The Wedding Before The Wedding
Chapter 02 - The Wedding Before The Wedding
The ceremony was scheduled for the following afternoon.
Three hundred guests had been invited to the Hale estate above Lake Michigan. White roses lined the glass corridor. A temporary ballroom stood over the tennis court. The family foundation had issued photographs describing Sebastian and Madison as the union of two historic Chicago families.
Nobody mentioned that the Reed family was nearly bankrupt.
Sebastian had met Madison eighteen months earlier at a hospital fundraiser. She was warm, polished, and unusually interested in his grandmother’s preservation trust. At first, he mistook the questions for respect.
After Jonathan Hale died from pancreatic cancer, Sebastian became the visible heir to Hale Urban Properties. The company owned apartment buildings, clinics, and the lakefront land surrounding the mansion.
But visible authority was not legal control.
Jonathan’s will divided power among Sebastian, Eleanor, and Elena. Sebastian would gain his final voting block either at age thirty or upon a marriage approved by two independent trustees. Jonathan feared grief and inexperience might make his son vulnerable to anyone selling certainty.
Sebastian considered the clause insulting.
Madison called it cruel.
She said Elena had influenced Jonathan. She said a second wife should never hold equal authority with a son. Every disagreement became evidence that Elena wanted the company for herself.
Conrad Shaw encouraged the suspicion.
The family attorney had served Jonathan during his final illness. After the funeral, he became Sebastian’s closest adviser. Conrad described Elena’s requests for audits as emotional interference. He told Sebastian that Eleanor’s memory was failing and that waiting until thirty could paralyze the company.
Then he offered a solution.
Marriage would accelerate Sebastian’s shares. A medical petition could transfer Eleanor’s vote. Elena could be removed as trustee for misusing funds.
Sebastian never saw the complete documents.
He saw summaries prepared by Conrad and reviewed by Madison.
On the morning before the wedding, Conrad told him Elena had stolen two million dollars and planned to flee.
Sebastian found the silver suitcase in the foyer.
He saw the transfer on a bank statement.
He did not ask where the money had gone.
May you like
He pointed toward the door.
That was exactly the reaction Madison and Conrad had planned.
