Chapter 5 - The Room on the Second Floor
The suite Nathaniel gave Grace and Lily was on the second floor, right across the central courtyard from his own private quarters.
It wasn't a guest room; it was the east wing’s master suite, a magnificent set of three rooms lined with pale cream silk wallpaper, plush wool carpets, and a balcony that looked out over the koi ponds in the formal garden.
By noon, two delivery trucks from Boston’s finest children’s boutique arrived at the rear entrance.
Under Nathaniel’s direct orders, Mrs. Gable and four housekeepers unpacked dozens of boxes. There were tiny yellow dresses, soft leather shoes, stacks of picture books, a custom wooden dollhouse shaped like a Victorian manor, and a bed shaped like a pirate ship that made Lily scream with pure delight for ten straight minutes.
Grace stood in the doorway of the bedroom, watching Lily jump up and down on the giant feather mattress.
"Nathaniel," Grace whispered, turning to the man who was standing beside her, leaning casually against the doorframe. "This is too much. She’s three. She’s going to think magic is real."
"Magic is real," Nathaniel said calmly, his eyes fixed on Lily. "It’s just expensive."
Grace let out a soft, helpless laugh—the first real laugh she had uttered in four years. It was a clear, warm sound that seemed to catch Nathaniel completely off guard. He turned his head to look at her, his grey eyes softening into a gaze so intense that Grace’s laugh died in her throat.
"You should do that more often," he murmured.
"What?"
"Laugh." He took a step toward her, his tall frame blocking out the light from the hallway. "I spent four years watching you carry heavy laundry trays up the service stairs, Grace. I watched you hide behind columns when guests walked through the foyer. I never heard you laugh once."
Grace looked down at her polished shoes—a clean, comfortable pair of leather flats that Mrs. Gable had insisted she wear instead of her worn-out maid’s sneakers.
"When you don't have a safety net, Nathaniel," Grace said softly, "you don't laugh much. You're too busy watching where you place your feet."
"You have a safety net now," Nathaniel said.
He reached out, his hand resting gently against the side of her waist. His touch was warm, solid, and so incredibly reassuring that Grace felt her body relax against him instinctively.
Before she could speak, his phone rang sharply in his pocket.
Nathaniel frowned, pulling the phone out. He looked at the caller ID, his expression instantly darkening back into the cold mask he wore for the corporate world.
"Who is it?" Grace asked.
"Julian Marsh," Nathaniel said coldly. "Vivien’s father."
He answered the call, putting it on speaker so Grace could hear.
"Callaway," Julian Marsh’s voice came through the speaker, thick with suppressed fury and desperate pride. "You've had your fun. You ruined my daughter's reputation, you pulled your logistics contract, and you've got the press sitting outside my front gate. Is your vengeance satisfied?"
Nathaniel didn't hesitate. "Not even close, Julian."
"Listen to me, you arrogant bastard," Marsh growled. "My family built the shipping lines in this city while your grandfather was still hauling coal! You think you can freeze us out of the port authority? I still hold thirty percent of the terminal leases in South Boston! I will block every Callaway vessel from docking before I let a maid run my family out of town!"
Grace felt a chill run through her.
Julian Marsh wasn't just a wealthy socialite; he was the vice chairman of the Boston Port Authority. If he blocked Callaway Freight Systems from using the South Boston terminals, it could paralyze Nathaniel’s regional supply chain, costing his company tens of millions of dollars a day.
Nathaniel didn't look worried. He looked amused.
"Julian," Nathaniel said, his voice entirely devoid of stress. "Did you read the morning financial filings?"
A sharp pause echoed over the line. "What filings?"
"At six o'clock this morning," Nathaniel said smoothly, "Callaway Logistics completed the emergency acquisition of Atlantic Harbor Infrastructure. We now own seventy percent of the private terminal leases in Portland and Providence."
Julian Marsh let out a strangled gasp over the speaker.
"If your ships try to dock anywhere on the New England coastline after midnight tonight, Julian," Nathaniel added, his tone smooth as silk and cold as ice, "you will be paying Callaway Logistics a fifty-thousand-dollar daily docking fee per vessel."
"You... you bought Atlantic Harbor?!" Marsh stammered, his pride completely collapsing into panic. "That cost... that cost three hundred million dollars!"
"It was a good investment," Nathaniel said simply. "It keeps my maid's daughter safe from bad neighbors."
He clicked the end-call button without waiting for a reply and slipped the phone back into his pocket.
Grace stared at him, her dark eyes wide with complete, breathless shock. "You... you spent three hundred million dollars to block her father?"
Nathaniel looked at her, a faint, wicked smile playing at the corner of his lips.
"I told you, Grace," he whispered, taking her wrapped hand into his. "I don't play games with people who hurt my family."
Grace froze at the word. Family.
"We aren't your family, Nathaniel," she breathed, her heart hammering against her ribs.
May you like
Nathaniel stepped closer, his face inches from hers, his grey eyes locked onto hers with a truth so fierce it made the rest of the world fade away.
"You are," he said softly. "You just haven't realized it yet."
