In this chap­ter of “The Last One at the Wed­ding,” the char­ac­ters are gath­ered at a wed­ding cel­e­bra­tion, where con­ver­sa­tions and inter­ac­tions reveal their var­i­ous per­son­al­i­ties and dynam­ics. Hugo, a charm­ing staff mem­ber, quick­ly engages with Ger­ry, indi­cat­ing a behind-the-scenes pro­fes­sion­al­ism. Tam­my express­es her fas­ci­na­tion with Hugo’s allure, while Ger­ry pro­vides con­text about Hugo’s back­ground, high­light­ing the mix of cul­tures present at the event.

Con­ver­sa­tions shift among the guests, with Tam­my and Sier­ra dis­cussing the cou­ple’s rela­tion­ship amid a jazz back­drop. The dis­con­tent­ed and skep­ti­cal eyes of Frankie, a key char­ac­ter, observe Tam­my’s accep­tance of the pair­ing, caus­ing ten­sion regard­ing age gaps. This dis­com­fort is con­trast­ed with Abi­gail’s whim­si­cal behav­ior, indi­cat­ing a care­free atmos­phere among cer­tain atten­dees.

As the night unfolds, Frank strug­gles with unease from var­i­ous unset­tling incidents—the pri­va­cy doc­u­ment, an unset­tling con­ver­sa­tion with Brody Tag­gart, and an encounter with Gwen­dolyn. His con­cerns deep­en with the absence of Mag­gie’s fiancé, Aidan, rais­ing sus­pi­cions. Tam­my attempts to dis­pel Frank’s para­noia, but hints at past rela­tion­ships that add to Frank’s anx­i­ety.

Frank’s awk­ward for­ay into min­gling with Aidan’s friends fur­ther empha­sizes his gen­er­a­tional dis­con­nect, rein­forced by youth­ful ban­ter and trends that feel for­eign to him. Khalani’s invi­ta­tion to par­take in THC gum­my bears sig­nals a care­free atti­tude among the younger crowd, which Frank finds dis­con­cert­ing. A glimpse of Cather­ine Gard­ner, Aidan’s moth­er, from an upper win­dow adds a lay­er of intrigue, with the chap­ter hint­ing at her elu­sive nature.

Even­tu­al­ly, Frank’s pur­suit to meet Cather­ine leads him to Gwen­dolyn, who cryp­ti­cal­ly warns him of hid­den dan­gers with­in the wedding’s facade, urg­ing him to per­suade Mag­gie to recon­sid­er the mar­riage. Gwen­dolyn’s warn­ings height­en the sus­pense, mak­ing Frank real­ize that some­thing omi­nous lurks beneath the cel­e­bra­to­ry sur­face, set­ting the stage for a thriller as the sto­ry pro­gress­es. The chap­ter cul­mi­nates in a ten­sion-filled inter­ac­tion with Gwen­dolyn and her omi­nous advice, leav­ing Frank—and the reader—on edge about the unfold­ing mys­tery .