Page 13 of Merry Fake Bride

Squinting, I calculate from what I remember from last month's earnings. “So you stopped paying completely?”

Mom nods. “We’re in the process of remortgaging the house to pay what we owe and then…”

She glances at Dad, and they share a sad smile. “Then I don’t know. Maybe we will have to listen to an offer from Canopy.”

“No.” The word cuts out of me like the snap of a whip. “No, this can’t happen. That building has stood for so long and we’ve hada cultural impact, never mind the fact that they can’t force you out by making the rent so high. No, I won’t let this happen.”

Mom reaches across the table and briefly pats my knuckles before I retract my hand.

“There’s nothing you can do, sweetie.”

“Yes, there is. I can do a full evaluation of your assets and finances, and of the business, including what was left by Grandma and Grandpa. On top of that, I know they’ll be trying to pull something over on you thinking you’ll roll over without looking deeper.”

“It’s sweet that you want to help,” Mom says, “but we’ve tried. If this is the end, then?—”

“No!” I don’t mean to snap, but the fact that she’s considering this makes my heart ache.

I came home for comfort and safety.

I’m not letting some shitty corporation steamroll over the only important things I have left in my life. “I’ll fix this.”

“Devon—” Dad tries, but I silence him with a look.

“No. I’m a better accountant than I am a baker, so I’m going to look over everything, okay? I’m going to fix this, but you have to be truthful about everything. And whatever you’re doing to remortgage the house? That stops until I say so, okay?”

“Okay,” Mom sighs, shrugging and leaning back in her chair. “If it will make you feel better.”

She makes it sound like she’s doing me a favor, but I need to exhaust all my options.

“Trust me,” I say as I tear into a piece of bread. “Trying to force you out is the biggest mistake Silver Canopy will ever make.”

4

KAIRO

“It’s really not that difficult.” Erin leans forward and places her palm flat on the table, her steely gaze locked onto the man across from her. “Just kick them out.”

“Do you want a lawsuit on your hands?” Donald snaps back. “If it were thateasythen we wouldn’t have this issue, would we? We’d be happy sailing months ago because we would have forced them all out.”

“It’s one bakery.” Harvey, the man at the farthest end of the table, drawls while toying with his red silk tie. “It can’t be that much of an issue.”

“They’ve been there long enough that itisan issue,” Donald replies with a low grumble. “We could have solved this weeks ago if you’d just used the report?—”

“No.”

My voice cuts through Donald’s reasoning before he even gets halfway through, and silence falls around the board table.

Months ago, Donald proposed conducting this deal in the most underhanded manner possible.

Digging up whatever old dirt he could on the family or their finances no matter how far back they had to go.

That was the norm under my father’s rule.

Silver Canopy has a ruthless reputation because my father never took no for an answer and never backed down.

He toyed with the law to get what he wanted and it placed him high on a pedestal as a savvy businessman.

Even before his death, I saw the truth.