Chapter 6 - The Woman Nobody Could Buy
Six months later, Grace Bennett walked through Dominic Mercer’s penthouse wearing navy-blue nursing scrubs.
Dominic looked up from his desk.
“You’re late.”
“I don’t work for you anymore.”
“You’re still late.”
Grace placed a paper bag in front of him.
“What’s this?”
“Dinner.”
Dominic opened it.
Cold pasta.
He looked at her.
Grace smiled.
“Sentimental.”
“That pasta was terrible.”
“You ate it.”
“You made me.”
She sat across from him.
Life had settled into something neither of them expected.
Grace attended nursing school.
Worked part-time at the hospital.
Visited her mother every Sunday.
And dated Dominic Mercer.
Dating Dominic was strange.
Restaurants closed sections for him.
Waiters became nervous.
Cars appeared wherever they went.
Security men followed from a distance.
But Grace refused almost every expensive gift he attempted to give her.
One evening, he placed diamond earrings on the table.
“No.”
“A watch?”
“No.”
“Car?”
“No.”
“House?”
“Dominic.”
“What?”
“Stop trying to purchase solutions.”
He stared at her.
“I like solutions.”
“I know.”
“What do you want?”
Grace smiled.
“You.”
Dominic became silent.
Grace raised an eyebrow.
“Terrifying, isn’t it?”
“Yes.”
She laughed.
Then his expression became serious.
“There’s something I need to tell you.”
Grace leaned back.
“That sentence never leads anywhere good.”
Dominic opened a folder.
Inside were photographs.
Documents.
Financial records.
Grace frowned.
“What is this?”
“The Mercer companies are changing.”
“How?”
“I’m selling several businesses.”
Grace looked at him.
“Which ones?”
“The ones that depend on people being afraid of me.”
She looked up.
Dominic continued.
“Some parts of my organization survived because nobody asked questions.”
Grace remained silent.
“I’m asking them now.”
“Why?”
He looked at her.
“You.”
Grace shook her head.
“Don’t change your life for me.”
“I’m not.”
“Yes, you are.”
Dominic walked around the desk.
“I spent years believing fear was the same thing as respect.”
Grace watched him.
“You challenged me inside my own apartment while wearing borrowed socks.”
“They were not borrowed.”
“They were mine.”
“They were in the laundry room.”
“Exactly.”
Grace smiled.
Dominic continued.
“You told Richard Ashford he was pathetic while your brother was being held hostage.”
“He was pathetic.”
“You refused money when you had nothing.”
“I accepted one dollar.”
“Technically.”
Grace stood.
Dominic took her hand.
“You reminded me that power means nothing if all it can do is frighten people.”
Grace’s expression softened.
Dominic reached into his pocket.
She immediately stepped backward.
“No.”
He stopped.
“You haven’t even seen it.”
“I know what jewelry box that is.”
Dominic looked down.
Grace pointed at him.
“Do not kneel.”
Dominic almost laughed.
“I wasn’t planning to.”
“Good.”
“I have a bad knee.”
“You absolutely do not.”
He opened the box.
Inside was a simple ring.
Not enormous.
Not flashy.
Grace stared at it.
Dominic said, “I know you don’t want to belong to anyone.”
Grace looked up.
His voice became quieter.
“I don’t want you to.”
He held the ring between his fingers.
“I want you to stay because you choose to.”
Grace’s eyes filled.
Dominic continued.
“No debts.”
She smiled.
“No threats?”
“No.”
“No secret contracts?”
“No.”
“No buying my answer?”
“No.”
Grace took a breath.
Then said:
“Ask properly.”
Dominic stared at her.
“Grace Bennett.”
“Yes?”
“Will you marry me?”
Grace waited five seconds.
Dominic’s jaw tightened.
She waited another two.
“Are you enjoying this?”
“A little.”
“Grace.”
She laughed.
“Yes.”
Dominic stared.
“Yes?”
“Yes.”
He slipped the ring onto her finger.
Grace looked at it.
Then at him.
“One condition.”
Dominic sighed.
“Of course.”
“I’m keeping my apartment.”
“Why?”
“Because the last time I lived in your penthouse, I ended up sleeping in a closet.”
Dominic laughed.
May you like
And for once, the most feared man in New York didn’t care who heard him.
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