Chapter 364: Chapter 364
At that moment, she sat up with renewed purpose, her earlier declaration about not having a picture clearly already giving way to the practical and determined side of her personality that never stayed idle for long when there was a problem to be solved.
"Actually," she said, reaching for her phone with a newly focused expression, "I just said I don’t have a picture, but let me think about this properly for a second." She paused, tapping one finger against her lips. "She does come from a reasonably well-known family - not even remotely close to your family’s standing, of course, and nowhere near what you and your family have built and established over all these years, but they are known enough in certain circles to have a public presence."
Her fingers were already moving across her phone screen as she spoke.
"Which means there is a very good chance that if I simply search her name online, something will come up. These people always have some kind of digital footprint, whether they realize it or not."
She typed Cora’s full name into the search bar with swift, precise keystrokes, and within mere seconds the results populated across her screen. And there, sitting near the very top of the search results, clear and unmistakable, was a photograph of Cora.
Penelope stared at it for exactly one second before she burst out laughing - a sharp, triumphant laugh that filled the entire interior of the Rolls-Royce with its energy.
"Just look at her," she said, her voice dripping with a mixture of amusement and disdain as she stared at the image on her screen. "There she is. I found her. Just like that."
Without wasting another breath, Penelope screenshotted the photograph cleanly and immediately forwarded it directly to Richard right there in the moving car. Richard felt his phone buzz against the console, and without even pulling over, he picked it up, opened the message, and within two swift, decisive seconds forwarded the photograph directly to his father.
Richard’s father was already deep in the middle of an intense and rapidly escalating conversation by the time the photograph arrived on his phone. He was standing in the center of his expansive home office, his posture radiating the kind of commanding energy that filled whatever room he occupied, and across from him stood his event planner - a normally composed and highly experienced professional woman named Sandra who had organized some of the most prestigious occasions in the city and who was now finding herself on the receiving end of a briefing that was completely rewriting everything she thought she knew about this particular assignment.
The older man was pacing as he spoke, his hands moving with emphatic purpose to underscore every point he made, his mind clearly operating at full capacity and full speed simultaneously.
"Sandra, I need you to listen to me very carefully right now, because what I am about to tell you changes everything - and I mean that in the most absolute and comprehensive sense of the word everything,"
he said, stopping his pacing briefly to fix her with a look of complete seriousness. "Every single arrangement that we have previously discussed regarding this wedding, every plan that was drawn up, every concept that was agreed upon, every detail that was settled and signed off on - I need all of it canceled. Completely. One hundred percent, from the ground up."
Sandra blinked, her pen hovering motionless above her notepad.
"Every arrangement, sir?" she asked carefully, clearly hoping she had misunderstood at least part of what he had just said.
"Every. Single. One," he confirmed without any hesitation whatsoever, his voice carrying the finality of a judge delivering a verdict. "Nothing that was previously planned is going to survive this conversation. Not the floral arrangements, not the venue layout, not the catering concept, not the lighting design, not the table settings, not the entrance presentation - nothing. It all comes down completely, and we start again from scratch."
He resumed his pacing, his energy building as he spoke.
"The reason for this is simple and non-negotiable. A sudden and extraordinary change of events has just occurred that alters the entire landscape of what this wedding needs to be." He paused for effect before delivering the information with the gravity it deserved.
"The biggest, most significant special guest of honor that this family could have ever possibly hoped to have in attendance has just confirmed that he will be gracing my son’s wedding with his presence."
He watched Sandra’s eyes widen slightly and pressed on.
"And I want you to understand what that means for your brief, Sandra. This is not a matter of making a few upgrades or adding some premium touches to what was already planned. This is not about polishing what exists."
His voice rose with the passion of a man who had been waiting his entire career for a moment like this one. "This is about stripping everything away completely and rebuilding it from absolute zero into something that is worthy - genuinely, unquestionably worthy - of the kind of presence that is going to walk through those doors on that day."
He spread his hands wide as he continued.
"I want the venue transformed into something that has never been seen before in this city. I want every element - every single visual, sensory, and experiential element of this occasion - to communicate excellence at a level that leaves every person in attendance breathless from the moment they arrive until the moment they leave."
His voice dropped into something even more intense. "And I want to be absolutely transparent with you about something right now - the budget is no longer a conversation we need to have. I don’t care what it costs. I don’t want to hear about figures and limitations and what can and cannot be achieved within certain parameters. Whatever it costs to make this wedding one million percent perfect, that is what will be spent, and I expect it to be spent wisely and effectively."
He stopped pacing and looked at Sandra directly.
"So I need to know right now that you understand the assignment, that you grasp the full weight of what I am asking you to deliver, and that you are prepared to give me your absolute best work - work that exceeds anything you have ever produced in your entire career."
