Chapter 4 - The Secret Lily Wouldn’t Tell
I had bought Honey & Rye from a man named Harold Pike.
At least, that was what the paperwork said.
Four years earlier, I had been twenty-seven, broke, stubborn, and desperate to own something that belonged entirely to me.
The bakery had been failing.
The previous owner wanted out.
The price was low enough that I could scrape together a loan, drain my savings, and convince my grandmother to invest the last of what she’d set aside for me.
Harold Pike had signed everything through an attorney.
I had met him twice.
He seemed ordinary.
Forgettable.
Now Roman was telling me that Daniel Dawson had known something about the building years before I ever owned it.
“What was here before the bakery?” Roman asked.
“A bakery.”
“Before that?”
“I don’t know.”
We returned to Honey & Rye after the bank.
Roman closed the store early.
I complained.
He ignored me.
Lily sat at one of the tables, turning Daniel’s note over in her hands.
I pulled out my old purchase documents.
The name Harold Pike appeared everywhere.
Roman made a call.
Ten minutes later, he looked at me.
“There’s no Harold Pike.”
I stared.
“What?”
“No valid Illinois license under that name. No property history. No matching tax records.”
“That’s impossible.”
“You bought the business through a shell company.”
My stomach turned.
“So who owned it?”
“We’re finding out.”
Lily looked toward the kitchen.
“Mom was here the night before she died.”
Roman nodded.
“She may have been looking for something.”
“In my bakery?” I asked.
“Yes.”
“What?”
Nobody knew.
We searched until midnight.
Storage room.
Office.
Basement.
Kitchen.
Nothing.
At 12:17, Lily stood near the old brick wall downstairs.
“What’s behind this?”
I looked over.
“Nothing.”
She tapped it.
The sound was wrong.
Hollow.
Roman and I stared at each other.
Twenty minutes later, one of Roman’s men removed a loose panel.
Behind it was a narrow cavity.
Inside sat a metal box.
Old.
Dusty.
Locked.
Roman opened it using a set of tools I did not ask about.
Inside were accounting ledgers.
Photographs.
And a small recorder.
Lily picked it up.
There was one audio file.
Roman pressed play.
A woman’s voice filled the basement.
Elena.
“If someone is listening to this, then I probably didn’t get the chance to explain.”
Lily covered her mouth.
Roman went completely still.
Elena continued.
“Daniel discovered that someone inside the family had been paying public officials through false construction invoices. He believed Vincent was involved.”
Roman’s eyes hardened.
“But he was wrong.”
We all stopped breathing.
“The records were designed to point toward Vincent.”
Lily whispered, “Then who?”
Elena’s recorded voice continued.
“The person Daniel trusted most was the person manipulating him.”
A pause.
“I found payments authorized using Roman’s credentials.”
I turned toward him.
Lily did too.
Roman’s face went cold.
“No.”
Elena continued.
“But I don’t believe Roman authorized them.”
His eyes snapped toward the recorder.
“Someone had access to his signatures, accounts, and security codes.”
Lily lowered her hand.
Elena’s voice shook now.
“I think the person behind everything is someone who has been beside Roman for years.”
The recording crackled.
Then footsteps sounded in the background.
Elena whispered.
“I have to go.”
The file ended.
Silence.
I looked at Roman.
“Who has access to your credentials?”
“Very few people.”
“Names.”
He hesitated.
“Vincent.”
“Who else?”
“Sophia.”
Lily stared.
“No.”
Roman’s jaw tightened.
“My attorney, Marcus Hale.”
“And?”
He looked toward the stairs.
“My head of security.”
“Who?”
Roman said the name quietly.
“Andrew Cole.”
I remembered the man.
He was the same security guard who had come to the bakery when Lily disappeared.
The same one who had told us she had vanished from the car.
The same man who had been outside Honey & Rye when the lights went out.
I felt cold.
“Roman.”
He was already dialing his phone.
No answer.
Again.
Nothing.
Then Lily said, “He was at the house last night.”
Roman stopped.
“What?”
“He came upstairs.”
“When?”
“After midnight.”
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
She looked at the floor.
“He said he was checking the camera.”
Roman’s face changed.
“Did he enter your room?”
“No.”
“Did he touch anything?”
“I don’t know.”
Roman immediately called the house.
Then another number.
Then another.
His voice became sharp.
“Find Cole.”
He hung up.
I looked at Lily.
“Did you see anything else?”
She hesitated.
Roman noticed.
“Lily.”
“No.”
“That wasn’t convincing.”
She crossed her arms.
“I said no.”
I recognized the expression.
She was hiding something.
Roman did too.
But he did exactly what I had warned him not to do.
He pushed.
“Lily, if you know something—”
“I don’t.”
“Now is not the time.”
“You think I don’t know that?”
“Then tell me.”
Her eyes filled with anger.
“You never tell me anything!”
Roman stopped.
“You knew Mom called you the night before she died. You never told me.”
“I was protecting you.”
“No. You were deciding for me.”
His face tightened.
Lily stood.
“I’m going upstairs.”
“This is a bakery.”
“Then I’m going to the kitchen.”
She left.
Roman exhaled slowly.
“You handled that beautifully,” I said.
He glared at me.
“I’m aware.”
I found Lily sitting on the back stairs ten minutes later.
“Want company?”
“No.”
I sat anyway.
After a minute, she whispered, “I saw Andrew arguing with Mom.”
My heart jumped.
“When?”
“A week before she died.”
“About what?”
“I couldn’t hear everything.”
“Did you tell Roman?”
“No.”
“Why?”
“Because Andrew told me Mom was upset about money.”
“That doesn’t sound enough to scare you.”
She looked at me.
“He also said if I mentioned it, I’d make things harder for her.”
My stomach turned.
“How old were you?”
“Fifteen.”
“You were a kid.”
“I still am.”
The way she said it broke something in me.
“Yes.”
We sat quietly.
Then Lily reached into her sweatshirt pocket.
She pulled out another object.
A memory card.
I stared at it.
“Where did that come from?”
“Mom’s old camera.”
“Lily.”
“I found it three weeks ago.”
“You’ve had it this whole time?”
She nodded.
“Why didn’t you say anything?”
“Because there are pictures on it.”
“What kind?”
She handed me the card.
Ten minutes later, we inserted it into my laptop.
There were hundreds of photos.
Birthdays.
Vacations.
Family dinners.
Daniel.
Roman.
Lily as a child.
Then the final twenty images changed.
Documents.
Invoices.
License plates.
Men leaving buildings.
And one photograph of Andrew Cole meeting someone outside a hotel.
The other person was turned away.
I zoomed in.
Roman entered behind us.
“What are you looking at?”
Lily froze.
I didn’t hide the screen.
Roman approached.
He stared at the photograph.
“Who is that with Cole?” I asked.
Roman’s expression darkened.
“My attorney.”
Marcus Hale.
We opened more photographs.
Andrew and Marcus.
Again.
Again.
Different locations.
Different dates.
Then the final image appeared.
Marcus standing outside Honey & Rye.
The date was the night Elena died.
Roman whispered, “He was supposed to be in New York.”
I looked at the timestamp.
9:42 p.m.
Elena’s crash happened after midnight.
Lily gripped my arm.
“There’s more.”
A video file.
Thirty-eight seconds.
We opened it.
The camera shook.
Elena had apparently recorded from inside a car.
Marcus Hale and Andrew Cole stood across the street arguing.
We couldn’t hear everything.
Then Marcus said one sentence clearly enough.
“If Roman finds the original ledger, we’re finished.”
The video ended.
Roman pulled out his phone.
Before he could dial, the front door alarm chimed.
Someone had entered the bakery.
Roman looked toward the stairs.
“Stay here.”
He went up.
I stayed beside Lily.
Five seconds later, we heard a man’s voice.
Marcus Hale.
I recognized him from the video.
“Roman.”
Roman answered.
“What are you doing here?”
Marcus laughed softly.
“You already know.”
Lily’s hand tightened around mine.
Then Marcus said something that changed the entire situation.
“I didn’t come for the ledger.”
Roman’s voice sharpened.
“Then why are you here?”
A pause.
“Because Lily has something her mother hid.”
Lily’s face drained of color.
I turned toward her.
“What?”
She began shaking her head.
“No.”
“Lily.”
“No.”
“What did Elena hide?”
Tears filled her eyes.
Then she whispered, “A letter.”
My heart hammered.
“Where is it?”
Lily looked upstairs.
Toward Roman.
Then back at me.
“Mom wrote it for him.”
“For Roman?”
She nodded.
“And you never gave it to him?”
“No.”
“Why?”
“Because she wrote one sentence on the envelope.”
“What sentence?”
Lily swallowed.
May you like
“If Roman reads this, he’ll finally know why Daniel died.”
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