Chapter 2 - A Duke at the Door
Roman wanted Claire out of the bakery before midnight. Claire wanted answers before she agreed to anything, and she had no intention of surrendering either her business or her city because someone had thrown a key through a window.
They stood in the kitchen beneath the fluorescent lights while Susan kept Lily at the back table with a cup of cocoa. Ellis watched the alley through the rear door. Mateo inspected the broken front window, though Claire suspected he was listening to every word.
“The key belonged to my father,” Roman said.
Claire held it between two fingers. “You know that because?”
“Because I saw it once.”
“That is not an answer.”
“It opened a safe in the old Duke warehouse.”
“What was in the safe?”
Roman looked toward Lily. “Nothing now.”
Claire noticed the hesitation. She noticed everything about him because he was a man built out of omissions. “What did you steal?”
His expression hardened. “I did not steal anything.”
“Someone disagrees.”
“Someone wants my family to believe I did.”
Susan rose and crossed the kitchen. She removed her gloves one finger at a time. “The key is a warning, Claire. Your father was Daniel Bennett, wasn’t he?”
Claire’s grip tightened. “You knew my father?”
“Everyone in certain Pittsburgh circles knew Daniel.”
Claire’s father had been a bookkeeper for a transportation company near the river. That was what her mother had always said. He had disappeared when Claire was nine, leaving behind unpaid bills, a wedding photograph, and a recipe notebook filled with measurements in his precise handwriting. Her mother had refused to discuss him after that.
“What did he do for the Dukes?” Claire asked.
Susan’s eyes flickered toward Roman. “He kept records.”
“Legal records?”
“Some of them.”
Roman stepped between them. “Susan.”
“She deserves to know.”
“Not here.”
Claire laughed once, without humor. “You keep saying that. Not here. Not now. Not yet. How many years should I wait before my own life becomes relevant to me?”
Lily approached, holding the paper bag against her chest. “Claire, my uncle doesn’t hurt people who don’t deserve it.”
Claire looked at her. “That is a very complicated thing to say about someone.”
“I know.” Lily’s voice dropped. “He kept me safe when my mother died.”
Roman closed his eyes briefly. “Lily.”
“She should know why you’re scared.”
The words landed harder than any accusation. Roman crouched in front of Lily, bringing himself level with her. “I am scared because people use the ones I love to reach me.”
“Then stop pretending you don’t love anyone,” Lily said.
Susan turned away. Claire saw the older woman’s hand tremble before she hid it in the pocket of her coat.
A car door slammed outside.
Mateo’s voice came from the front. “We have company.”
Roman stood. “Claire, you’re coming with us.”
“I am not.”
“The window was a message. The next one may not be.”
“If I leave, whoever sent it wins.”
“If you stay, you become leverage.”
Claire stepped closer until only the counter separated them. “Then give me a reason to trust you.”
His eyes met hers. For a moment, the bakery, the rain, and the danger outside faded. Claire saw the exhaustion beneath his control. She saw a man who had been carrying a burden so long he had confused it with his identity.
“Because I will never decide what happens to your life without asking again,” he said.
The promise sounded sincere. That frightened her more than the threat.
A gunshot cracked in the alley. The sound was distant and brief, but Lily flinched violently. Claire moved before she thought, grabbing the girl and pulling her beneath the prep table. Roman covered them with his body as Ellis and Mateo rushed through the kitchen door.
No one was hit. A bullet had struck the brick wall above the back entrance.
On the pavement lay a second message, folded inside a plastic sleeve.
Susan picked it up. Her face became unreadable as she passed it to Roman.
He unfolded the paper. Claire saw only one line.
ASK YOUR MOTHER WHO BURNED THE LEDGER.
Susan inhaled sharply.
May you like
Roman looked at her. “What ledger?”
For the first time, Susan Duke had no joke ready.
