Sophia
The building inspector showed up on Tuesday morning without warning, clipboard in hand, informing me in a flat, businesslike tone that Hargrove Holdings had requested an expedited code compliance review of the property.
I stood frozen behind the counter for a moment, the news landing like ice water down my spine, before I forced myself to gather my composure enough to let the man in. He spent nearly two hours combing through every corner of the shop, jotting notes I couldn't read, occasionally muttering things under his breath about outdated wiring and questionable ventilation setups that had apparently been perfectly fine for the past thirty years without anyone raising a single concern.
By the time he left, handing me a thick folder of violations that would take thousands of do
