"Follow the protocol but make sure you are quite with this. The guests must not be aware. They mustn't suspect a thing. Understand?"
"Understood,sir."
"Fix her make up." He said to the make up artist . He saw her on his way there and brought her with him,almost like he knew something was going to happen. He was right,he always was.
Stella felt they had to use the situation to their advantage. They had a better chance at escaping now that the guards were distracted. She knew she couldn't say anything until the make up artist was done. He sure was taking his sweet time.
"All done."He left the room.
" Finally! Natasha we have to go now. This is the perfect opportunity. It means even God is on our side."
"No,I can't risk it. "
"Look if it's about Jonas,then don't worry. We'll figure out a way to help him."
"No,I can't leave. Running is not the solution,not this time."
"What do you even mean by that? "
Natasha was unable to reply because Selene suddenly walked in.
"Mom, what's going on?"She said to Stella.
" It's nothing, honey."
"Ok."She simply replied. It was obvious she wasn't convinced. She was only six years old but she was smarter than her age. She knew something was wrong and she had a feeling it was going to get worse.
"Aunt Tasha,your groom isn't very handsome and he's not a prince charming. You promised you would find a real life prince charming."She pouted and Stella laughed.
"Sorry kiddo."She didn't know what more to say to Selene. She had said that about a year ago when she was reading her a bed time story. Selene had asked if prince charmings still existed and she had promised to find one and fall madly in love with him.
"Don't worry auntie. You will still find him."
"Who?"
"Your prince charming but he might not originally seem like it . "Selene said.
Before Natasha could reply her father came back in."It's time."He said.
This was it. It was finally happening. She braced herself and looked in the mirror , practicing her fake smile. 'You can do this' She said to herself and took her father's arm. She walked down the aisle bearly holding her tears back.
She did just as her father wanted. She gave an award winning performance and pretended everything was just fine.
It was soon time for the vows. Natasha glanced at her groom. 'Am I really going to do this?' It didn't seem like she had any other options.
The groom began to feel nervous. It was already time for her to say 'I do
' but she looked like she was lost in thought. Was she going to say no? She wouldn't do that to him. Would she? He wouldn't be able to bear the embarrassment.
Natasha noticed that her husband-to-be had lost his confident smile. He was nervous. It was fun to see him like that. She looked at her father ,he had a don't-you -dare expression on his face.
She wasn't sure what to do . Thankfully,she didn't have to decide as they were attacked. One minute everything was nice and calm,everyone was waiting for Natasha's reply and the next minute everyone seemed to be in a coughing fit.
What seemed like cans rolled into the venue releasing a gaseous substance that made it almost impossible to see a thing and if they did, they'd be too busy coughing to do anything .
After a few minutes order seemed to have returned. Everyone was fine .... everyone except Natasha. She was nowhere to be found.