Chapter 4

The moment the number landed, the crowd went quiet for a beat, and then someone blurted out:

"Holy crap, did we really eat that much tonight?"

"What do we do? That's over two hundred grand. Even if we all pooled our cash, we couldn't cover this meal."

Valerie's voice went shrill. "What are you scared of? Ours is the five-dollar all-you-can-eat. No matter how much it adds up to, it's five bucks a person."

"Right, right." The guy patted his chest. "That number scared the daylights out of me just now. I totally forgot we're on the five-dollar deal."

Leah tipped her chin up. "Every one of us signed up for the five-dollar all-you-can-eat."

"Forget it, keep the change." She waved a hand. "Let's go."

The security guard blocked them.

The girl at the front desk kept her smile in place and said gently:

"I'm very sorry, miss, but we don't have any five-dollar all-you-can-eat promotion."

"You still owe two hundred thirty-six thousand, seven hundred seventy-six dollars."

The classmates who'd come with Leah started to panic a little.

Leah's brows drew together and her voice climbed. "What do you mean, you don't? I already arranged it with the owner of this place."

"You're obviously too low-level to know about it. Go get your manager out here!"

Natalie and I were sitting at a table not far off, close enough to see everything happening at the front desk and hear every word.

Natalie set down her chopsticks and sucked in a breath.

"They ate over two hundred grand in one sitting? What on earth did they order?"

I glanced at the bulging backpacks a few of them were carrying, smiled, and said nothing.

The manager arrived quickly and asked what was going on.

Leah jabbed a finger at the young woman at the register. "It's normal she wouldn't know, she's too low-level."

"You're the manager here, so you should know your restaurant is running a five-dollar all-you-can-eat tonight."

The manager shook his head. "I'm very sorry, miss, but we have no such promotion. Everything you ordered is charged at the prices on the menu."

"If you dispute the amount, we're happy to go over everything you ordered tonight again."

Leah slapped the front desk hard. "What is wrong with this place? You can't even pass a message down properly."

"I'm calling your owner right now!"

Leah dialed my number. My phone wasn't on silent, so it rang immediately.

Following the sound, Leah spotted me sitting a short distance away.

She rushed over at once and dragged me off. "Perfect, you're right here."

"Come explain this for us, quick."

Leah shoved me in front of the manager. "You know this person, right?"

The manager was a longtime employee of the restaurant and knew me, of course. He nodded at me. "Miss Summers."

Leah crossed her arms and let out a cold snort. "She's the owner of this place. She's the one who agreed to let us have the five-dollar all-you-can-eat. Now can we leave?"

The manager glanced at me. "I'm very sorry, but our restaurant truly has no five-dollar all-you-can-eat promotion."

"And Miss Summers is not the owner of this restaurant."

Leah's expression shifted. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"She's the daughter of the owner. How does that not make her your owner?"

Then she turned back to me. "Look at your own staff, they won't even acknowledge you as the owner. You're just going to take that?"

I spread my hands. "When did I ever say I was the owner of this place?"

I had been clarifying from start to finish that this was not my family's restaurant.

Leah finally started to lose her composure, her tone quickening. "Tilda, this really isn't the time for jokes. Everyone's in a hurry to get back to school."

"If you're not the owner of this place, then who is?"

A low male voice cut in. "You looking for me?"

I pointed him out to Leah. "The owner of The Rosewood Table is here."

The instant she saw who it was, Leah's face went white, and her phone dropped straight to the floor.