Chapter 23

I had not had a wink of sleep the entire night. The noises from downstairs of kitchen cabinets opening and closing, people walking, and switches being turned on and off told me that Mom and Dad had not slept either.

I had dressed and freshened up to the best of my ability. As I descended down the stairs, my watch read seven. The cafe opened at nine in the morning, but I wanted to be there early today.

"Good morning," I said, entering the kitchen.

Mom and Dad looked up from their coffee. Somehow they looked older today, as if they had aged a few years overnight. But the exhaustion seemed nothing as compared to the dejection written over their faces and the defeat that made their shoulders slump.

They glanced at each other and then at me.

"What?" I asked.

"Sit down, dear," said Dad.

I took a seat.

The last time that I had seen my parents this depressed was when Dad had lost everything in his business, and we were within an inch of bankruptcy.

"Ira, we have explored all the options available to arrange the amount of money that we need," said Mom, "Loans from friends, jewelry, savings, everything. But we have failed to arrange the money. It seems impossible."

"I know," I said, "I'm not asking you to arrange the money."

Dad placed his hand on top of mine. "Then you have accepted this? You're going to let the cafe go?"

I nodded, though it seemed wrong. "If my own life is making a foolery out of everything that I do, then who am I up against? My destiny, my fate?"

"My hands are tied. Even if I beg, I can't save Coffee Tales now." I took in a deep breath and got up to go. "I'll catch you guys later. Bye."

As I walked out of the dining room, I could only scoff at the tyranny of this life. How could one person hold so much power over others? How could they uproot someone's life with as little effort as was required to pluck a flower from its plant?

***

Stefan and Elisha had arrived at the cafe an hour ago. They were proposing new ideas and thinking of ways to somehow save the cafe. However, until now, we had only rejected ideas and accepted none. There simply seemed to be no solution.

My phone vibrated in my hand again.

With gritted teeth, I turned it on silent.

It was Jace. He had been texting and calling me since the past ten minutes. He was asking for permission to meet me. He wanted to talk about something, apparently.

But I had not responded to any of his messages or calls. He was the last person that I wanted to talk to right now. He was the reason for all my misery. He was the reason that I was losing my cafe. It was all his fault.

It was still early in the morning and there were only two customers in the cafe. Zuri too had arrived early and was currently behind the counters.

Elisha, Stefan, and I had occupied a table at the far end of the cafe, out of earshot of any customers.

"Wait," said Elisha, "What if Stefan files for his claim too?"

I frowned. "What?"

"Yes, it might work." Her eyes lighted up, as Stefan and I stared at her in confusion.

"See," she said, "If Stefan asks for his share, then the property will be divided into three shares instead of two. And, obviously, since Stefan will willingly sign over his share to you, you will have two-thirds of the property share. Even if it's in regards to paying Sierra, then you will only have to pay her thirty three percent of the money instead of fifty percent."

I took a sip of my coffee and shook my head.

I had already thought of that. But Mr. Cress had told me that it would only complicate things further. Besides, if Stefan did that then he would be going up against his own family. It would create numerous problems for him and create a rift between him and his family. I would never want that for him.

"Why?" asked Stefan. "It sounds like a decent plan."

I rolled my eyes at him. "Do you think you will still have that job in your dad's company after you go against your own family in my support? And it's not even just that, you'll lose your peace, Stefan."

His shoulders slumped and he remained quiet.

"Let's think of something else—" The rest of the words got caught in my throat as the glass doors flew open and in walked Sierra.

She took one look around the cafe and then her eyes came to rest on me.

Seething rage rushed through my veins and I stood up.

"How dare you come here?" My fists clenched.

She folded her arms across her chest and raised an eyebrow. A sly smile of satisfaction and victory played on her lips. "How dare you still open this cafe?"

I had to physically stop myself from slapping that smirk off her face.

Just then, two police officers walked in.

I felt my heart stop beating. What now?

"Miss Ira?" asked the officer, looking at Stefan, Elisha, and me.

"It's me," I said, swallowing the lump in my throat.

The officers approached me.

"Ma'am, as per the court's notice that you received yesterday, you are supposed to shut down the cafe until the court's order," said one of the officers.

"I'm afraid that we will have to force a closure if you don't comply," said the other officer.

I looked down, blinking back tears.

She had brought the officers here. She had complained.

Taking in a deep breath, I looked up again, meeting the officers in the eye. "We will close now, thank you for the reminder."

The officers nodded.

I refused to glance at Sierra. I could not bear to see her victorious smile. It would kill me.

"I'm sorry." I walked over to the two customers who looked confused. "We will be shut for a few days. I'm sorry for the inconvenience. I hope you understand."

They wrapped up their belongings and shot me quick smiles.

"No problem, Ira."

"We understand, Ira."

Once the customers had stepped out, I turned to Zuri who was glaring daggers at Sierra.

"Zuri, could you please pack up all the food and send it to the old age home, the orphanage and the homeless shelter?" I asked. "And also, please send the stored doughs, batters and frostings to my house."

Zuri nodded and hurried into the kitchen.

"Elisha," I said, turning to her, "Will you please empty out all the machines and send all the drinks along with the items that Zuri sends as donation?"

She nodded.

I went behind the counter and grabbed my handbag.

"Stefan," I said, taking out the keys from my bag. "Will you please lock up everything? And also take care of anything else that I have forgotten?"

"Of course." He came forward to take the keys and I handed them over to him.

I gripped my handbag and nodded at Elisha and Stefan, then without another glance at anyone, I headed out of the cafe.

I did not turn around to take in the view one last time because I knew that I would break down if I did. And I did not want to give Sierra that satisfaction. I did not want her to see that she had broken me.