She got up, went to her bedroom and started to sob.
The interested buyers and their lawyer met with Cid and Betty. The investors presented a proposal and offered them ten million dollars for both Gourmet Treats. If they wanted to, they could stay on as consultants and receive twenty percent of the net profits. The owners felt the bid was an excellent one but did not wish to stay on as advisers but placed a stipulation before selling the business: Passion and Dough would have to stay on in their current positions.
The backers agreed.
Dough and Passion would manage both shops or hire someone to run the New York City one and have complete autonomy. As long as the two were meeting projected revenues, the investors would remain silent.
Since Cid was a paralegal, he read the contract, and everything seemed to be in order. He and Betty signed the agreement.
In one week, they would receive a cashier's check.
That evening, Dough received a call from one of the men saying, "They took the bait."
It was early Friday morning and Dough's last day in Carson City. Passion was already awake. As she was getting ready to take a shower, Dough grabbed and kissed her; they ended up making love for almost two hours.
She was overjoyed and shouted, "I love you and want to be your wife."
He said, "I have always loved you but did not want to rush into a serious relationship and wanted to make certain that you wanted to be with me, and now I am ready to commit myself to you forever."
She succumbed to his lines and was ready to be with him without end but had no clue it would be her last day with him.
They left for work, but he had to make a stop and pick up a gift for her. He would see her in a couple of hours.
In her mind, he was making it official and buying her an engagement ring.
Before Dough left for the airport, he went back to Passion's house. He got on her computer, logged into Cid and Betty's personal and business accounts and moved all of the funds into an offshore account.
He left the house, hailed a cab to the airport, got on his flight and landed in Mexico. He went to The Global Bank of Mexico and had over five million dollars wired into another offshore account, which was somewhere in South America.
It was already two in the afternoon, and Passion was patiently waiting for Dough to come to work. She was beginning to wonder if something had happened and called home to see if he was there, but there was no answer.