Chapter 5: The Price of a Mother’s Memory
The next morning, Vanessa entered Camilla’s bakery with a solicitor and a building manager.
Wren came out of the kitchen.
“You’re not welcome here.”
Vanessa placed the document on the counter.
“I now own six recipes created for my company, including the orange-almond cake.”
Camilla did not touch it.
“My mother wrote that recipe before you were born.”
“And you transferred its commercial rights to me.”
“That signature was copied.”
Vanessa’s solicitor cleared his throat.
“That is a serious accusation.”
“So is walking out with my notebook under your coat.”
The building manager slid an envelope across the counter.
“This is notice that your lease will not be renewed.”
Camilla stared at him.
“I have four years remaining.”
“Your lease includes a conduct clause.”
Vanessa tapped the document.
“Publicly accusing the property owner’s future daughter-in-law of dishonesty creates reputational damage.”
Wren stepped forward.
“Your family owns this building?”
“Daniel’s family does.
I manage the property portfolio.”
Camilla’s hand went to the counter.
Vanessa leaned closer.
“Apologize publicly, confirm that I own the recipes, and I’ll withdraw the notice.”
“No.”
“I’ll give you twenty thousand dollars.”
“No.”
“Fifty thousand.”
“You cannot buy what my mother left me.”
Vanessa’s voice dropped.
“Your mother sold cakes from a cramped kitchen.
Stop pretending she left you an empire.”
Camilla’s face crumpled before she could turn away.
“Get out,” Wren said.
Vanessa looked at Camilla.
“Take the money.
Without this shop, you’re nobody carrying trays through rear doors.”
The front bell rang.
Daniel and Margaret stood inside the entrance.
Daniel’s jaw tightened.
“You told me you had no control over Camilla’s lease.”
Vanessa turned.
“She is attacking our family.”
“No.
She asked why you had her notebook.”
“She signed away the recipes.”
Camilla gripped the counter until her knuckles whitened.
“My mother worked through her final months because the bakery bills kept arriving,” she said.
“I promised her I would protect that book.
Yesterday, you took the book.
Today, you came for the bakery.”
Daniel moved beside her.
“Camilla, look at me.”
“I failed her.”
“No, you didn’t.”
“You didn’t see her counting coins at this counter.
You didn’t hear her apologize because she couldn’t leave me more.”
Margaret’s eyes filled.
“Rose left more than you know.”
Camilla wiped her face.
“Please don’t comfort me with something that isn’t true.”
“It is true,” Daniel said.
“My mother invested in this bakery.”
Camilla looked up.
“What?”
“Eleanor made payments through a trust.
I found the records this morning.”
Vanessa laughed sharply.
“How touching.
It changes nothing about the contract.”
Wren reached beneath the counter.
“It might.”
She placed her tablet beside the document.
The screen showed several photographs of the blue notebook.
“I photograph every special order before Camilla begins baking.
Vanessa didn’t know that.”
Vanessa reached for the tablet.
Wren pulled it back.
“The last picture was taken two hours before Vanessa’s visit.
The notebook was here, and this contract wasn’t.”
Daniel examined the photograph.
“There’s writing inside the cover.”
Margaret read it aloud.
“Half the recipes belong to Rose Bennett.
Half belong to Eleanor Whitmore.
Neither family may sell them without the other.”
Vanessa’s solicitor slowly closed his briefcase.
Vanessa glared at him.
“Sit down.”
“I was not informed there was a second owner.”
“You work for me.”
“Not for this.”
He walked toward the door.
Vanessa’s phone rang.
She looked at the screen and smiled.
“You may want to answer your own phones,” she said.
“The local paper just received a recording of Camilla demanding money from me.”
Camilla’s phone began vibrating on the counter.
Then Daniel’s rang.
May you like
Vanessa opened the door.
“By lunchtime, everyone will believe the baker tried to blackmail the bride.”
