Chapter 7 - The Heir of the Hayes Empire
Five months later, Declan Hayes was losing an argument.
This almost never happened.
“Sarah.”
“No.”
“You cannot seriously be planning to attend a meeting three days after leaving the hospital.”
“I am not attending.”
Declan narrowed his eyes.
“You’re wearing business clothes.”
“I like this dress.”
“You have a laptop.”
“I also like laptops.”
“And there are financial reports on the kitchen table.”
“Decorations.”
Declan stared at her.
Sarah smiled.
From a bassinet beside the enormous living-room windows came a small cry.
Both of them stopped.
Declan immediately turned.
Sarah laughed.
“You’re ridiculous.”
“He made a sound.”
“He’s a baby. They do that.”
Declan crossed the room and carefully lifted his son.
Noah Hayes was seven pounds, two ounces, healthy and deeply unimpressed by his father’s criminal reputation.
Declan held him against his chest.
The baby settled instantly.
Sarah watched.
“You know everyone said you would be terrible at that.”
“Everyone is frequently wrong.”
“Ronan said you held him like a bomb for the first two days.”
“Ronan was shot recently. His judgment may be compromised.”
Sarah laughed.
Declan looked down at Noah.
The child had arrived at thirty-eight weeks after months of monitoring, appointments and more arguments than Bell had ever believed medically possible.
Sarah had recovered.
The poison had caused no detectable permanent damage to her or Noah.
Connor had survived his gunshot wound.
He was now awaiting trial.
Margaret Hayes had been charged with conspiracy, attempted murder, financial crimes and enough additional offenses that even Declan had stopped reading the indictment halfway through.
Daniel Cross had eventually accepted a deal and testified.
The old Hayes Syndicate had fractured.
But Declan had surprised everyone.
He had not rebuilt it.
Instead, he dismantled it.
Illegal shipping routes were closed.
Bribed officials were cut loose.
Money laundering operations were terminated.
Hayes Global Logistics remained.
Legal.
Profitable.
Boring, according to Elias.
Declan had discovered he rather liked boring.
His phone rang.
Sarah looked at him.
“Don’t answer.”
“It might be Elias.”
“That is why I said don’t answer.”
Declan ignored her and picked up.
“What?”
Elias replied, “Good morning to you too.”
“What do you need?”
“The board approved the restructuring.”
“Unanimously?”
“Eleven to one.”
“Who voted against?”
“You.”
Declan frowned.
“I wasn’t there.”
“Exactly. I considered that a vote against because making me sit through four hours of corporate governance feels hostile.”
Sarah heard him through the speaker.
“Hi, Elias.”
“Sarah. Please come back.”
Declan looked at the phone.
“No.”
Elias continued, “He moved my meeting to six in the morning because Noah has a pediatrician appointment at ten.”
Sarah smiled.
“That sounds reasonable.”
“You’ve both become unbearable.”
Declan ended the call.
Sarah laughed.
“He misses you.”
“He enjoys complaining.”
“So do you.”
“I do not.”
She raised an eyebrow.
Declan wisely changed the subject.
“There’s something I need to show you.”
Sarah became suspicious.
“That usually means you bought something expensive.”
“It isn’t a car.”
“That does not eliminate enough possibilities.”
Declan placed Noah carefully in the bassinet.
Then he handed Sarah a folder.
She opened it.
Her expression changed.
Hayes Global Logistics.
Executive appointment.
Sarah Mitchell.
Chief Operating Officer.
She looked up.
“What is this?”
“A job.”
“I already have a job.”
“You’re overqualified for it.”
“I’m your executive secretary.”
“You corrected my decisions more often than you scheduled them.”
“That was necessary.”
“I know.”
Sarah looked at the document again.
“You want me to be COO?”
“Yes.”
“Because we have a child together?”
“No.”
She waited.
Declan continued.
“Because you caught discrepancies Daniel Cross hid from an entire financial department.”
“I didn’t catch all of them.”
“You caught enough to make him nervous.”
Sarah looked at him.
“And because I’m sleeping with the owner?”
Declan’s mouth curved.
“You have not been sleeping much.”
She threw a cushion at him.
He caught it.
“Noah wakes up every two hours.”
“Exactly.”
She shook her head.
“Very funny.”
Then her expression became serious again.
“Declan, I don’t want people thinking I got the position because of you.”
“They will.”
“That doesn’t bother you?”
“No.”
“It bothers me.”
He stepped closer.
“Then prove them wrong.”
Sarah looked into his eyes.
“That simple?”
“Yes.”
“You really have become a businessman.”
“Terrifying, isn’t it?”
She smiled.
Then she noticed another document inside the folder.
“Wait.”
She pulled it out.
A deed.
Sarah stared.
“What is this?”
“The house.”
“What house?”
Declan pointed through the window.
Beyond the city skyline stood a renovated waterfront home outside Boston.
Sarah had seen photographs weeks earlier.
She thought Declan was considering it as an investment.
“Declan.”
“The penthouse has too many entrances.”
“You have security downstairs.”
“It has no yard.”
“Noah cannot walk.”
“He will.”
“In approximately a year.”
“I prefer preparation.”
Sarah shook her head.
“You bought a house because the baby might eventually want a yard?”
“And because you hate this place.”
“I never said I hated it.”
“You called it a marble prison.”
“One time.”
“Fourteen times.”
She looked at the deed.
Both their names were on it.
Sarah went quiet.
Declan noticed.
“What?”
“You put my name on the house.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
He looked almost confused by the question.
“Because it’s yours.”
“Declan…”
“And Noah’s.”
She looked at him.
“And yours?”
“If you let me live there.”
Sarah laughed softly.
“You’re asking permission now?”
“I’m attempting growth.”
“That may be the most frightening thing you’ve ever said.”
He smiled.
Then Sarah noticed one more item.
A small black box.
Her eyes narrowed.
“Oh.”
Declan picked it up.
Sarah immediately said, “No.”
He froze.
“No?”
“No kneeling.”
His eyebrows rose.
“Why?”
“Because you’re going to turn this into some terrifying mafia ceremony.”
“I no longer run the mafia.”
“You still look like you do.”
“That seems unfair.”
Sarah took the box from him.
She opened it herself.
Inside was a simple diamond ring.
Not enormous.
Not theatrical.
Exactly the kind she would have chosen.
That surprised her more than anything.
Declan watched her carefully.
“I had assistance.”
“From whom?”
“Bell.”
Sarah stared.
“My obstetrician chose my engagement ring?”
“He has strong opinions.”
“I’m going to kill him.”
“Please don’t. We’re trying to reduce homicide.”
She laughed.
Declan took the ring.
Then his expression became serious.
“Sarah Mitchell.”
She looked at him.
“I spent most of my life believing everything important could be protected with money, fear or violence.”
Sarah remained silent.
“I was wrong.”
He glanced toward Noah.
“You walked into my life three years ago and challenged nearly every order I gave you.”
“They were bad orders.”
“Many were.”
“You admit that now?”
“Do not interrupt my proposal.”
She smiled.
Declan continued.
“When I found that hospital letter, I thought the worst thing I could imagine was losing my child.”
His eyes met hers.
“Then I realized losing you would destroy me too.”
Sarah’s smile faded into something softer.
Declan held out the ring.
“I don’t want an empire.”
He looked toward Noah again.
“I want this.”
Sarah whispered, “You’re sure?”
“I have never been more certain.”
“What exactly are you asking?”
His mouth curved.
“You enjoy making things difficult.”
“I enjoy accuracy.”
Declan sighed.
“Will you marry me?”
Sarah looked at the man she had once feared.
The man Boston had feared.
The man who had nearly destroyed everything around him to save her.
And the man who had eventually understood that saving his family meant becoming someone different.
“Yes.”
Declan stared.
Sarah laughed.
“Yes, Declan.”
He placed the ring on her finger.
Then he kissed her.
A loud cry interrupted them.
Sarah pulled away.
“Your son objects.”
“Our son.”
“You handle him.”
“I handled him last time.”
“You’re the feared Declan Hayes.”
“That argument is becoming less useful every day.”
Sarah placed Noah into his arms.
The baby stopped crying almost immediately.
She smiled.
“Looks like he knows who the real boss is.”
Declan looked at his son.
Then at Sarah.
“Apparently it isn’t me.”
One year later, the old Hayes estate was sold.
The penthouse office where Declan had discovered Sarah asleep remained, but it no longer contained hidden guns, encrypted syndicate accounts or men waiting for violent orders.
Hayes Global had become one of the largest legal shipping companies on the East Coast.
Sarah ran operations.
Elias handled security.
Ronan became senior vice president of risk management, a title he hated so much that Sarah had personally approved it.
Bell remained Noah’s unofficial favorite uncle.
And Declan?
Declan still frightened most board members.
Some habits survived.
One evening, Sarah found him inside Noah’s bedroom attempting to assemble a wooden toy ship.
Instructions covered the floor.
Declan stared at them with open hostility.
Sarah leaned against the doorway.
“Need help?”
“No.”
“The mast is backward.”
“It is not.”
“It absolutely is.”
Declan looked at the ship.
Then at the instructions.
Then back at the ship.
“Manufacturing defect.”
Sarah laughed.
“You once controlled half the ports on the Eastern Seaboard.”
“Yes.”
“And a wooden boat defeated you.”
“It has poor documentation.”
Noah toddled toward them.
Declan immediately lifted him.
Sarah watched father and son together.
A year earlier, she had been sitting alone at a glass desk, poisoned, terrified and convinced she had to protect her unborn child by herself.
Now sunlight filled their home.
Dinner waited downstairs.
Noah was laughing.
And the man beside her no longer carried a gun inside the house.
Declan looked at her.
“What?”
Sarah shook her head.
“Nothing.”
He knew better.
“Sarah.”
She walked over and rested her head against his shoulder.
“I was just thinking about that night.”
His expression became serious.
“The office?”
“Yes.”
“You should have told me.”
“I know.”
“I should have noticed.”
“You did eventually.”
Declan looked down at Noah.
“Too late.”
Sarah touched his face.
“No.”
She smiled.
“Just in time.”
Declan kissed her forehead.
Outside, Boston glittered beneath the evening sky.
For years, Declan Hayes had believed power meant making people fear what would happen if they crossed him.
He eventually learned something stronger.
Power was having something worth changing for.
Sarah had survived.
Their son had survived.
And the empire built on fear had disappeared.
What remained was smaller.
Quieter.
And infinitely more valuable.
May you like
A family.
THE END
