Chapter 5: Forty Thousand Dollars
The accountant's answer wasn't immediate.
"Darius, where are you getting this question?""
"Just answer me.""
"I need to check the company file.""
Darius gripped the phone.
"Please. Right now.""
His mother stood beside the office doorway, holding the cake box.
Kendra and Troy remained outside.
The accountant, Mr. Bennett, asked Darius to send a copy of the email.
Darius forwarded it.
A minute passed.
Then another.
Finally, Bennett spoke.
"I found something.""
Darius closed his eyes.
"What?""
"There's a document submitted three days ago showing an adjustment to the capital contributions.""
"Whose contributions?""
"Yours and Ethan's.""
Darius sat down.
"Explain.""
"According to this document, Ethan contributed an additional forty thousand dollars to the business. Your contribution remains unchanged.""
Darius stared at the desk.
"That's impossible.""
"That's what I thought.""
"My mother gave me that money.""
"Yes, but the document identifies it as a temporary loan from a private lender, not a personal contribution.""
Darius looked at Lorraine.
"Did you hear that?""
She nodded.
Bennett continued.
"There's also an amended ownership schedule attached.""
Darius's throat tightened.
"What does it say?""
"Ethan's ownership percentage has increased.""
"By how much?""
"From thirty percent to fifty percent.""
Darius stood so quickly that his chair rolled backward.
"Fifty?""
"Yes.""
"And mine?""
"Your share is listed at fifty percent.""
Darius stared at the wall.
That wasn't the arrangement they had agreed upon.
He had started the bakery.
He had developed the recipes, found the location, negotiated the lease, and managed construction.
Ethan had invested money and helped with business operations.
Their original agreement gave Darius seventy percent ownership.
Ethan had thirty.
Now someone had apparently changed that.
"Did I sign anything?"" Darius asked.
Bennett hesitated.
"The amendment has a signature attributed to you.""
Darius's face went cold.
"Send it to me.""
"I already have.""
The call ended.
Darius opened the attachment.
There it was.
His name.
His signature.
Or something that looked remarkably like it.
Lorraine stepped closer.
"What's wrong?""
He handed her the phone.
She examined the document carefully.
Then she looked at him.
"Darling, that's not how you sign your name.""
Darius looked again.
His signature usually ended with a long, upward stroke.
This one ended abruptly.
"You're right.""
He enlarged the document.
At the bottom, a digital timestamp showed that the amendment had been submitted three days earlier.
Darius remembered exactly where he had been that afternoon.
He had spent the entire day at the bakery, testing the oven temperatures with Maya.
He had not signed any ownership documents.
"Someone forged my signature.""
Lorraine placed a hand over her mouth.
Darius immediately called Bennett again.
"I never signed this.""
"Then don't acknowledge it as valid. I'll preserve the records and have our legal counsel review the submission.""
"Can you tell me who uploaded it?""
"Not from this copy. But the filing service may have an access record.""
Darius thanked him and ended the call.
He sat quietly for several seconds.
Then he looked toward the bakery floor.
Kendra was standing beside the counter, speaking in a low voice to Troy.
When she noticed Darius watching, she stopped.
He walked out.
"Both of you. Office. Now.""
Troy followed first.
Kendra came behind him.
Darius placed the ownership document on the desk.
"Have either of you seen this?""
Kendra glanced at it.
Her eyes widened.
"That's the ownership amendment.""
Darius looked up sharply.
"You knew about it?""
Kendra immediately shook her head.
"I saw Ethan carrying it yesterday.""
"What did he tell you?""
"That it was a routine update.""
"Did you know my signature was on it?""
"No.""
Troy leaned against the filing cabinet.
"Ethan said the arrangement had changed.""
Darius turned toward him.
"When?""
"Yesterday morning.""
"And you didn't think to tell me?""
Troy looked uncomfortable.
"I assumed you knew.""
Darius tapped the document.
"Why would you assume that?""
Troy looked down.
Kendra interrupted.
"Ethan told us you had agreed to the new arrangement because the bakery needed additional funding.""
Darius laughed once.
"Additional funding from whom?""
"He said a private investor.""
"My mother?""
Kendra shook her head.
"No. Someone else.""
Darius leaned forward.
"Then why was my mother listed as a problem?""
Neither answered.
He looked directly at Kendra.
"Did Ethan tell you to stop her from speaking to the investors?""
She nodded faintly.
"What exactly did he say?""
Kendra took a breath.
"He said she might make claims about having financed the business and that those claims could create confusion.""
Darius stared at her.
"Because he wanted everyone to believe the forty thousand dollars came from someone else.""
Kendra looked away.
Troy shifted his feet.
For the first time, both of them seemed to understand how serious the situation was.
Darius picked up the document.
"Who else knows about this?""
"Just us, I think," Kendra said.
"Think?""
"Ethan mentioned it to the event coordinator.""
Darius stopped.
"Which event coordinator?""
"Rachel.""
"Where is she?""
"Outside with the photographers.""
Darius walked toward the office door.
But before he could leave, Kendra spoke.
"There's something else.""
He turned.
Kendra's hands were trembling.
"Ethan gave me a second instruction.""
"What instruction?""
"He told me that if your mother arrived, I should make sure she didn't get close to the display wall.""
Darius frowned.
"Why?""
Kendra looked at Lorraine.
Then back at him.
"He said there was something on the wall she wasn't supposed to see.""
Lorraine's expression changed.
Darius followed her gaze toward the main bakery floor.
Behind the reception desk was a large framed display celebrating the bakery's founding.
It included photographs, a timeline, and a list of the people who had made the business possible.
Darius had approved the design weeks earlier.
He had assumed it was still exactly as he remembered.
"What's on that wall?"" he asked.
Kendra didn't answer.
Darius walked out of the office.
His mother followed.
The display stood beneath the bakery's gold lettering.
Darius approached it slowly.
At the top was a photograph of him and Ethan shaking hands.
Below it, the words:
*A DREAM BUILT ON VISION, COURAGE, AND INVESTMENT.*
He scanned the names.
Then he stopped.
There was a section titled Original Financial Supporters.
Ethan Cole's name appeared first.
Beneath it was the name of a company Darius didn't recognize.
*Cole Capital Holdings.*
And beside that name was a photograph of a bank transfer receipt.
Lorraine stepped closer.
She studied the amount.
Then she quietly touched Darius's arm.
"That's my bank account number.""
Darius turned toward her.
"What?""
She pointed to the receipt.
The number was partially hidden, but the final digits were familiar.
He looked at the amount.
Forty thousand dollars.
Then he noticed the date.
It was the day his mother had transferred the money to him.
Darius stared at the display.
Someone had taken his mother's money, presented it as an investment from Ethan's company, and placed the evidence on the bakery wall for every invited guest to see.
But the worst part was still ahead.
A woman in an elegant cream suit entered through the front door.
She carried a leather folder and looked directly at the display.
Then she approached Darius.
"Mr. Hayes?""
"Yes?""
She extended her hand.
"Victoria Price. I'm representing the private investment group that Ethan said would be attending today.""
Darius shook her hand cautiously.
Victoria glanced at the framed receipt.
Then she looked at Lorraine.
"Wonderful. I see the original investor is here.""
Darius frowned.
"Original investor?""
Victoria smiled.
"Yes. Ethan told us you were aware of the arrangement.""
She opened her folder.
"And I believe your mother has already agreed to transfer her forty-thousand-dollar contribution into our new investment structure.""
Lorraine stepped backward.
"I agreed to no such thing.""
Victoria's smile faded.
She looked down at the document in her folder.
Then she turned it toward Darius.
There was a signature at the bottom.
Lorraine's signature.
May you like
And beneath it was a sentence that made Darius's blood run cold.
*I voluntarily assign all rights to my original contribution to Cole Capital Holdings.*
