Chapter 4
The room became completely silent.
I stared at Sabrina.
“What did you say?”
Her shoulders shook.
“I saw Mom practicing your signature.”
“When?”
“A month ago.”
“And you said nothing?”
“She told me it was for anniversary paperwork.”
I almost couldn't speak.
“Anniversary paperwork?”
“I know how stupid that sounds now.”
Logan looked at her with disbelief.
“You watched your mother copy his signature and didn't ask questions?”
“I did ask!”
She wiped tears from her face.
“She said Dad hated paperwork and always told her to handle things.”
I had never told Victoria that.
Not once.
I handled every serious contract myself.
Sabrina knew that.
Her excuse was falling apart while she spoke.
“When did Raymond become involved?” I asked.
She sat down.
“I don't know exactly.”
“Try.”
“Maybe six months ago.”
That matched the missing transactions.
“Mom started talking to him online.”
“You knew?”
“Yes.”
“And you encouraged it?”
Sabrina looked ashamed.
“At first, no.”
Then she added:
“But he apologized.”
“For abandoning you?”
“Yes.”
“He said he was young. Scared. Broke.”
“He was thirty-two.”
Her eyes dropped.
“He said he'd changed.”
“And you believed him because he had a Mercedes?”
“No!”
She paused.
Then quieter:
“Maybe partly.”
I sat across from her.
“Tell me everything.”
She glanced at Logan.
He didn't move.
“He contacted me first.”
“When?”
“Eight months ago.”
My stomach tightened.
Before Victoria.
That mattered.
“He found me on social media,” she continued. “He said he'd been searching for me.”
“What did he want?”
“To reconnect.”
“Did he ask for money?”
“Not initially.”
Of course not.
Men like Raymond rarely began with the theft.
They began with affection.
“He sent childhood pictures,” Sabrina said. “He remembered my birthday. He told me things about Mom.”
“Things designed to prove he was your father.”
“Yes.”
“Then what?”
“I introduced him to Mom.”
Her voice cracked.
“They started talking constantly.”
“And eventually sleeping together?”
She looked shocked.
“What?”
I watched her face.
For once, I believed the surprise.
“You didn't know?”
“No.”
I had no direct proof yet.
But I had heard enough the previous night to suspect their relationship went beyond old friendship.
Victoria planned to disappear with him.
She had purchased him a $4,800 watch.
That was not nostalgia.
Sabrina whispered:
“Mom wouldn't…”
I almost laughed.
Then stopped myself.
There was already enough cruelty in the room.
“We're going to find out.”
Logan stepped toward her.
“Sabrina, did you know Raymond planned to offer my family ownership in this venue?”
“No.”
“Did you know he asked me for fifty thousand dollars?”
“No.”
“Did you know I borrowed part of it?”
She looked horrified.
“You borrowed money?”
“Twenty thousand.”
Her knees seemed to weaken.
She sat again.
“I thought it was for us.”
“So did I.”
The pain between them was brutal to watch.
I remembered being young.
Trusting someone enough to build a life with them.
I remembered thinking betrayal happened only to other people.
Martin entered carrying his phone.
“Glenn.”
He looked at Sabrina.
Then Logan.
“We have confirmation.”
“Of what?”
“The bank located surveillance footage tied to one of the cashier's checks.”
My heart began pounding.
“Who was there?”
“Victoria.”
I expected that.
“And Raymond.”
Expected.
Martin paused.
“And Sabrina.”
Every eye turned toward her.
She stood.
“No.”
Martin remained calm.
“The check was purchased eleven days ago.”
Sabrina shook her head.
“I went to the bank with Mom, but I didn't know what she was doing.”
“For how much?”
I asked.
“Thirty thousand dollars.”
My throat tightened.
“From where?”
“Glenn's business reserve account.”
I turned to Sabrina.
“I gave you access to emergency business information when I had surgery two years ago.”
“I never used it!”
“Someone did.”
“I swear.”
Martin held up a hand.
“The credentials were entered from an IP address associated with Victoria's phone.”
That was important.
Sabrina cried harder.
“See?”
“But you were physically present.”
“I drove Mom.”
“Why?”
“She told me her car was being serviced.”
Logan laughed bitterly.
“Your mother's car was at my parents' house that afternoon.”
Sabrina looked at him.
“What?”
“She left it there after lunch.”
Her face went blank.
One lie exposed another.
Then another.
Martin spoke carefully.
“Sabrina, you need your own attorney.”
She stared at him.
“Am I in trouble?”
“That depends on what you knew and what you participated in.”
Her breathing became fast.
I wanted to comfort her.
Every fatherly instinct told me to wrap my arms around her.
Tell her I would fix it.
But fixing everything had helped create this.
She had grown accustomed to consequences disappearing because I loved her.
So I stayed where I was.
“I don't want a lawyer,” she whispered.
“You need one.”
“Dad, please.”
“I am not your lawyer.”
“I need you.”
Those three words nearly broke me.
Yesterday she had been ashamed to be seen with me.
Now she needed me.
I looked at her.
“I needed you yesterday.”
She sobbed.
“I know.”
“No, you don't.”
My voice shook for the first time.
“I raised you for twenty-four years.”
“I know.”
“I changed your diapers.”
“I know.”
“I worked through pneumonia because your school tuition was due.”
She covered her face.
“I know.”
“I sold my father's watch to pay for your first semester.”
Her hands dropped.
“You never told me that.”
“You never asked what things cost me.”
I hated the bitterness in my voice.
But it was true.
“I never cared that you weren't biologically mine.”
My eyes burned.
“Not once.”
Sabrina could barely look at me.
“But yesterday, blood suddenly mattered because the man who abandoned you owned a better suit.”
“No.”
“He didn't even own the suit, did he?”
She flinched.
“I don't know.”
“You told me he represented your family better.”
“I was horrible.”
“Yes.”
That one word made her cry harder than any insult could have.
Logan turned away.
A clock on the wall clicked.
The wedding was now less than two hours away.
Outside, guests were beginning to arrive.
Sabrina's phone buzzed.
Victoria.
Then Raymond.
Then Victoria again.
She stared at the screen.
“What do I do?”
I looked at Martin.
He nodded slightly.
This was her decision.
“Answer your mother.”
Sabrina put the phone on speaker.
“Hello?”
Victoria's voice came through immediately.
“Where are you? Raymond is furious.”
Sabrina looked at me.
“I'm with Dad.”
Silence.
Then:
“What?”
“He's at the Pavilion.”
Another pause.
“Why?”
Sabrina's voice trembled.
“Because he owns it.”
The line went dead.
We all stared at the phone.
Ten seconds later, security called my office.
“Mr. Mercer?”
“Yes.”
“There's a man at the main entrance demanding access to your private records room.”
“Name?”
“Raymond Ellis.”
I looked at Martin.
His face hardened.
“Don't let him leave.”
But before security could stop him, another employee rushed into the office.
“Mr. Mercer!”
“What happened?”
She was pale.
“Someone pulled the fire alarm in the east corridor.”
My blood went cold.
“The records room is in the east corridor.”
Martin ran first.
I followed.
By the time we reached the hallway, guests were streaming toward the exits.
Alarms screamed.
May you like
Red lights flashed.
And at the far end of the corridor, I saw Raymond disappearing through the records-room door.
