Chapter 4 - The Cake Compartment
The service records office had been searched.
Nothing appeared missing.
Maya looked at the cake cart again.
Lily followed her eyes.
“She put a blue folder inside.”
Margaret went still.
“Where?”
Lily pointed toward the decorative platform beneath the top tier.
The pastry team confirmed the platform contained a removable storage drawer for ceremonial utensils.
Daniel opened it.
Inside was a blue legal folder.
Margaret stepped forward.
“That is confidential family property.”
Daniel moved it away from her.
“It was hidden inside a cake paid for by my hotel.”
The folder contained the original Lakeshore Employee Ownership Charter.
For thirty-five years, hotel workers had contributed part of their service bonuses to a profit-sharing fund.
Housekeepers.
Servers.
Bell staff.
Dishwashers.
Maintenance crews.
The money helped purchase the Chicago hotel when the original owners faced bankruptcy.
Employees were promised voting shares.
Those shares were never distributed.
The Lakeshore family later described the rescue as a private family investment.
Emma discovered the truth while reviewing company records.
She transferred her own thirty-eight-percent interest into a trust for Lily and the employees.
Margaret’s development plan required control of those shares.
The plan would sell three employee apartment buildings, convert staff housing into luxury residences and replace union hotel workers with outside contractors.
Margaret called it modernization.
Maya looked at her.
“My mother has lived in Lakeshore housing for twenty-four years.”
“That explains your involvement.”
“Yes.”
Maya did not retreat from the accusation.
“My mother paid into the fund from every paycheck.”
“So did the people carrying your daughter’s wedding cake.”
Claire flinched at the word your.
May you like
Then Daniel found an expense report attached to the charter.
The four-million-dollar wedding had been charged to the employee ownership fund.
