CHAPTER 1
Lainey Harper steppedout of her SUV and shivered in the damp morning chill. It was cool now, but it would be hot later. The sun was a blinding orb of yellow on the horizon, framed by clouds the shade of salmon and stormy gray.
She reached for her travel mug and clipboard. The coffee was lukewarm, but the heat against her palm was still something.
Today was going to be a good day. The contractors promised they’d finish the first of the renovations.
Stella’s Bakery.
Her favorite building on the entire project. The one she’d dreamed of since day one. It wasn’t just a building. A bakery was a joyful place. A place of comfort. It was a place where people gathered and celebrated. The kind of place that smelled like cinnamon and hope. And home.
The sharp scent of sawdust and fresh paint usually brought Lainey a sense of calm. Progress.
But not this morning. The air felt heavy. Wrong.
She rounded the corner and stopped cold.
Her breath caught in her throat.
The front window of Stella’s Bakery—an arched antique pane she fought to preserve—was broken.
And not just broken. Shattered.
Destroyed.
Shards of glass glittered like malevolent diamonds on the sidewalk, turning it into a warning no one could miss. Wood splinters from the window casing jutted out as if someone had slammed through it with force.
She blinked, took a step back, and for a moment, the world tilted.
Not again.
Lainey forced her body to move closer as her boots crunched over the glass. Spray-painted across the brick wall in angry black letters were the words:
WALK AWAY.
Her stomach lurched as the cup of coffee she had drunk earlier threatened to come up.
A tap on her shoulder made her jump.
“Morning, Lainey.”
Gus.
“I was hoping to get this covered before you or the crew got in,” said Gus Navarro, the construction foreman. “I’m going to get it cleaned up fast. The men are already on edge.”
Same here.But she didn’t say it.
Instead, she moved toward the front door, her heart pounding loudly in her ears.
“Was anything else destroyed?”
“Nope. Just the window. The message.” He nodded toward the wall. “Same paint. Same pattern.”
She scanned the doorframe. Something was different.
Her gaze dropped lower. Carved below the handle was a small, deliberate black X.
She had no idea what it meant, only that it made her skin crawl.
