Back aboard the Elysian Pearl, the atmosphere buzzed with excitement and movement, everyone rushing, preparing for the wedding of the year. Everyone, except Ella.
She couldn't shake the unease crawling under her skin.
Last night, Georgia vanished. She never returned to the party. Ella had searched for her quietly at first, slipping away from the celebration to check corners of the ship where Georgia might have gone to recharge, lounges, balconies, quiet hallways. Nothing.
She knocked on Georgia's suite door. No answer. She called—voicemail. Still, she hadn't panicked. Georgia had always been this way. When her social battery ran low, she'd retreat into silence, slipping on her headphones, shutting out the world.
But morning changed everything.
The bride was missing. The ceremony was only hours away, and Georgia's door remained locked, no matter how furiously Ella pounded on it. Her calls continued to go unanswered.
Something was wrong. Dread prickled down her spine.
Unable to wait any longer, Ella rushed to housekeeping and demanded a master key.
"At this rate, she might miss her own wedding! What if she's hurt? What if she fainted?!" Ella pleaded, panic rising in her voice.
Reluctantly, the staff agreed.
But when they opened the door, Ella's heart dropped.
The suite was untouched, beds neatly made, no clothes scattered, no signs of life. It was as if no one had been there at all.
She bolted, breath short, panic clawing at her chest, and stormed into Raymond's suite where his mother and friends were casually helping him get dressed.
"Raymond!" she gasped, eyes wide, voice trembling. "Where the hell is Georgia?"
He turned, half-amused, half-confused. "What are you talking about? Isn't she with you, getting ready for the wedding?"
Ella's face went pale. Her silence was louder than any scream.
"No, she's not with me!" Ella snapped, her voice cracking as panic surged in her throat. "She came here last night to leave... that!" She pointed accusingly at the watch gleaming on Raymond's wrist.
Raymond glanced down, then held it up with a smug grin. "Oh, this?" he said, proudly showing it off. "I found it on my bedside table when I woke up. I was so wasted last night, I don't even remember how I got back to my room. I only noticed the watch this morning."
"Well, you might want to stop smiling," Ella snapped. "Because Georgia's missing, Raymond. Her room looked like it hadn't even been touched. She left the party to drop off your watch, and she never came back!"
Raymond's grin faltered. "What are you saying? That she ran off? We are in the middle of the ocean; there's no way she can run away. That's why I wanted to marry her on my cruise ship, so she can't back out," he said with a nervous laugh, making his friends laugh too. "Is this some kind of prank? Because if it is, it's not funny, Ella."
"I'm not joking!" she said, her voice rising. "I searched the whole damn ship last night, everywhere except her suite because it was locked. I figured she just shut herself in like she always does when she gets drained from socializing. But now I know—she never made it back there. She's gone, Raymond."
A chilling silence swept over the room.
Raymond's mother took a step forward. "Were there drinks last night at her bachelorette party? Perhaps she got drunk and fell asleep somewhere on the ship? A lot of the guests were wasted last night and were sleeping everywhere," she said.
"She drank, yes, but not enough to black out," Ella said. "You know how careful she is. And even if she was drunk, she'd never fall asleep just anywhere. Something's wrong."
Solana placed a firm hand on Raymond's shoulder, her calm demeanor barely masking her unease. "You need to inform the captain. Ask for a full search. I don't want to jump to conclusions, but after what happened to her brother… I don't want the same thing to happen again."
Raymond's expression darkened. "You're right, Mom. I'm starting to feel it too. This doesn't feel right at all." He stood up abruptly, panic beginning to creep into his tone. "I'm going to the bridge. We need to find her—now."
Ella trailed closely behind Raymond, her heels clicking frantically against the floor as they rushed through the corridors toward the bridge. Her heart pounded in her chest, dread curling in her stomach. When they reached the captain, the urgency in her voice matched the fear in her eyes.
"She's gone. We've checked everywhere," she told him, breathless. "Georgia Lewis is missing."
Raymond backed her up, relaying every detail with increasing agitation. The captain listened with furrowed brows before giving a curt nod.
"Start with the crew," he barked to his officers. "Full sweep of the ship. Every cabin, every deck. Don't leave a single corridor unchecked."
The search began immediately. Crew members scoured the vessel from bow to stern, their radios crackling with updates—"negative here, nothing there." Hours ticked by, and hope began to thin like mist over the sea.
No one wanted to believe it at first. That a bride could vanish from her own wedding day, on a cruise ship, in the middle of the ocean. That she could simply disappear without a trace.
But as the appointed wedding hour came and went without a sign of Georgia, a grim silence settled over the ship. The guests, once laughing and celebrating, now joined the search. High heels were kicked off, dresses hiked up, and tuxedos stained with sweat.
Still—nothing.
Finally, the captain's voice came over the ship-wide intercom, hard-edged and solemn.
"This is the captain speaking. Georgia Lewis, our bride-to-be, is now officially declared missing. We are escalating this to a formal search-and-rescue operation."
The ship's alarm blared as the news settled into everyone's bones like ice. The celebration turned to chaos.
The captain stepped away from the microphone and made the call, contacting the port authorities and the coast guard. He requested their immediate support to begin search operations beyond the ship's perimeter.
The wedding was no longer a celebration—it had become a rescue mission.