Chapter 3: Descent and Defiance

I leapt, Natalie right behind me. The world screamed past—blue sky, patchwork fields, the town below. Every memory burned bright: the mountain we’d climbed, the river I’d swum, the wheat field where she smiled at me.

This was what I was born for. I’d risk it all to save her.

Natalie pointed to the county road—a convoy of black SUVs racing toward my house. Her people were here. I nodded, grateful, then yanked the ripcord.

The chute snapped open, jerking me upward. Somewhere below, the off-key blare of “Here Comes the Bride” drifted up, carried by a scratchy PA system and the pop of firecrackers. The wedding convoy snaked through town, red ribbons fluttering.

I saw my parents hanging from the tree, my wife dragged out, clutching the photo. "I won’t marry!" she screamed, voice hoarse but unbroken.

Brother-in-law stormed forward, belt in hand. "You want to shame this family? Fine, let’s see how you like a little old-school discipline!"

He smashed the photo, whipped her back. She knelt, crying, "We exchanged vows!"

He spat, "Parents’ blessing and the right paperwork—that’s a real marriage! Without family consent, what right do you have?"

My wife’s cries tore at my heart. In the sky, I roared, "Today, there will be no vows—only a vow for your whole family’s reckoning!"

I was coming home, and nothing—no family, no tradition, no cruelty—would stop me from making things right. I was a bullet, and they’d better pray I didn’t hit my target too late.