Chapter 11 - The Empty Building Bonus
"A hundred and sixty thousand?" I repeated. "For Corinne personally?"
"That's what the side letter says," Maya answered. "The payment is contingent on turning over the property empty, with no tenants, employees, or active business operations."
The ruined gingerbread house suddenly made awful sense. Corinne hadn't just wanted me humiliated. She'd wanted me considered unreliable so nobody would question why I wasn't part of the sale. The failed inspection wasn't an accident; an empty bakery was worth more to her than a functioning one.
"Can we stop her?"
"We've frozen the closing while the signature dispute is reviewed. But she may still try to empty the building. Keep a dated inventory and tell me immediately if anything moves."
At six the next morning, a truck pulled up behind Bell & Flour. Two movers stepped out with clipboards and started toward the back oven.
"No," I said, planting myself in their path.
One of them showed me a work order signed by Daniel Bell. It authorized removal of equipment for storage and listed Corinne as the contact.
"My father owns half this building," I told them. "I own the other half. I'm disputing this removal."
The mover looked at his partner. "We're not getting in the middle of a family fight."
They left without taking anything. I photographed their paperwork and called Maya.
Dad arrived twenty minutes later, angry and embarrassed.
"Those ovens don't work!"
"The back circuit is closed until repairs. The front ovens are fine."
"Corinne said they'd be safer in storage."
"Did you ask where? Or when we'd get them back?"
He looked away.
"Dad, nobody is coming to rescue us from decisions we refuse to question."
I expected him to shout. Instead he said, "I don't know how we got here."
I wanted to say I did. But that would have been too easy, and I was tired of easy answers.
Before leaving, Dad unlocked the lower drawer of his desk. Inside lay the original ledger and a stack of bank notices he'd been hiding.
May you like
"I should've shown you these months ago," he said.
I turned the first page. My father's house was listed as collateral for the Kessler loan. Beneath the amount due was a payment date: December thirty-first.
