Chapter 5 - Marlowe HouseWe arrived at Marlowe House at 11:47 p.m.
The building had been transformed.
Seven years ago, it had smelled like garlic, rosemary, burnt sugar, and my father's coffee.
Now it smelled like money.
Polished marble.
White orchids.
Expensive perfume.
My name was still above the entrance.
MARLOWE HOUSE
But I had not owned the building in seven years.
I stopped on the sidewalk.
Felix stood beside me.
"You okay?"
"No."
He nodded.
"Good. Neither am I."
The front doors unlocked before we touched them.
We walked inside.
Every light came on at once.
A voice came through the speakers.
"Welcome home, Sarah."
I froze.
Felix looked upward.
"Who is this?"
The voice laughed.
"Still asking the wrong question."
A screen descended from the ceiling.
It showed footage from seven years ago.
Me cooking.
Training chefs.
Designing menus.
Opening the first Marlowe House.
Then another video.
My signature being removed from legal documents.
My recipes being copied.
My name being transferred into a Kingsley subsidiary.
I watched in horror.
Felix whispered:
"I never saw this."
The screen changed.
Odette appeared.
She was sitting in the old restaurant.
Younger.
Smiling.
Beside her sat Celeste.
Seven years younger.
I stepped backward.
"No."
Felix stared at the screen.
"Celeste?"
The recording began.
Odette spoke.
"Once Sarah leaves, Felix will need someone."
Celeste smiled.
"I'll be there."
"You understand what you're agreeing to?"
"I understand exactly."
Odette slid a folder across the table.
"Then this becomes yours."
Celeste opened it.
Inside were my recipes.
My business plans.
My intellectual property records.
Felix's fists clenched.
"You knew."
Celeste's voice came through the speakers.
"I knew everything."
The screen went black.
Then another door opened.
Celeste walked into the restaurant.
She wore no engagement ring.
Her face was pale.
"You're too late."
Felix stared at her.
"What did you do?"
She looked at me.
"Nothing."
I laughed.
"That's not what the recording showed."
Celeste stepped closer.
"I was supposed to marry you."
Felix said nothing.
"I stayed when you were falling apart."
"No," Felix said. "You stayed when my mother promised you everything."
Celeste's eyes filled with tears.
"You think I wanted this?"
"You accepted it."
"I was twenty-five."
"So was Sarah when she started building this place."
Celeste looked at me.
Then whispered:
"There is something you don't know."
A sound came from upstairs.
Footsteps.
Slow.
Deliberate.
Felix reached for my arm.
"Stay behind me."
We heard a child crying.
My heart stopped.
"Lily?"
We ran upstairs.
At the end of the hallway, a door stood open.
Inside was Lily's backpack.
But Lily was not there.
I screamed her name.
No answer.
A monitor on the desk flickered on.
A countdown appeared.
00:09:58
Felix stared at the screen.
"What is this?"
Celeste whispered:
"That's the merger closing clock."
"What?"
"If the Kingsley board doesn't approve the transfer by midnight, the merger collapses."
I looked at the countdown.
"You brought us here to watch a clock?"
Celeste shook her head.
"No."
She pointed to the screen.
"The merger isn't the target."
The countdown reached 00:09:41.
A file opened.
A DNA report.
Felix read the first line.
His face went white.
"What is this?"
Celeste looked at me.
"It's about Lily."
The report displayed one phrase:
PATERNITY EXCLUSION.
Felix stared at me.
Then at the screen.
Then at me again.
"Sarah..."
May you like
I could barely hear him.
"The test says I'm not Lily's father."
