She Was Just a Beautiful Food Vendor… Until a Rich Businessman Set His Eyes on Her—And This Happened
Chapter 2
Alexander returned the next morning.
This time, he didn’t sit in the car.
He walked directly toward Maya’s cart.
He was wearing a dark suit, polished shoes, and a watch that probably cost more than Maya’s entire apartment.
She immediately recognized him.
Not personally.
But from magazines.
“You own Reed Hospitality Group,” she said.
Alexander smiled.
“Apparently I’m famous.”
“Not famous.”
She handed him a menu.
“Expensive.”
He laughed.
“What do you recommend?”
“The breakfast sandwich.”
“How much?”
“Eight dollars.”
He pulled out a hundred-dollar bill.
Maya stared at it.
“Do you have anything smaller?”
“No.”
She sighed.
“Then buy twelve.”
Alexander laughed again.
“I’ll take two.”
She looked at the bill.
“You don’t have to tip me a hundred dollars.”
“I’m not.”
“Good.”
She took the money.
“I’ll bring you change.”
Alexander watched her prepare the food.
She worked quickly.
Confidently.
She never looked nervous.
When she handed him the sandwich, he took one bite.
His expression changed.
“This is excellent.”
“Thank you.”
“You make everything yourself?”
“Most of it.”
“Where did you learn?”
“My father.”
“What was his restaurant?”
Maya’s smile disappeared slightly.
“Bennett’s.”
Alexander froze.
“Bennett’s Kitchen?”
“You know it?”
“Everyone in the restaurant industry knew it.”
Maya looked surprised.
“My father used to talk about people like you.”
“Like me?”
“People who cared more about profit than food.”
Alexander smiled.
“Your father wasn’t a fan of corporations.”
“No.”
“What happened?”
Maya hesitated.
“The restaurant closed.”
“I’m sorry.”
“It was a long time ago.”
It wasn’t.
Alexander could tell.
Before he left, he asked one final question.
“Would you ever consider opening another restaurant?”
Maya laughed.
“Absolutely.”
“Then why haven’t you?”
“Money.”
Alexander nodded.
“I see.”
He left.
Maya thought that was the end of it.
It wasn’t.
That afternoon, Daniel brought Alexander a folder.
“Her name is Maya Bennett.”
Alexander opened it.
“Twenty-eight. Lives with her younger brother. No criminal history. No debt beyond a small business loan.”
He turned a page.
“Her father, Thomas Bennett, owned Bennett’s Kitchen.”
Alexander looked up.
“Thomas Bennett.”
“You know him?”
“I knew his restaurant.”
Daniel nodded.
“There’s more.”
Alexander waited.
“The restaurant didn’t simply close because of rent.”
“What happened?”
“The building was sold to a development company.”
“Which one?”
Daniel hesitated.
“Reed Properties.”
Alexander’s expression changed.
“What?”
“Your company acquired the building fourteen years ago.”
Alexander looked down at the file.
He had been a young executive at the time.
He remembered the acquisition.
But he hadn’t known the tenant.
“Was her father’s restaurant there?”
“Yes.”
Alexander leaned back.
“Who negotiated the sale?”
Daniel gave him a name.
Victor Hale.
Alexander’s former business partner.
A man who had worked for him for nearly twenty years.
Victor had left Reed Hospitality five years earlier after a bitter disagreement.
Alexander closed the folder.
“Find everything about that deal.”
“Why?”
“Because something isn’t right.”
That evening, Alexander returned to Willow Street.
Maya was closing her cart.
He waited until she finished.
Then he approached.
“Can I ask you something?”
Maya looked tired.
“What?”
“Did your father ever tell you why he lost the restaurant?”
She frowned.
“He said the landlord wanted the building.”
“Did he believe something else was happening?”
Maya stared at him.
“Why are you asking?”
Alexander didn’t answer immediately.
Because for the first time, he was beginning to suspect that the woman he couldn’t stop thinking about wasn’t simply a struggling food vendor.
She might be the daughter of a man who had been betrayed by his own company.
And Alexander was beginning to wonder whether he had inherited someone else’s mistake.
