Chapter 7 - Welcome Home
One year later, I stood beneath strings of lights stretched across the courtyard behind Saint Matthew's.
The building no longer looked abandoned.
New windows.
Fresh brickwork.
Working heat.
A renovated kitchen.
A library.
Upstairs apartments with affordable rents protected by the community trust.
The handmade WELCOME HOME sign still hung above the doorway.
Grace refused to replace it.
“It belongs here.”
So did she.
She no longer cooked professionally at my mansion.
Instead, she ran Saint Matthew's community kitchen.
Every Friday evening, we served dinner.
And every Friday, Lucy checked whether I remembered my contract.
That night, nearly thirty children crowded around long wooden tables outside.
“Mr. Scary!”
Lucy waved.
“Sit here!”
“I'm serving.”
“You're terrible at serving.”
Grace laughed.
“She has a point.”
I carried another tray toward the table.
“I control several restaurants.”
“You own them,” Grace corrected. “That doesn't mean you know how plates work.”
I leaned toward her.
“Careful.”
“Or what?”
I looked around dramatically.
“I'm feared throughout Philadelphia.”
Danny raised his hand.
“Not here.”
Everyone laughed.
My mother arrived carrying two pies.
“Where's my seat?”
Lucy pointed beside her.
Eleanor immediately obeyed.
I watched them.
A year earlier, I would have considered the scene absurd.
Nathaniel Ashford standing behind a crumbling apartment building, serving chicken to children while his mother argued about pie portions.
Now I couldn't imagine being anywhere else.
Grace approached.
“You're staring again.”
“I do that.”
“I noticed.”
She slipped her hand into mine.
Then Lucy tapped her glass with a spoon.
“Everybody quiet!”
Conversation faded.
Lucy climbed onto her chair.
“Miss Grace says we have an announcement.”
Grace looked at me.
I nodded.
Lucy grinned.
“They're getting married!”
Chaos erupted.
Children screamed.
Eleanor started crying.
Marcus, my lieutenant, looked genuinely horrified.
“You're having children at the wedding?”
Grace laughed.
“All of them.”
Marcus looked at me.
“Boss, respectfully, that's terrifying.”
Lucy pointed at him.
“You're sitting with us.”
Marcus went pale.
I whispered:
“Good luck.”
Grace rested her head against my shoulder.
The same girl who had once dug through garbage cans for food now sat beneath warm lights arguing about wedding cake.
The same building that had nearly been demolished was filled with families.
And the woman I had once suspected of stealing from me had taken something far more valuable than leftovers.
She had taken the hardest, coldest parts of my life and quietly made room for something better.
Lucy appeared beside us holding a plate.
“One piece left.”
Grace looked down.
“Give it to Danny.”
“But I want it.”
“Then split it.”
Lucy sighed dramatically.
Nathaniel Ashford, feared businessman and alleged criminal mastermind, crouched beside a nine-year-old girl.
“I'll tell you a secret.”
“What?”
“There's another pie in the kitchen.”
Her eyes widened.
“Really?”
“Really.”
She sprinted away.
Grace stared at me.
“You're encouraging her.”
“I'm feeding her.”
“You're spoiling her.”
“Also true.”
Grace smiled.
Then she looked across the tables.
Nobody was asking whether there would be enough.
Not anymore.
I wrapped an arm around her waist.
Above us, lights glowed between old brick buildings while children laughed beneath the Philadelphia night sky.
Grace leaned closer.
“You know what Lucy asked me this morning?”
“What?”
“She wanted to know if you were still a scary mafia boss.”
“What did you tell her?”
“That you're working on it.”
I nodded thoughtfully.
“Fair.”
“And then she asked if this was really home now.”
I looked toward the crooked handmade sign we had deliberately kept above the entrance.
WELCOME HOME.
“What did you say?”
Grace squeezed my hand.
“I told her home isn't the building.”
She looked around at the children, neighbors, my mother, and even my hardened men carrying trays of bread.
“It’s the people who stay.”
For once, I had nothing sarcastic to say.
I simply kissed her forehead.
Then Lucy shouted from the kitchen:
“MR. SCARY! DANNY TOOK THE BIGGEST PIECE!”
I sighed.
Grace laughed.
“Duty calls.”
I headed toward the kitchen.
May you like
And for the first time in my life, being needed didn't feel like power.
It felt like belonging.
