Page 35 of Double Daddies
Liam held up his hands, his expression pained but resolute. “Elle, I understand?—”
“No, you don’t understand!” she interrupted, her voice shaking with rage. “You don’t understand what it took to build this place. You don’t understand the blood, sweat, and tears I’ve poured into it. And now you’re standing here telling me I have thirty days to pack up my entire life and smile about it because they’re letting me keep the damn ovens?”
“Look, Elle, I?—”
“Who’s going to pay for the installations, Liam?” she spat, her voice dripping with venom. “Who’s going to pay for the permits, the setup, the marketing? It’s not just about shoving an oven into a room and calling it a bakery!” Her chest heaved as she glared at him with her hands balled into fists at her sides.
“Elle, you’re angry at the wrong person,” Liam said quietly. “I feel terrible about this, believe me. But you’re not the only one getting this news today. There are eighteen other renters?—”
“And you think that makes me feel better?” she snapped. Her laugh was bitter, almost feral. “Do you think I give a damn about the other renters right now, Liam? This is my life you’re talking about. My dreams. My future. My staff’s only source of income! And now… it’s gone. Just like that.”
She exhaled shakily as the fight drained out of her as quickly as it had come. Her shoulders slumped, and she buried her face in her hands. When she spoke again, her voice was a broken whisper.
“I’m sorry. I know you’re just the messenger, but this… this is devastating. After my parents’ accident, this is the hardest thing I’ve ever had to face.”
The silence between them hung heavy in the air, with the envelope sitting on the table like a paperweight. The messageit carried was one of unspoken finality that she didn’t have the courage to open and read.
Chapter Three
Elle’s Delicacies, Texas Towers
Elle
“What a damn fool I was to believe a bakery would survive Le Chic Bistro.” The despondency in Elle’s voice rang with mocking clarity in her ears. Her hand fisted, crumbling the eviction notice as if she was strangling the life out of its originator.
The short walk back to the bakery wasn’t enough to calm her tortured mind. Her eyes misted over as she stopped to stare at the shop. Elle’s Delicacies stood as a beacon of elegance in the bustling Texas Tower. The bakery’s interior gleamed with its signature white, silver, and pink color scheme.
Elle struggled to keep back the tears as she walked inside and looked around at the polished white marble countertops contrasting beautifully with the soft pink walls and silver fixtures that caught the morning light streaming through the large windows. Glass display cases showcased her masterpieces—triple-chocolate éclairs topped with edible silver dust, delicate pink macarons with champagne filling, and her famous red-velvet cupcakes with cream-cheese frosting swirled into perfect peaks.
The shop had been designed exactly to her specifications, sporting custom ovens, specialized display cases, and an Italian espresso machine she had coveted for years.
“How did the meeting go with the Tower’s legal eagle? Are they offering us a reduced rental rate?” Carlos joked from behind the counter as he noticed her hesitating in the door.
Her heart bled as she looked at her two loyal staff members. They were always willing to put in extra hours if the need arose. Even though they hadn’t had salary increases for two years, they stuck to her side like glue. With them, she had found her own little circle. Not as co-workers, not as friends, but as family.
What would happen to them now?The thought hit her like a punch in the gut. Mia was a single mother, putting herself through nursing school, while Carlos was saving for his wedding… and she couldn’t offer them more than a meager severance package.
“No, I’m afraid not.” She smiled tightly as she joined them behind the counter. “I have some unfortunate news.” With tears burning behind her eyelids, she showed them the notice.
“Double D Acquisitions?” Carlos quickly scanned the document. “Aren’t those the billionaire guys? Drake Gould and Damian White?”
Elle froze, her heart skipping a beat as the names hit her like a thunderclap. Drake and Damian. Her mind raced as her breath stuttered. Drake Gould and Damian White. The Double D Duo. The billionaire moguls splashed across every business magazine, their faces impossible to miss. Her vision blurred for a moment as the memory of her run two days ago came rushing back. The flicker of familiarity she had felt then now roared into sharp focus.
“Oh, fuck me,” she breathed softly. “It was them.”
She pressed her fingers against her temples as if she could physically stop the flood of realization crashing into her. How had she not pieced it together? She had noticed the familiarity, that nagging sense that she had seen them somewhere before, but she had brushed it off. Too preoccupied and distracted by their sexy physiques and her raging libido.
And now, that chance meeting replayed in her mind like a cruel joke. The men who had made her feel sexy were the very same men who were ripping her life apart.
“What an idiot,” she muttered in a voice tinged with self-loathing. “I knew they looked familiar. I felt it. And I just… let it go.” Her jaw tightened. “Not that it would have mattered,” she said bitterly. “I didn’t know who they were then. I couldn’t have stopped anything, even if I had recognized them. But still…” Her voice cracked, and she let out a shaky, humorless laugh.
“I bumped into them. Literally. The men who are destroying everything I’ve worked for. And I didn’t even know it. I smiled and apologized to them, Carlos. Smiled… and I had breakfast with them! Like some clueless fool, completely unaware that they were about to pull the rug out from under me.”
Carlos frowned and glanced at Mia with his brow knitting in concern, but Elle wasn’t looking at him anymore. Her gaze was fixed on some distant point as her mind replayed that morning over and over. Every second was a fresh sting of humiliation and fury. She clenched her fists, her nails digging into her palms as if the pain could ground her.
Her voice thickened with emotions as she whispered brokenly, “Seven years. Gone. And they were right there two days ago, as if the universe just wanted to rub it in my face. I didn’t even see it coming.”
She blinked and looked at her staff.
