
They made me keep smiling. They said if I asked questions, he would be moved again.
She reaches into her clutch and pulls out a second slip, the same maintenance stamp as the hallway card, but with a dockside time window written in pencil. Dallas now has the room, the hour, and the holding site.
Quest Complete
Find where the bride's father was taken
+ New Item Acquired
Second slip
“I ask the mother what her daughters name is”
SUCCESS (Legendary Psychology, rolled +2)
Dallas Fontaine
What is your daughter’s name?
The Bride's Mother
Lena. Lena Covington. She is the one they wanted quiet.
The name lands hard in the small room. Clara looks up from the paper, and Jackson goes still, the whole pattern snapping into a family line instead of a schedule.
The Bride's Mother
He kept saying this was only until the office signed off. Like a family could be filed away and returned later.
Clara
That is not a delay, that is leverage. They used her to move him.
The Bride's Mother
I should have pushed back. I knew the coat meant trouble the second I saw it.
Jackson Temple
Then we have a name, a holding site, and a reason. Enough to make them answer for both.
Quest Complete
Expose who detained the bride's father