Chapter 4 - HE GAVE UP HIS EMPIRE TO KEEP HER
Federal agents arrested Rowan Mercer at 6:10 the next morning.
Mave watched from across the street.
Rowan did not resist.
Cameras filled the sidewalk.
Reporters shouted.
MURDER.
RACKETEERING.
CONSPIRACY.
MONEY LAUNDERING.
Mave wanted to scream.
Instead, she worked.
The evidence Victor provided was devastating.
Documents carried Rowan’s signatures.
Payments came from accounts linked to him.
Orders had been issued under his authorization.
But Mave knew something prosecutors did not.
Victor had used Rowan’s name before.
Patrick’s files proved it.
Mave called Ethan Blake.
Then Rowan’s attorney.
Then Khloe.
“Why me?” Khloe asked.
“Because you’re unemployed on Thursdays.”
“I work at the bakery.”
“The bakery burned down.”
“Excellent point.”
They spent four days organizing eleven years of Patrick Sullivan’s records.
On the fifth day, Mave found the pattern.
Victor’s documents used Rowan’s electronic authorization.
But Patrick’s files showed that the authorization system had originally been created for Alexander Mercer.
After Alexander died, Victor transferred the administrative controls.
Meaning Victor could generate approvals under Rowan’s name.
They had proof.
But not enough.
They needed the server.
The old server had been stored in a warehouse.
Which warehouse?
Mave remembered the photograph.
Her father.
Alexander.
Victor.
Behind them was a sign.
MERCER TERMINAL 8.
The terminal had closed nine years earlier.
They went.
Inside they found abandoned equipment.
Old computers.
Paper records.
And a hidden server cabinet.
Federal investigators arrived.
The data was intact.
Victor’s entire operation was there.
Every fake authorization.
Every payment.
Every order.
Rowan was released pending further investigation.
Mave waited outside the courthouse.
Hundreds of reporters surrounded the steps.
Rowan emerged.
He saw her immediately.
Everything else disappeared from his face.
He walked toward her.
“You found it.”
“My father found it.”
“You finished it.”
She shrugged.
“Bakers are good with details.”
He smiled.
Then stopped in front of her.
Cameras clicked.
“Can I?”
Mave knew what he meant.
She looked at hundreds of cameras.
“No.”
Rowan nodded.
The reporters went wild.
Mave smiled.
“Not here.”
Something warm entered his eyes.
They left.
Six months later, Rowan announced the restructuring of Mercer Industries.
The illegal divisions were dissolved.
Assets tied to Victor’s crimes were surrendered.
Several executives were prosecuted.
Rowan sold the shipping yards.
He established an independent compliance board.
The newspapers called it the fall of the Mercer empire.
Rowan called it Tuesday.
Mave rebuilt Bell Street Bakery.
Actually, Rowan offered to rebuild it.
She refused.
Then he offered a loan.
She refused.
Then he bought the property and offered her a twenty-year lease for one dollar annually.
She stared at the contract.
“This is ridiculous.”
“Yes.”
“You’re manipulating real estate.”
“Yes.”
“To help me.”
“Yes.”
“I hate it.”
“Sign.”
She looked at him.
“Was that an order?”
He immediately corrected himself.
“Would you consider signing?”
“Better.”
She signed.
One year after the fire, Bell Street Bakery reopened.
This time Mave owned it.
Khloe became manager.
This was either an excellent decision or the beginning of another disaster.
On opening morning, customers lined around the block.
At six fifteen, Rowan entered.
No guards visible.
No black suit.
Dark jeans.
Gray sweater.
Mave stared.
“What happened?”
“To what?”
“You’re wearing a color.”
“Gray is barely a color.”
“Progress.”
He placed something on the counter.
A fifty-dollar bill.
The same bill.
Mave recognized the crease.
“You kept it?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“You gave it back.”
“You returned it.”
“You refused.”
“This is becoming complicated.”
“It always was.”
He slid the bill toward her.
“What am I supposed to do with this?”
“Frame it.”
“That is incredibly sentimental for a terrifying criminal.”
“Former terrifying criminal.”
“Debatable.”
He looked around.
“You did this.”
“We did.”
“No.”
He shook his head.
“You.”
Mave felt something tighten in her chest.
The bakery smelled like bread.
Coffee.
Cinnamon.
Home.
Her father should have seen it.
Maybe somehow he did.
Rowan looked at the framed photograph near the register.
Patrick Sullivan.
Mave had placed it there that morning.
“Your father would be proud.”
“You don’t know that.”
“I know what he risked for you.”
She looked at Rowan.
“He risked it for the truth.”
“Same thing, sometimes.”
Mave reached across the counter.
Took Rowan’s hand.
Khloe immediately screamed from the kitchen.
“JUST KISS HIM!”
Mave closed her eyes.
Rowan looked toward the kitchen.
“Is firing her an option?”
“No.”
“Unfortunate.”
Mave laughed.
Then Rowan became serious.
“I need to ask you something.”
“That sentence has historically been dangerous.”
“Dinner.”
She blinked.
“What?”
“A real date.”
“We’ve been seeing each other for a year.”
“We have never officially gone on a first date.”
“That cannot be true.”
“It is.”
She thought.
Hospital.
Police station.
Bakery reconstruction.
Takeout in Rowan’s apartment.
Court hearings.
Late-night walks.
He was right.
“That is depressing.”
“Friday?”
“Where?”
“Ali’s Pub.”
Mave stared.
“You’re joking.”
“No.”
“Absolutely not.”
“Why?”
“Khloe will dare me to kiss someone else.”
Rowan’s face changed.
Mave burst out laughing.
“Oh my God.”
“What?”
“You’re jealous.”
“I’m not.”
“You absolutely are.”
“I dislike hypothetical strangers.”
She laughed harder.
Then kissed him across the counter.
When she pulled back, Rowan looked stunned.
“Free,” she said.
“What?”
“That one didn’t cost fifty dollars.”
He smiled.
The smile that had once seemed impossible.
Then his phone rang.
He looked at the screen.
His expression changed.
Mave’s happiness vanished.
“What?”
He answered.
Listened.
Then slowly looked at her.
“Victor escaped during a prison transfer.”
Silence.
Mave’s stomach dropped.
“When?”
“Twenty minutes ago.”
The bakery door opened.
A customer entered.
Then another.
Everything looked normal.
Rowan moved toward Mave.
“We need to leave.”
This time she did not argue.
Because on the counter, beside the fifty-dollar bill, sat an envelope neither of them had noticed before.
Mave opened it.
Inside was a photograph of her father.
On the back:
May you like
PATRICK TOOK MY LIFE FROM ME.
NOW I’M TAKING HIS DAUGHTER FROM ROWAN.
