Chapter 21

"Are you busy today?" asked Mom.

"Not really," I said, taking a sip of my coffee. "Actually, after weeks, today I have nothing on my to-do list. Well, except going to the cafe, but I'm planning on taking a leave and spending the day with Elisha and Stefan."

"That sounds great," said Mom, taking a seat next to me on the dining table.

"Ira," said Dad, coming in with the morning newspaper and some mail. "There's a letter for you."

"Really?" I said, taking the envelope that he handed me.

Dad sat down in his usual place and frowned. "It has an official seal on it."

My heart skipped a beat. Official seal?

My fingers worked quickly to open the envelope.

Please let it not be anything serious.

I took out the letter and unfolded it.

Here goes.

My eyes travelled across the written order. It was a notice from the court.

Line by line, I read the letter, my face paling with each second.

After the last line, the letter slipped from my hand and fell onto the table. My hands started to shake.

"Ira."

"Ira?"

"What's wrong?"

"What does it say?"

I opened my mouth, but no words came out.

Mom picked up the letter and began to read. Her faced paled like mine.

My heart was in my mouth.

"What does it say?" Dad asked Mom.

Mom glanced at me and then at him, as if she was in a trance.

"It's a court… court order to close down the cafe," said Mom.

The words sounded foreign. This was not real. This was some kind of a joke. No, it couldn't be real.

"W-What?" Dad looked shaken. "Why?"

"Sierra has claimed her right to an equal share in the property of the cafe," I heard myself saying, "The notice says that unless the court hears the matter and gives a final judgement, the cafe needs to be closed."

"What the—" Dad stood up abruptly, his chair falling back. "How can she do that? They had all signed the no-objection declaration at the time of property division. They are not allowed to file for claims now."

His words pierced through my daze and my mind cleared up little by little.

Dad was right. They all had signed the no-objection declaration. They could not claim anything on the property now.

Yes. This was all a mistake. A foolish retaliation of Sierra's anger. That's all.

"I'm calling David. What is this nonsense?" He picked up his phone and went out of the dining room.

"Calm down, Ira," said Mom, taking my hand in hers. "Don't worry."

She sounded no better than I felt, though.

We heard Dad arguing over the phone. But we could not make out what was being said.

After about five minutes, there was silence.

We waited with bated breath for him to return.

A moment later, he came in with dejection written all over his face.

My heart screamed from within.

"What happened?" asked Mom.

"They are denying having signed any such no-objection declaration," said Dad, picking his chair up and sitting down heavily. "Even they know that they're lying. They're doing all this only to cause us misery."

For revenge. This is Sierra's revenge.

"W-What?" I said, "But the lawyer will have the declaration. We can produce that in court and the case will be turned against them."

Dad stared at me. "The lawyer. I'll call him up."

He left the room again.

Why couldn't he just speak in here?

He needs to gather himself up before speaking. He's as shaken as us. He doesn't want to breakdown in front of us.

Dad was on call again. There was requesting, arguing, shouting and then silence.

Mom squeezed my hand.

Dad came back. The horror on his face was marked and deeply unsettling this time.

"He denies having any record of such a declaration. He said nothing like that was signed," said Dad. He took in a deep breath. "He is currently hired in David's company. He's working for him."

"You mean to say that he is hiding the declaration now?" asked Mom.

Dad shook his head. "Not hiding. He has probably destroyed it already. Erased any evidence of it having ever existed."

"B-But don't we have a copy of it?" I asked.

Dad sighed. "No. The law requires that all such documents be submitted to the government office after being signed. They are safely held there for record purposes and as proofs. Affidavits, declarations, etc. are only kept by them. This cheat of a lawyer submitted all papers concerning the other properties and assets that were divided during the hearing of the will. But he withheld this particular no-objection certificate."

The hearing of the will and the property division had happened a long time ago. If he had withheld this particular declaration at that time... it meant that all this was preplanned or rather a master plan. Sierra and all had always held the key to destroy my cafe. They had been holding it as a trump card to use against me when they willed.

I had been such a naive fool. I had honestly believed that Uncle David's family had no qualms about me getting the cafe. But they had seemed so detached and disinterested about that property. And Nana had always made it clear that he was leaving that property for me. He had made sure that everyone knew that. But death had engulfed him before he could modify his will.

Everything was divided equally between Uncle David and Dad. Every single asset, every single property. Except this cafe space. It had always been only mine and Nana had not allowed anybody to even think about it otherwise.

For this very reason, I had not uttered a word when Nana had handed over all of grandma's precious jewelry to Sierra. I had let her take it. It only seemed fair.

Grandma was a jewelry collector. She had the most exquisite and expensive collection that I had ever seen. Diamonds, platinum, gold, precious stones, she had it all. Her jewelry value could easily amount to millions if estimated.

And Sierra had gotten it all.

So how could they interfere in what belonged to me now?

"What are we going to do now?" asked Mom. "The hearing date is next week."

"Next week?" said Dad. "Then we have to act fast. Ira, we have to go and consult a new lawyer first. He will tell us what to do in this situation."

"But you will need an appointment," said Mom, "and it's the weekend from tomorrow."

I closed my eyes.

This is not happening.

This is not happening.

"Carson is a lawyer!" Dad suddenly cried. "How could I forget?"

Carson was Carson Cress. Jace's father.

Yes, he would definitely help. He was Dad's good friend. He was a family friend.

"I'll call him up and tell him we're coming," said Dad, then he looked at Mom, "When exactly is the hearing next week?"

"Tuesday," said Mom.

Today was Friday.

We had four days, including today.

****

Mr. Cress was at home when Dad called him. After being briefed about the situation, he was more than willing to help. He had asked us to come over immediately.

When we arrived at his house, he escorted Dad into his study to hear more about the case and to know more details.

I had decided to stay back in the living room until all the details had been shared and they had reached the point of deciding what to do next and how to proceed.

Mrs. Cress was keeping me company. She was saying some comforting things, but nothing was getting registered in my brain.

A loud tune pierced through my thoughts.

"Excuse me, dear, it's Jace," she said, getting up and going out of the room.

Jace was not home. Good. He was the last person I wanted to deal with right now.

A few minutes passed and Dad and Mr. Cress came into the living room.

Dad sat down next to me, and Mr. Cress took a seat opposite us.

"So, Ira, I've heard everything in detail," he began. "Now this is a classic case that the court sees too often."

I nodded, giving him an indication to continue. "In all such cases where a no-objection declaration cannot be produced and the other party's claim cannot be proved invalid, the court gives only one decision."

"Which is?" I asked, my mouth going dry.

"To either divide the property into two shares of fifty percent each, that is co-ownership, or to pay a price equivalent to fifty percent of the estimated value of the property to the party claiming their right. In such cases like yours where an establishment has already been established and functioning, the latter option is usually preferred in the best interest of both the parties," he said.

"How can we pay that much money? From where will we get such a huge amount?" I swallowed.

Mr. Cress gave me an apologetic look. "Or you will have to sell the property and divide the money."

I shook my head immediately. "I'm not shutting down Coffee Tales. Is there no other option?"

Mr. Cress replied with a dejected shake of his head. "I'm sorry."