Chapter 6 - The Woman Gideon Couldn’t Buy
Three weeks later, Noah returned to school.
I returned to work.
Or tried to.
My manager called me into his office.
“Hannah, someone purchased the hotel.”
I stopped.
“What?”
“Effective yesterday.”
“Who?”
I already knew.
“Mercer Hospitality.”
I closed my eyes.
“Of course.”
Gideon was waiting in the lobby.
I walked straight toward him.
“You bought my workplace?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“It was undervalued.”
“You expect me to believe that?”
“No.”
“Good.”
He handed me an envelope.
I refused it.
“What is it?”
“A position.”
“I have a position.”
“A better one.”
“No.”
“You haven’t read it.”
“Because you’re trying to repay me.”
“Yes.”
“I don’t want repayment.”
“Hannah—”
“I didn’t save Noah because his father was rich.”
“I know.”
“Then stop trying to put a price on it.”
People in the lobby pretended not to listen.
Gideon lowered his voice.
“I don’t know how else to thank you.”
That stopped me.
For once, Gideon Mercer didn’t sound powerful.
He sounded lost.
I softened.
“Have dinner with your son.”
He frowned.
“What?”
“Every night.”
“I do.”
“No. You sit at the table while answering calls.”
He stared.
“Noah told you?”
“He tells me everything.”
“Apparently.”
“Turn off the phone.”
“That’s your payment?”
“Yes.”
Gideon considered it.
“Anything else?”
“Take him fishing.”
“I hate fishing.”
“Noah loves it.”
“I know.”
“Then hate fishing quietly.”
A laugh escaped him.
It was the first time I heard it.
Two days later, Noah sent me a picture.
Gideon stood beside a lake holding a tiny fish with the expression of a man personally offended by nature.
The caption read:
DAD HATES FISHING.
I laughed for five minutes.
But Gideon changed more than his weekends.
He began separating his legitimate companies from the criminal network surrounding them.
He replaced compromised managers.
Cooperated with federal investigators against several operations that had used Mercer transportation companies without legitimate oversight.
It cost him money.
Influence.
Old alliances.
One evening, I asked why.
We were sitting on his terrace while Noah finished homework inside.
“Because someday he inherits my name,” Gideon said.
“And?”
“I don’t want him inheriting my enemies with it.”
“That could take years.”
“I have years.”
“You hope.”
He looked at me.
“So do you.”
There was something different between us now.
Not debt.
Not fear.
Something neither of us had named.
Then Noah opened the terrace door.
“Hannah?”
“Yes?”
“Dad says you won’t let him buy you things.”
Gideon sighed.
“Noah.”
“What?”
I smiled.
“That’s correct.”
Noah thought carefully.
“What if I buy you something?”
“With what money?”
“My allowance.”
“That depends.”
He disappeared inside.
A minute later, he returned with a small box.
Inside was a cheap silver bracelet.
A tiny river charm hung from it.
“I bought it myself.”
I looked at Gideon.
He shook his head.
“His idea.”
Noah smiled.
“So you remember where we met.”
I swallowed.
“As if I could forget.”
I put it on.
May you like
Gideon watched me.
And for once, the man who could buy almost anything looked grateful for something money hadn’t purchased.
