Trevor didn\u2019t answer right away. Instead, he gently took my phone from my hand and turned the screen toward himself. He let out a slow breath as another incoming call appeared. First it was my father, then my mother, and then Khloe. The constant stream of calls made the marina\u2019s peaceful background noise suddenly feel distant, as though the entire room had shifted slightly off balance.<\/p>\n
For a moment, Trevor simply stared at the screen. Then he looked up at me. \u201cThey\u2019re all at Victor\u2019s event,\u201d he said calmly. His voice was steady, a sharp contrast to the chaos buzzing from my phone. \u201cThe \u2018millionaire fianc\u00e9\u2019 turned out to be a guy with a rented venue, fake investors, and a very public plan that just collapsed in front of about two hundred people.\u201d<\/p>\n
I blinked, trying to process what he had just said. \u201cWhat?\u201d was all I could manage. Trevor tilted the phone back toward me. A new message had arrived from my cousin. The words were short but impossible to ignore: Police are here. Someone ran background checks. Everything\u2019s falling apart. Suddenly, the endless calls made sense.<\/p>\n
Trevor handed the phone back as though it had become heavier than before. \u201cYour family left here to impress someone who was already lying to them,\u201d he said quietly. \u201cAnd now they\u2019re stuck in the middle of it.\u201d His words carried no satisfaction or judgment\u2014only a simple acknowledgment of reality.<\/p>\n
For a moment, I couldn\u2019t move. The cake knife rested between us on the table while the frosting slowly softened in the warm air. Around the room, thirty-seven empty chairs seemed to stare back at me like silent witnesses to years of disappointment and misplaced priorities. My phone rang again, but this time I didn\u2019t react. Instead, I looked at Trevor.<\/p>\n
He didn\u2019t seem surprised anymore. He looked steady, grounded, as though he had already chosen where his attention belonged. \u201cSo what happens now?\u201d I asked. He squeezed my hand gently. \u201cNow,\u201d he said, nodding toward the cake, the six people who had stayed, and the life we had built together, \u201cwe finish your wedding.\u201d Outside, the marina lights flickered on across the water. Inside, I set the phone face down, picked up the knife, and for the first time that day, I stopped looking at the empty chairs.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Trevor didn\u2019t answer right away. Instead, he gently took my phone from my hand and turned the screen toward himself. He let out a slow breath as… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":15058,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-15300","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-story"],"yoast_head":"\n