Chapter 4 - THE WEDDING THAT STOPPED MID-AISLE
Nobody understood why Raymond stopped walking.
The music continued.
Guests remained standing.
Sabrina looked at him.
“What's wrong?”
Raymond folded the document quickly.
“Nothing.”
But David Parker blocked his path.
“There is something.”
Logan moved forward.
“Dad?”
David looked uncomfortable.
“I received a call twenty minutes ago from our company's attorney.”
Victoria rushed over.
“What does your attorney have to do with Sabrina's wedding?”
David held up the document.
“Apparently Raymond approached one of our dealerships last month about a commercial partnership involving this building.”
My building.
The ballroom erupted in whispers.
Sabrina stared at Raymond.
“What?”
Raymond smiled.
“David, today isn't the day.”
“I agree.”
David's tone hardened.
“That's why I don't appreciate learning that you used my son's wedding to represent yourself as an owner of this property.”
Victoria snapped, “He is practically family.”
“Family doesn't mean ownership.”
Raymond's expression changed.
“Let's discuss this privately.”
“No.”
The word came from Logan.
I watched from upstairs.
For the first time, I noticed Logan wasn't looking embarrassed.
He looked angry.
“Sabrina,” he said, “did you know?”
She looked terrified.
“Know what?”
“That your father has been telling people this venue belongs to him?”
“No.”
Victoria interrupted.
“It's complicated.”
Logan turned toward her.
“How?”
Victoria lowered her voice.
“Glenn was eventually going to transfer it.”
I almost laughed.
Eventually.
Meaning after they stole enough money.
David glanced toward the ceiling cameras.
“I think we should speak to Mr. Kensington.”
Raymond's jaw tightened.
“He isn't here.”
Martin looked at me.
“You might want to change that.”
I stood.
My knees felt strangely weak.
Not because I feared Raymond.
Because downstairs were nearly two hundred people who had known me as Sabrina's father for most of her life.
Teachers.
Neighbors.
Friends.
Former customers.
People who watched me build birthday decorations and graduation dresses and Halloween costumes.
Now I was about to walk into the room where my daughter had publicly replaced me.
Martin handed me a folder.
“Don't improvise too much.”
“I've been married twenty-two years. Improvising is all I've been doing.”
He almost smiled.
We took the elevator down.
When the ballroom doors opened, the entire room turned.
Sabrina saw me first.
“Dad?”
Raymond muttered something.
Victoria's face hardened.
“What are you doing here?”
I looked around.
“My building.”
Then I walked toward the aisle.
I hadn't worn the suit Victoria destroyed.
The old charcoal one was simpler.
No silk lapels.
No handmade embroidery.
But it fit.
Because I had made it.
David Parker stepped toward me.
“Glenn, I apologize. I had no idea what was happening.”
“You have nothing to apologize for.”
Raymond laughed nervously.
“This is ridiculous.”
Martin walked in behind me.
Raymond stopped laughing.
“Who is that?” Victoria demanded.
“My attorney.”
Silence swept across the room.
I looked at Sabrina.
Her makeup was perfect except for tears gathering beneath her eyes.
“I wasn't planning to come.”
She swallowed.
“Then why are you here?”
“Because this stopped being about who walks you down the aisle.”
I turned to Raymond.
“Did you represent yourself as an owner of Bayfront Pavilion?”
“No.”
David handed me the paper.
I read the first page.
Raymond had signed a preliminary partnership proposal declaring himself “family owner and operating representative.”
I looked up.
“Your signature?”
Raymond shrugged.
“It's marketing language.”
“Interesting.”
Martin opened the folder.
“We also have your $1.8 million loan application.”
Victoria went pale.
Guests began whispering loudly.
Sabrina stared at her mother.
“Loan?”
I continued.
“Using Bayfront Pavilion as collateral.”
Raymond's face hardened.
“This is not the appropriate venue.”
“That's funny.”
I looked around.
“Because apparently this venue was appropriate when you used my daughter's wedding as evidence that you controlled it.”
Logan stepped away from Sabrina.
Only a few inches.
But she noticed.
“Logan, I didn't know.”
He looked at her.
“Did you sign anything?”
She started crying.
“I... witnessed something.”
His expression changed.
“What?”
“Mom said Dad would eventually approve it.”
I felt the entire room shift.
Victoria rushed forward.
“Enough!”
She turned toward me.
“You're humiliating your daughter on her wedding day because you're jealous.”
I stared at her.
“You cut apart the suit I made so I couldn't attend.”
Several guests gasped.
Victoria looked around.
“That has nothing to do with this.”
“It has everything to do with this.”
I finally understood.
Victoria needed me absent.
Not only because Raymond wanted the ceremony.
Because they needed everyone to see Raymond acting like the head of the family.
Hosting.
Giving speeches.
Approving vendor decisions.
Walking Sabrina down the aisle inside the property he later planned to claim he partly controlled.
“You didn't want me hidden because I embarrassed you,” I said.
Victoria didn't answer.
“You needed me absent because the lie worked better without the owner standing in the room.”
That struck home.
Her face changed.
Raymond stepped toward me.
“You think being a tailor makes you some financial genius?”
“No.”
I looked at my hands.
“It just made me patient enough to read every stitch.”
Martin spoke quietly.
“The bank froze the loan application this morning.”
Raymond's face collapsed.
“The joint accounts are under review. The fraudulent ownership documents have been reported. No mortgage can close Monday.”
Victoria gripped a chair.
“You had no right to freeze our money.”
“Our money?”
I looked at her.
“Nineteen thousand dollars went to Raymond's company.”
Sabrina's eyes widened.
“Mom?”
Victoria said nothing.
“How much?” Sabrina whispered.
I answered.
“At least nineteen thousand from savings. Plus additional transfers. Plus a luxury watch.”
Sabrina looked at Raymond's wrist.
The gold watch.
Her expression changed.
“That's the watch?”
Victoria snapped, “Sabrina, don't.”
Raymond tried to walk away.
Two men in plain clothes entered through the side door.
Bank investigators accompanied by local police.
They weren't there to arrest anyone yet.
They were there to preserve documents and interview Raymond regarding possible fraudulent representations.
But the effect was immediate.
Guests moved away from him.
Raymond looked trapped.
Then something unexpected happened.
Logan removed the boutonniere from his jacket.
Sabrina stared at him.
“What are you doing?”
“I can't marry you today.”
Her face crumpled.
“Logan.”
“Not because of your dad.”
He looked toward me.
“Because I don't know what you knew.”
“I swear I didn't understand.”
“You signed documents.”
“I was trying to help Mom.”
“And you hid it from me.”
Sabrina reached for him.
He stepped back.
“I love you. But I can't say vows while wondering whether they're another thing you agreed to without reading.”
Then he walked away.
Sabrina stood in the aisle.
Two hundred guests watched.
The music had stopped long ago.
Her bouquet slipped from her hands.
She looked at Raymond.
Then Victoria.
Then me.
And suddenly, for the first time in twenty-eight years, Sabrina saw exactly what her choices had cost.
“Dad,” she whispered.
I wanted to run to her.
Every instinct told me to.
Instead, I stayed where I was.
Because saving someone from every consequence can become another way of teaching them never to change.
Then one of the investigators approached Martin.
“Mr. Cho?”
“Yes?”
The man handed him another document.
Martin read it.
His face changed.
“What is it?” I asked.
He looked at me slowly.
“Glenn, there's another loan.”
My heart sank.
“How much?”
“Three hundred and sixty thousand.”
“Against what?”
Martin looked directly at Victoria.
“Not Bayfront.”
Then he looked back at me.
“Against your tailoring business.”
I stared at my wife.
Martin finished the sentence.
May you like
“And this one already funded.”
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