Chapter 3
I reached Bayfront Pavilion shortly after eight in the morning.
Employees were already decorating the ballroom.
White roses.
Gold ribbons.
Crystal centerpieces.
Everything Sabrina had chosen.
Everything I had paid for.
For years, I had imagined walking into that room beside her.
I had imagined her squeezing my arm before the doors opened.
I had imagined whispering, You ready?
Instead, I entered through the service entrance carrying a folder of fraud records.
Diane Caldwell was waiting in my office.
Logan stood beside her.
He looked terrible.
His tuxedo shirt was unbuttoned at the collar.
His eyes were red.
When I stepped inside, he stood.
“Mr. Mercer.”
“Glenn.”
He swallowed.
“I think I've made a serious mistake.”
I closed the door.
“How did Raymond get fifty thousand dollars from you?”
Logan looked ashamed.
“He told me Sabrina wanted to surprise you.”
“With what?”
“A business expansion.”
I stared at him.
“He said after the wedding, you were transferring part of the Pavilion to Sabrina.”
“That is completely false.”
Logan dropped into a chair.
“He showed me documents.”
My pulse jumped.
“What documents?”
He opened his phone.
There were photographs.
A trust certificate.
My signature.
A document claiming I intended to transfer a forty-percent interest in Bayfront Pavilion to Sabrina upon marriage.
I recognized my signature immediately.
It was copied from an older contract.
“Forgery.”
Logan covered his face.
Diane rested a hand on her son's shoulder.
“He said the fifty thousand would secure renovation rights before ownership transferred.”
“Where did you send it?”
“Raymond Ellis Holdings.”
I looked at Martin, who had arrived moments before me.
He was already typing notes.
“Do you have the transfer record?”
“Yes.”
“Save everything.”
Logan stood again.
“Does Sabrina know?”
That question hurt.
“I don't know.”
He looked toward the ballroom.
“We're supposed to get married in four hours.”
“I know.”
“Do I ask her?”
“Yes.”
Martin interrupted.
“Carefully.”
Logan looked confused.
“If criminal fraud is involved, don't warn Raymond about what we know yet.”
Diane nodded.
“Then what do we do?”
I thought about Sabrina.
The little girl who used to wait outside my workshop with cookies.
The teenager who cried when I surprised her with her first sewing machine.
The college graduate who hugged me and said, Everything I am is because you believed in me.
Where had that girl gone?
Maybe she was still somewhere underneath the pride and cruelty.
Or maybe I had invented her.
“I want to talk to Sabrina alone.”
Logan hesitated.
“Before the ceremony?”
“Yes.”
Diane studied me.
“Will you tell her everything?”
“Not yet.”
Martin's phone rang.
He stepped outside.
A few minutes later, he returned looking grim.
“We have another problem.”
“What?”
“The bank reviewed the transfers.”
He handed me a printed email.
Several withdrawals had originated using online credentials, but three large transactions had been authorized using electronic signatures attached to my identity.
Signatures I had never made.
“One was twenty thousand dollars,” Martin said.
“To Raymond?”
“No.”
He pointed.
“To Sabrina Mercer.”
My chest tightened.
“When?”
“Five weeks ago.”
I sat down.
Sabrina had received money directly.
She knew.
Maybe not everything.
But she knew something.
“How much remains in her account?”
“The bank can't tell us without legal process.”
Martin glanced toward the hallway.
“But this is no longer just Victoria stealing household money.”
Logan looked sick.
“My fiancée took money from Glenn?”
“We don't know the circumstances,” Martin said.
But I could hear the caution in his voice.
I knew what he really meant.
Don't assume innocence.
At ten, Sabrina arrived.
She entered through the bridal suite surrounded by bridesmaids.
I watched from a security monitor.
She was laughing.
She looked beautiful.
For one painful moment, pride still rose in me.
That was the worst thing about loving someone who had betrayed you.
Love did not disappear on command.
It became pain wearing familiar clothes.
I asked an employee to bring Sabrina to my office privately.
Five minutes later, she walked in.
Her smile vanished.
“Dad?”
I was wearing a simple navy suit from my shop inventory.
Not the one I had made for her wedding.
She stared at me.
“What are you doing here?”
“I own the building.”
Her face went pale.
“What?”
“Sit down.”
She didn't.
“Mom said you rented this place.”
“Your mother doesn't know everything about my finances.”
Sabrina looked toward the door.
“Does she know you're here?”
“No.”
“Raymond?”
“No.”
She exhaled.
“Dad, please. I told you yesterday. Don't embarrass me.”
I felt something inside me finally harden.
“Did you receive twenty thousand dollars five weeks ago?”
She stopped breathing.
That was answer enough.
“Sabrina.”
Her eyes filled with panic.
“I can explain.”
“Please do.”
“Mom said it was from a family investment.”
“Which family?”
“Ours.”
“Whose money?”
She looked away.
“I didn't know.”
“Didn't know what?”
“That it came from you.”
I stepped closer.
“The transfer came from an account with my name on it.”
“Mom handled it!”
“So you never questioned why twenty thousand dollars suddenly appeared?”
Her voice rose.
“It was for the wedding!”
“The wedding I was already paying for?”
Silence.
I felt my heart breaking in slow motion.
“What did you spend it on?”
“Some went to upgrades.”
“How much?”
“Six thousand.”
“The rest?”
She hesitated.
Then she whispered:
“Raymond needed it.”
I closed my eyes.
“For what?”
“He said he was working on something for us.”
“What?”
“A business opportunity.”
Of course.
“How much did you give him?”
“Fourteen thousand.”
I turned away.
Sabrina grabbed my arm.
“Dad, I didn't know anything illegal was happening.”
“You knew your mother was taking money from me.”
“She said it belonged to both of you.”
“And yesterday?”
Her grip loosened.
“When you laughed about mortgaging my house?”
All color left her face.
“You heard that?”
“Yes.”
Tears appeared instantly.
“Dad—”
“Don't.”
“I thought Mom was joking.”
“You laughed.”
She began crying.
Not elegant wedding tears.
Real ones.
Her makeup streaked.
“I was angry.”
“At what?”
She looked around the office.
At the expensive desk.
At the framed ownership certificates.
At proof that the tailor she had been ashamed of was far more successful than she knew.
“I thought you were holding us back.”
The words stunned me.
“By paying for everything?”
“No.”
She shook her head desperately.
“Raymond made me feel like… like we could be more.”
“More than what?”
She couldn't answer.
I answered for her.
“More than me.”
Her face collapsed.
A knock sounded.
Logan stepped inside.
Sabrina wiped her cheeks.
“Logan, please.”
He looked at her differently now.
Not like a groom looking at his bride.
Like a man looking for truth.
“Did you know Raymond asked me for money?”
Sabrina froze.
“What?”
“He took fifty thousand dollars from me.”
Her mouth fell open.
“For what?”
“He said your father was giving us part of this building.”
She turned toward me.
I said nothing.
Sabrina whispered:
“He told me you had agreed.”
“No.”
She stepped backward.
“No.”
Then Logan held up his phone.
“He showed me Glenn's signature.”
I watched recognition flash across Sabrina's face.
Not surprise.
Recognition.
“Sabrina.”
She shook her head violently.
“No.”
“What did you see?”
“Nothing.”
“Sabrina.”
She covered her mouth.
May you like
Then whispered the sentence that changed everything.
“I saw Mom practicing your signature.”
