Chapter 2 - The Debt Elena Never Owed
Mateo waited until Wade and the other bikers finally rode away.
The motorcycles vanished down Route 18 in a roar of engines and dust.
Then he locked the front door of the bakery.
Elena protested immediately.
“It’s four-thirty. People are getting off work.”
“We’re closed.”
“I have customers.”
“You have a lien hearing in six days.” Mateo pulled the red notice from the wall. “You want to tell me why?”
Elena turned away and began picking pastries off the floor.
That told him more than any answer could have.
Mateo crouched beside her. “Abuela.”
“I handled it.”
“You’re crying in a bakery full of broken food.”
“I said I handled it.”
He stopped reaching for the pastries.
Elena sighed.
“Eight months ago, the county widened the highway entrance. Business dropped. Then the freezer died. Then the roof leaked.”
“So you took a loan?”
“A small one.”
“How small?”
She did not answer.
Mateo stood.
“How small?”
“Twenty thousand.”
He looked again at the lien notice. “This says you owe sixty-eight.”
Elena’s jaw tightened.
“I missed two payments.”
“No bank triples a balance over two missed payments.”
“It wasn’t a bank.”
Mateo looked toward the road.
Wade.
Elena saw the thought on his face. “Don’t.”
“Who owns the note?”
“Mercer Recovery Group.”
Mateo laughed once, but there was no humor in it.
Wade Mercer’s company.
Elena lowered her voice. “He bought the debt from the finance company. After that, everything changed. Fees. Penalties. Inspections. Complaints. The health department suddenly came every week.”
“Why didn’t you call me?”
“Because you were finally building a life that didn’t involve this town.”
Mateo walked behind the counter and opened the cash drawer.
Inside were three envelopes.
One from the county.
One from Mercer Recovery.
And one with no return address.
He opened it.
A photograph slid out.
It showed Elena locking the bakery at night.
On the back, someone had written four words in black marker:
SELL BEFORE YOU FALL.
Mateo stared at it.
Elena whispered, “That came yesterday.”
A hard knock hit the back door.
Both of them froze.
Then a woman’s voice called from outside.
“Elena? It’s Deputy Shaw. Please open up.”
Mateo looked through the small window.
A patrol car sat behind the bakery.
Elena went pale.
May you like
Because Deputy Shaw was not alone.
Wade Mercer was standing beside him.
