Page 77 of Black Reign

VESPER: I'll think about it.

GHOST: You've been thinking about it for four opens.

VESPER: Five now.

I open the invitation again purely out of spite.

His response is immediate.

GHOST: Brat.

My stomach does something deeply inconvenient.

I close NULL.

If Ghost refuses to tell me whose wedding I've been invited to, I'll find out myself.

The location is my first thread. I work outward. Ownership records tell me almost nothing useful. The estate moves through trusts, management companies, and enough legal insulation to make privacy clearly intentional.

Fine.

Weddings do not happen through trusts.

They happen through people.

Florists.

Rental companies.

Catering kitchens.

Musicians.

Transportation providers.

Temporary staffing firms.

Wedding planners.

Every extravagant private event eventually leaks information into ordinary businesses because somebody has to deliver the champagne.

That's where I look.

It takes days rather than hours.

A high-end florist has a delivery window matching the invitation date.

A rental company blocks out several hundred chairs for the same coastal region.

A harpist has an unexplained private booking.

One event designer moves a team from Los Angeles north for three days.

Catering.

Security subcontractors.

Transportation.