Chapter 7 - The Table by the Window
One year later, Adrian Bellandi entered the Harbor Room at midnight.
The restaurant was closed.
Only one table remained set.
Table Nine.
By the window.
Mara stood beside it wearing a simple black dress instead of her usual restaurant clothes.
Adrian stopped.
“You closed early.”
“Owner's privilege.”
“Something wrong?”
“No.”
That made him suspicious.
Mara pointed toward the chair.
“Sit.”
He obeyed.
“I'm uncomfortable.”
“Good.”
“Mara.”
She placed a bourbon in front of him.
Adrian stared at it.
Then at her.
“You're joking.”
“Drink.”
“No.”
She laughed.
“After a year, you still don't trust me?”
“I trust you completely.”
“Then drink.”
“I don't trust bourbon.”
Mara sat opposite him.
Adrian finally took a sip.
“Happy?”
“Very.”
He noticed an envelope beside her.
“What is that?”
“Something arrived this morning.”
His expression hardened.
“From who?”
“Victor.”
Adrian slowly put down the glass.
Victor had been sentenced eight months earlier.
“What does he want?”
“Nothing.”
Mara slid the letter across.
Adrian didn't open it.
“What does it say?”
“He's sorry.”
Adrian looked toward the harbor.
“Do you believe him?”
“I think he believes it.”
“That's different.”
“Yes.”
Silence settled between them.
Mara reached across the table.
Her fingers touched Adrian's tattooed hand.
“You don't have to forgive him.”
“I know.”
“But you should stop letting him sit at this table.”
Adrian looked at the empty chair beside them.
Then he understood.
Victor had occupied space in his life even after disappearing from it.
Adrian picked up the letter.
He folded it once.
Then placed it in his pocket.
“Maybe someday.”
“Good enough.”
He looked at her.
“Was that why you brought me here?”
“Partly.”
“And the other reason?”
Mara smiled.
“I wanted to remind you where this started.”
“This isn't the Harbor Lantern.”
“No.”
“Thank God.”
“But it's Table Nine.”
Adrian looked around.
She had recreated it deliberately.
Same corner position.
Same bourbon.
Same waitress.
Different life.
“You planned this?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
Mara's smile faded into something softer.
“Because one year ago tonight, I thought helping you was the worst decision I'd ever made.”
“And now?”
She leaned closer.
“It's probably second worst.”
Adrian laughed.
“What's first?”
“Agreeing to date you.”
“Cruel.”
“You'll survive.”
“I usually do.”
Mara stood.
“Come with me.”
“Where?”
“Outside.”
They walked onto the terrace.
The harbor stretched beneath them.
No rain tonight.
No abandoned warehouses.
No shattered glasses.
Just lights reflected across dark water.
Adrian stood beside her.
“You know what I remember most about that night?”
Mara asked.
“My charming personality?”
“No.”
“My excellent tipping?”
“No.”
“The bourbon?”
“You looked lonely.”
Adrian's smile disappeared.
Mara continued.
“You had money. Men. Power. Everyone in that restaurant was afraid of you.”
She looked at him.
“But you were completely alone.”
Adrian was silent.
“Then some stupid waitress knocked your drink onto the floor.”
“Saved my life.”
“Ruined a perfectly good glass.”
“Saved my life.”
“Fine.”
Mara smiled.
“Saved your life.”
Adrian reached into his coat.
Mara groaned.
“Again?”
“You're going to have to stop reacting like that.”
“Your coat has caused me trauma.”
This time, he removed another velvet box.
Mara's smile disappeared.
“Adrian.”
“Open it.”
“If that's another apartment key—”
“It isn't.”
She opened the box.
A ring.
Simple.
Elegant.
No enormous diamond.
No ridiculous display of wealth.
Exactly the kind she would have chosen.
Mara looked at him.
“You asked Luca.”
“Possibly.”
“He knows me too well.”
“So do I.”
Adrian didn't kneel.
Mara appreciated that.
He simply stood in front of her, stripped of the intimidation that made entire rooms become silent.
“Mara Bennett.”
“Yes?”
“One year ago, you saw something everyone else would've ignored.”
She waited.
“You could've walked away.”
“I almost did.”
“But you didn't.”
“No.”
“You saved a man you had every reason to fear.”
His fingers closed gently around hers.
“And then you spent the next year teaching him that surviving isn't the same thing as living.”
Mara's eyes softened.
“That's dangerously emotional for you.”
“I'm having a difficult night.”
She laughed.
Adrian continued.
“I can't promise you a quiet life.”
“I'd be suspicious if you did.”
“I can't promise there won't be enemies.”
“Working on that.”
“I can't even promise Luca will stop investigating everyone you meet.”
From inside the restaurant came Luca's voice.
“I heard that.”
Mara laughed harder.
Adrian smiled.
“But I can promise you this.”
He squeezed her hand.
“You will never stand alone again.”
Mara looked at the ring.
Then at the man she had once believed would get her killed.
“That's convenient.”
“Why?”
She removed the ring from the box.
“Because neither will you.”
Adrian stared at her.
“Is that a yes?”
Mara slipped the ring onto her finger.
“No.”
His expression fell.
She smiled.
“It's a very demanding yes.”
Adrian pulled her toward him.
“I expected nothing less.”
Behind them, Luca opened a bottle of champagne.
Mara turned.
“You were listening?”
“I was providing security.”
“You were eavesdropping.”
“Long career.”
Adrian laughed.
Mara looked across the harbor.
A year earlier, she had been a tired waitress standing beneath flickering lights, wondering whether doing the right thing would cost her everything.
In a way, it had.
She lost her job.
Her apartment.
Her anonymity.
Her ordinary life.
But some losses created room for something better.
A restaurant of her own.
People who had become family.
A future she hadn't imagined.
And one dangerously complicated man who finally understood that loyalty wasn't something fear could buy.
Adrian lifted his glass.
Mara raised hers.
“To minding your own business,” he said.
She smiled.
May you like
“Never.”
And this time, when they drank, neither of them worried about what was in the glass.
