Chapter 7 - The Woman Nobody Would Touch Again
Six months later, the Gilded Lily looked different.
The mahogany remained.
The chandeliers remained.
The crystal remained.
But several things had changed.
Victor Sullivan was awaiting trial on corruption, conspiracy and obstruction charges.
Caleb Mercer had accepted a plea agreement that included prison time and a permanent protective order.
Dennis Cole was gone.
And employees no longer disappeared through the alley because a wealthy customer had complained.
Roman had changed that rule personally.
Norah had changed several others.
She was no longer a server.
Roman had offered her a management position.
She rejected it.
Then he offered her control over employee welfare and security complaints.
She accepted.
On one condition.
“No employee gets punished without an investigation.”
Roman had stared across his desk.
“This isn't a democracy.”
“Then find someone else.”
He signed the policy.
That evening, Norah entered the VIP lounge carrying no tray.
Roman sat at his usual booth.
His charcoal jacket was open, revealing the edge of the dark tattoos across his chest and wrists.
Gideon stood nearby.
Norah stopped at Roman's table.
“You're staring.”
Roman looked up.
“I'm observing.”
“Creepy men always call it observing.”
Gideon coughed to hide a laugh.
Roman pointed at him.
“You can go.”
“Absolutely.”
Gideon walked away.
Norah sat opposite Roman.
“You wanted to see me?”
Roman slid something across the table.
A framed photograph.
Samuel and Roman beside the old truck.
Norah touched the glass.
“You framed it.”
“I made two.”
She smiled.
“Thank you.”
Roman leaned back.
“There's something else.”
Norah became suspicious.
“What?”
“I bought the cabin.”
Her smile disappeared.
“You what?”
“The bank was preparing to auction the surrounding land.”
“Roman—”
“I didn't buy it for myself.”
He slid a folder across the table.
Norah opened it.
The deed was in her name.
She stared at him.
“I can't accept this.”
“You can.”
“No.”
“Norah.”
“Roman, that cabin is worth—”
“It belonged to Samuel.”
“So?”
“So it should belong to his daughter.”
Norah looked down.
Roman waited.
Finally she said, “You know money doesn't fix everything.”
“I've recently been informed of that.”
“Repeatedly.”
“Very repeatedly.”
She smiled.
Then her eyes became serious.
“Why are you doing this?”
Roman looked around the lounge.
Six months earlier, he had sat in this exact place while she was dragged toward an alley on his command.
“Because Samuel gave me a second life.”
He looked back at her.
“And the night you said his name, you gave me a second chance to decide what kind of man deserved it.”
Norah's expression softened.
“You're getting better at this.”
“At what?”
“Being human.”
“Don't tell Gideon.”
“He already knows.”
Roman smiled.
Norah reached across the table and took his hand.
His tattoos disappeared beneath her fingers.
He looked at their hands.
Then at her.
“Norah.”
“What?”
“If this is gratitude, don't.”
“It isn't.”
Roman went silent.
She smiled.
“For a powerful man, you become remarkably useless when you're nervous.”
“I am not nervous.”
“You haven't blinked in twenty seconds.”
Roman finally laughed.
Norah leaned closer.
“Samuel told me something once.”
“What?”
“He said the right people don't rescue you by carrying you forever.”
Roman listened.
“They rescue you by making sure you're strong enough to walk away.”
Roman nodded.
“And are you?”
Norah looked toward the brass-studded alley doors.
The same doors she had once believed would be the last thing she ever saw.
Then she looked back at Roman.
“Yes.”
She squeezed his hand.
“But I'm choosing to stay.”
Roman's pale gray eyes softened.
“Good.”
Norah raised an eyebrow.
“That's your response?”
Roman leaned toward her.
“I had a longer speech.”
“And?”
“You ruined it.”
“How?”
“By staying.”
She laughed.
Roman kissed her gently.
Across the room, Gideon immediately turned his back.
Norah pulled away just enough to whisper:
“Was he watching?”
“He watches everything.”
“That's disturbing.”
“He's security.”
“Still disturbing.”
Roman smiled.
Outside, Manhattan moved beneath a cold winter sky.
Inside, the Gilded Lily continued humming with conversations and clinking glasses.
But Norah no longer kept her eyes down.
She no longer tried to become invisible.
And Roman Falco—the man who had once ordered her removed without giving her a second thought—had learned that power meant nothing if it was only used to frighten people weaker than himself.
Samuel Vain had saved Roman's life twelve years earlier.
Norah had saved something different.
May you like
The man he might still become.
And this time, neither of them needed to run.
