Chapter 6
Marissa underestimated restaurant people.
Bad mistake.
Servers hear everything.
Bartenders remember faces.
Hosts know who waits for whom and who lies about reservations.
Within twenty-four hours, my staff handed Elise a timeline.
Daniel and Marissa meeting in private dining room three.
Daniel using my office after hours.
Marissa receiving envelopes from him near the alley door.
Luis found one security clip that made my blood run cold.
Marissa sitting at my desk.
Uploading files from my computer.
Daniel standing behind her.
The date was two weeks before he attacked Thomas.
Elise froze the frame.
“What files?”
My hands shook.
“Payroll. Vendor contracts. Tax records.”
She called a forensic accountant.
By morning, we had the truth.
Daniel had been creating a duplicate business.
Same suppliers.
Same recipes.
Same staff lists.
Same design plans.
He and Marissa planned to open a rival restaurant using my money, then leave me buried in debt.
Thomas had found messages about it.
That was why Daniel hurt him.
Nick had not interrupted an argument.
He had interrupted a crime.
When I told Thomas, he went silent.
Then whispered, “So Dad hit me because I knew?”
I sat beside him.
“Yes.”
His eyes filled.
“Not because I was bad?”
The question tore me apart.
“No. Never because you were bad.”
Nick, sitting across from him, said quietly, “Bad adults like making kids carry their shame.”
We both looked at him.
He shrugged.
“I learned stuff.”
Too much.
Far too much.
That afternoon, Renee called.
Nick’s aunt had been found.
Her name was Teresa.
She was driving from Ohio.
Nick listened from the doorway.
His face went blank.
May you like
I recognized it now.
Hope trying not to be seen.
