Page 28 of A Very Daddy Christmas

I do as I’m told and huddle behind the counter, my heart racing and my body shaking uncontrollably. I poke my head out and watch as Sebastian, Waylan, and Riggs tackle Orson’s goons. It’s an uneven fight—my men are bigger, stronger, and remarkably agile. Orson’s men are brute force but untrained like the three ex-Marines they’re fighting. They don’t stand a chance.

I hold my breath.

Sebastian ducks as the first guy swings at him and Riggs clocks him in the side of the head. Waylan handles the second guy on his own. My eyes dart all over the place as more tables and chairs get knocked over. Riggs punches the first guy again and bloodspurts out from his lip.

The second guy bolts out the door after his beating from Waylan, panting and wheezing and holding his side. Waylan is about to go after him but the first goon also runs out, ending it. I’m frozen and trembling, unable to think or react. I can only register that the danger has passed, but other than that, I’m stunned.

Waylan goes outside to see if they’re still there. “Damn, they’re fast,” he says as he comes back inside, then frowns at the sight of what they left behind. “Fucking pricks.”

“Cora, are you okay?” Sebastian is the first to reach me.

He takes me by the shoulders and helps me up. I burst into tears and hide in his arms, letting everything out. This is supposed to be my safe place, my haven. My whole life is in this bakery, and those assholes just barged in and trashed it.

“It’s okay,” Sebastian whispers, gently stroking my hair. “They’re gone.”

“Yeah, but they’ll be back,” Riggs says. “Look at this place. God damn.”

“It’s fine,” Waylan replies and starts setting the tables and chairs back up while constantly keeping an eye on Sebastian and me. “Cora, it’s fine. Anything that was broken can be replaced.”

“My displays,” I manage.

Riggs nods. “They can be replaced.”

“But they’re so expensive.”

“I promise, everything will work out,” Sebastian insists, beckoning me to focus on him and him alone while Waylan and Riggs get to tidying up the place. “We’ll buy new displays,custom-fit. We’ll hook you up with a panic button—”

I shake my head. “You’ve already done so much. Too much. Sebastian, Orson doesn’t want to sell this building to me. That’s why they were here.”

“He sent them?” Sebastian’s gaze darkens into something cold and deadly.

“Please, don’t make it worse,” I implore him. “Thank you for being here, for saving my ass.”

He offers a faint shrug. “We just wanted to place an order for the weekend. Had I known this would be Orson’s response, believe me, we wouldn’t have allowed it to happen.”

“I know, but it did. And Eva and I are going to have to figure out a way to press forward.”

“Orson is obligated by the contract to accept your offer, that’s why he’s pissed off,” Riggs says. “But I do wonder why half a million dollars isn’t enticing enough for him. This building isn’t worth anywhere near that.”

I give him a tired look. “I don’t know. It doesn’t make sense.”

The only thing I do know is that if they hadn’t shown up when they did, Orson’s men would’ve done much worse to me and to my bakery. I shudder to think what the worst-case scenario would have been. I shudder again when I realize +this is far from over.

Orson just declared war, and I cannot, for the life of me, understand why.

7

Waylan

“Oh, my God!” Eva exclaims as she comes into the bakery.

I register the horror on her face as she struggles to take it all in. Riggs and I did the best we could before she got here, but there’s still plenty of glass and scraps of pastry scattered across the floor. Cora and Sebastian are doing what they can to try and get the rest of it up.

It will take a few more hours to finish cleaning and some serious coin to replace what was broken. The pastry displays alone will be a few thousand, at least, and it’s the last thing the Levine sisters needed at this point. My heart breaks for them. I can’t let this slide.

I won’t.

“It will be okay,” I try to reassure Eva as she cautiously approaches the counter.

---