Chapter 3 - WHAT NORA HID
Nora looked ten years older than she had that morning.
“Maeve…”
“No.”
Maeve pulled Rocco’s jacket tighter around herself.
“No more saying my name like that. What is he talking about?”
Nora looked at Dominic.
“You need to leave.”
Dominic gave her a cold smile.
“You had four months to ask nicely.”
Rocco stepped forward.
“You heard her.”
Dominic looked at Rocco.
“You know what? Fine.”
He walked to the door, then paused.
“Eight a.m. tomorrow.”
Nora’s hands curled into fists.
Dominic tapped the eviction notice.
“After that, everything inside belongs to the property owner until the debt is settled.”
Maeve stared at him.
“You can’t take my mother’s things.”
Dominic looked at her as if she were furniture.
“Watch me.”
He left.
The bell over the door gave one cheerful little ring.
It sounded obscene.
For several seconds, nobody spoke.
Mrs. Alvarez approached Maeve.
“Sweetheart…”
“I’m okay.”
Maeve backed away.
She wasn’t angry at Mrs. Alvarez.
She wasn’t even angry at Dominic anymore.
Not yet.
She was staring at her mother.
“Four months?”
Nora lowered her eyes.
“Business has been slow.”
“Four months?”
“I was trying to fix it.”
“You told me everything was fine.”
“I didn’t want you worrying.”
“We’re being thrown out tomorrow!”
Nora flinched.
Rocco spoke quietly.
“Maeve.”
“No.”
She turned on him too.
“Everybody keeps telling me to calm down while nobody tells me the truth.”
Rocco said nothing.
That only made her angrier.
Maeve faced her mother again.
“How much do we owe?”
Nora hesitated.
“Mom.”
“Twenty-eight thousand.”
Maeve laughed once.
It came out broken.
“Twenty-eight thousand dollars?”
“That includes penalties.”
“Do we even have twenty-eight hundred?”
Nora didn’t answer.
Maeve stepped back.
The bakery suddenly looked different.
The chipped tables.
The old mixer.
The faded menu board.
The wall where customers had pinned Polaroids for fifteen years.
She had always thought those things meant home.
Now they looked like items waiting to be carried to an auction truck.
Rocco placed the eviction papers on the counter.
“When did Vale buy the building?”
“Six months ago,” Nora said.
“And he raised the rent?”
“Almost doubled it.”
Rocco’s face tightened.
“He can’t force eviction that fast unless there’s more to this.”
Nora was silent.
Rocco noticed.
“Nora.”
She gripped the counter.
“There’s a loan.”
Maeve closed her eyes.
“Of course there is.”
Nora’s voice cracked.
“I borrowed against the equipment last year.”
“From the bank?”
“No.”
Rocco became very still.
“Who?”
Nora looked at him.
“Vale Capital.”
Rocco swore under his breath.
Maeve frowned.
“What does that mean?”
Rocco picked up the eviction notice again.
“It means Dominic doesn’t just own the building.”
Nora nodded.
“He owns the debt.”
Maeve’s stomach turned.
Rocco moved to the window and looked out.
Dominic’s black sedan was still parked across the street.
“He planned this.”
Nora wiped at her face.
“He offered to forgive everything.”
Maeve looked at her.
“In exchange for what?”
Nora’s mouth trembled.
She didn’t answer.
Rocco turned around.
“Nora.”
She shook her head.
Maeve walked closer.
“Mom. What did he want?”
Nora looked directly at her daughter.
“The bakery.”
Maeve waited.
Nora began to cry.
“And the apartment upstairs.”
Rocco frowned.
“That’s still not everything.”
Nora covered her mouth.
Maeve felt ice crawl up her spine.
“Mom.”
Nora finally whispered the rest.
“He wanted me to sign a statement saying your father stole from Dominic before he died.”
Maeve stopped breathing.
May you like
Her father had been dead for eight years.
And Dominic Vale had just dragged his name back into the room.
