Page 16 of Like You Love Me

Jessica walked around the desk and then leaned over to kiss her temple. When she drew back, she put her hands to Bianca’s cheeks and caressed lovingly. “Darling, “I’m so happy you are okay.”

Tears pricked, but Bianca held her breath so she would not cry. While growing up, nurturing moments were few, but her parents had gotten softer over the years. “Thank you, Mother.”

“I am on my way to see your brothers, and I will see you Thursday at dinner.”

Bianca watched the tall willowy woman leave with an air of grace she had never been able to measure.

Chapter 4

There was a soft knock at the door, and London looked up to see one of the servers standing in his doorway, holding several large plastic bags.

“We are heading out, boss.” A couple of restaurant employees had loaded the van to take leftovers from the lunch menu over to the Community Kitchen for the dinner rush.

London was seated behind his desk, staring at the computer screen, when he nodded and looked up to say, “Thank you, Ron. Who’s covering the register?”

The short, round man shifted the weight of the bags as he said, “Kimmie is handling the front while Jackson is covering the kitchen.”

“Thank you for doing this. Let them know I’m in back if the restaurant starts to get busy again.”

Ron nodded. “Will do.”

Once he departed, London continued to audit the receipts from the previous day and was pleased with the numbers.Thank God folks loved chicken.The franchise was financially stable, and he anticipated expanding. Bianca had offered to give him the money to open his projected five new stores in the next three years, but London had flat out refused. He didn’t want Beaumont money. Call it stubborn pride, but he was raised that a man took care of his woman. Before his mother’s death from brain cancer, he had seen the way his father had catered to his wife. After her death, he watched the way his father treated his four sisters with love and respect, sheltering and keeping them safe and protected. That was the way it was supposed to be. Of course, times were different now, and women demanded to be treated as equals, but he would never let go of his old school values no matter how much money they had. With the income he generated, Bianca never had to touch her trust fund, and in fact, she had transferred most of it already in Sierra’s name. Bianca’s parents asked to pay for their granddaughter’s college education. The same as they planned to do for all their grandchildren. And for that, he had agreed.

London filled his mug to the brim with coffee strong enough to put hair on his chest. He dropped in two sugar cubes and made his way across the small, cramped office space to his desk. Often, he thought about renting a large central space to make his main office, but in the end, he preferred to be at the restaurant to pitch in and help whenever needed.

He heard footsteps and looked up at the man, tall with broad shoulders, dominating the doorway. London smiled and said, “Ryan, come on in.”

Firefighter Ryan Young stepped into the room, making the space feel even smaller. London rose, leaned over, and gave the man a fist bump before gesturing to the chair across from his desk. Once seated, Ryan yanked the blue ski cap from his head.

“On the phone, you sound like it was urgent, so I made it my business to drop by here today. What’s going on?” he asked with hands steepled on his chest.

“Last summer, my restaurant in New Castle burned down.” London stretched his arm across the desk and handed Ryan a red folder with the report from the fire department.

Ryan looked up briefly from the file. “Yes, I think I remember hearing something about that.”

London leaned back in his chair and grimaced. “It was ruled as arson.”

“They think the fire was intentionally set?”

London nodded. “The insurance company refused to pay anything because they said it was arson.” He had spent weeks of sleepless nights wondering who would have set fire to his New Castle restaurant. He couldn’t understand. He didn’t have any disgruntled employees. “There is no way that fire was intentionally set. We have been in that community for quite a while.”

“Who investigated the fire?”

London recited the name of the insurance company. “They hired a private investigator, a retired firefighter.”

“That’s not uncommon for an insurance company. They use former firefighters all the time,” Ryan added as he glanced up briefly from the folder.

“Yes, but this guy marked it as suspicious, and because of it, my insurance company denied my claim.” Feeling frustrated, London frowned. “Something doesn’t feel right. My fire alarm was working just fine.”

Ryan met his eyes with a hard stare. “But it didn’t work on the day of the fire?”

London blew out an angry breath and shook his head.

Ryan took a few moments to review the findings. “This report says accelerants were found near the origin point.”

“Yes, cleaning supplies,” London began with a nod. “Which is why when I contacted my insurance agent, he commented there was evidence to suggest the fire alarm was tampered with, which prevented the smoke detectors from notifying the fire department. Again, they were led to believe the fire was deliberately set.” The investigator even hinted at his involvement since the location was in one of their least profitable locations, but that wasn’t the case. It had been the first restaurant he had opened once taking over the franchise from his father.May he rest in peace.

Ryan’s brow furrowed. “The findings from this report sound a bit too obvious.”

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