Chapter 4 - ADRIAN DISCOVERED HOW QUIET HIS HOUSE REALLY WAS
The first morning after Hannah left, Lily refused breakfast.
Adrian discovered this at seven forty-five.
His daughter sat at the kitchen island wearing her school uniform and glaring at scrambled eggs as though they had personally betrayed her.
“Eat.”
“No.”
“You liked eggs yesterday.”
“No, I didn’t.”
“You ate them.”
“Hannah put cheese in them.”
Adrian looked at the cook.
The cook looked away.
“What kind of cheese?”
Lily stared.
“You don’t know?”
“I am asking.”
“You should know.”
Adrian sat across from her.
“Apparently I have failed the cheese portion of fatherhood.”
Lily’s mouth twitched.
“Cheddar.”
“Thank you.”
The cook reached for cheese.
Lily shook her head.
“Too late.”
Adrian closed his eyes.
This was going to be a long morning.
By eight fifteen, he had found one shoe under the piano, signed a school form Hannah usually placed beside his coffee, discovered Lily’s library book was overdue, and burned toast.
The cook offered to help.
Adrian refused.
Not because he believed fatherhood required burning his own toast.
Because something Hannah said kept bothering him.
Be Lily’s father.
Not the father who hires enough people to make sure she is cared for.
So Adrian Mercer, who had negotiated a hundred-million-dollar warehouse acquisition without raising his voice, spent twelve minutes arguing with a six-year-old about whether a purple scarf matched a red coat.
He lost.
At school, Lily climbed out of the car.
Then turned back.
“Dad?”
“Yes?”
“Hannah always waits until I go inside.”
Adrian nodded.
“I can do that.”
“You usually leave.”
“I know.”
She studied him.
Then smiled slightly.
“Okay.”
He waited.
Watched her walk through the doors.
She turned once.
Adrian was still there.
Her smile became bigger.
Something inside him hurt.
That afternoon, his business problems got worse.
Raymond Hartwell had not declared war.
Men like Raymond rarely announced anything that could later be quoted.
Instead, Mercer trucks began encountering delays.
A port-services company suddenly declined to renew a contract.
Two city inspectors arrived at a warehouse within thirty minutes of each other.
A regional insurance broker requested an unexpected review.
None of it was illegal.
None of it was coincidence.
Vincent arrived at Mercer headquarters shortly after lunch.
“You see?”
Adrian did not look up from the report.
“I see inconvenience.”
“This is pressure.”
“Yes.”
“Raymond wants a meeting.”
“I know.”
“Take it.”
“I will.”
“And repair the alliance.”
Adrian looked up.
“No.”
Vincent’s jaw tightened.
“You cannot run a company based on emotion.”
“Interesting advice from a man who offered one hundred thousand dollars to a maid because a six-year-old hurt his feelings.”
Vincent’s face went cold.
“I admitted that was poorly handled.”
“You did not.”
“I am admitting it now.”
Adrian paused.
That was rare.
“Fine.”
Vincent sat.
“Vanessa may still be willing to reconsider.”
“No.”
“You haven’t asked.”
“I am not going to.”
“Why?”
“Because she doesn’t want to marry me.”
Vincent frowned.
“People change their minds.”
“She told me directly.”
“She was embarrassed.”
“She was relieved.”
That silenced him.
Adrian closed the folder.
“I will handle Raymond as business.”
“And Hannah?”
Adrian stared.
“What about Hannah?”
Vincent leaned back.
“She’s gone.”
“Yes.”
“Good.”
Adrian’s expression changed.
Vincent sighed.
“I mean that the immediate complication has resolved itself.”
“My daughter misses her.”
“She will adjust.”
“Stop saying that.”
Vincent frowned.
“Why?”
“Because you use adjust when you mean suffer quietly until adults feel comfortable.”
His father stared.
Adrian returned to the report.
“We’re done.”
That evening, Hannah began work at the Lakeshore Grand Hotel.
Not as a housekeeper.
As assistant evening manager for guest services.
She had worked there years earlier, and the general manager remembered her.
“You kept Mrs. Jamison from throwing a vase at a concierge.”
Hannah smiled.
“She was upset about a bathrobe.”
“She was always upset about something.”
The job paid slightly better than Mercer House.
More importantly, Hannah went home at night.
She lived with Mia in a two-bedroom apartment near Lincoln Square.
It was noisy.
The radiator clanked.
The upstairs neighbor wore shoes made of concrete.
Hannah loved it.
She cooked pasta the first night.
Mia came home from a twelve-hour clinical rotation and found her sister barefoot in the kitchen.
“You’re really back.”
“That sounds disappointed.”
“I forgot how much counter space you consume.”
Hannah looked down at herself.
“Rude.”
“I meant your cooking.”
“Still rude.”
Mia laughed and hugged her.
Then noticed Hannah’s eyes.
“You miss the kid.”
Hannah looked away.
“Of course.”
“And the dad?”
“Mia.”
“Interesting.”
“Do not start.”
“You called him Adrian.”
“He asked me to.”
“You used to call Mr. Delaney from your hotel job ‘Mr. Delaney’ for two years.”
“He was seventy.”
“So?”
Hannah threw a dish towel at her.
Mia laughed.
Then became serious.
“You like him.”
Hannah sat at the table.
“I don’t know what I like.”
“Yes, you do.”
“No.”
She looked toward the window.
“I like who he is with Lily.”
“Okay.”
“I like that he listens when he remembers to stop being terrifying.”
“Promising.”
“I like his laugh.”
Mia smiled.
“There it is.”
Hannah frowned.
“But I don’t know whether there is room in his life for someone like me without me becoming absorbed into everything Mercer.”
“Do you want there to be?”
That was the problem.
Hannah did.
Saturday morning, Lily called at eight-oh-two.
Hannah answered half asleep.
“You said Saturday.”
“I did.”
“It’s Saturday.”
“I’m aware.”
“Can we make pancakes?”
“Through the phone?”
Lily sighed.
“Can you come over?”
Hannah sat up.
“Did you ask your dad?”
“He’s right here.”
There was fumbling.
Then Adrian’s voice.
“She ambushed me.”
Hannah smiled.
“I believe that.”
“You don’t have to come.”
Lily shouted in the background.
“Yes, she does!”
Adrian lowered his voice.
“I can bring Lily into the city.”
Hannah paused.
“That might be better.”
“Where?”
“There’s a diner on Lincoln.”
“At nine?”
“Are you capable of eating somewhere without armed men at the next table?”
Silence.
Hannah smiled.
“I’ll take that as a challenge.”
At nine fifteen, Adrian Mercer entered a neighborhood diner with his daughter.
Two security men remained outside.
Hannah was already in a booth.
No uniform.
Jeans.
Soft green sweater.
Brown curls down around her shoulders.
Adrian stopped.
Hannah noticed.
“What?”
“Nothing.”
“You’re staring again.”
“I’m adjusting.”
“To?”
“Seeing you outside my house.”
Her expression became cautious.
Lily climbed into the booth.
“Hannah!”
Hannah hugged her.
Adrian sat opposite them.
A waitress dropped menus.
“Coffee?”
“Yes,” Hannah said.
“Black,” Adrian added.
Hannah looked at him.
“What?”
“You drink coffee black?”
“Yes.”
“That explains a lot.”
He frowned.
“What does that explain?”
“General misery.”
Lily giggled.
Breakfast lasted ninety minutes.
Adrian learned Hannah put hot sauce on eggs.
Hannah learned Adrian secretly liked pancakes despite claiming they were “dessert pretending to be breakfast.”
Lily drew three people on a napkin.
Hannah looked at it.
A tall figure.
A small figure.
A rounder figure with enormous hair.
“Why am I twice as wide as your dad?”
Lily considered.
“Because you give better hugs.”
Hannah’s eyes stung.
Adrian looked down.
Nobody made the moment embarrassing.
After breakfast, Lily asked to visit the bookstore across the street.
They walked.
No convoy beside them.
No mansion.
No staff.
At the children’s section, Lily sat on the floor reading.
Adrian and Hannah stood several feet away.
“This feels strange,” he said.
“What?”
“Normal.”
Hannah smiled.
“Terrifying.”
“A little.”
He looked at her.
“How’s the hotel?”
“Good.”
“You like it?”
“Yes.”
“I’m glad.”
She studied him.
“You mean that?”
“Why wouldn’t I?”
“Because part of you wanted me back at the estate.”
“Part of me still does.”
Hannah’s expression changed.
He continued before she could retreat.
“But I want you to want your life more.”
Silence.
Hannah looked toward Lily.
“That was a better answer.”
“I’ve been practicing.”
“With who?”
“Myself.”
“That sounds dangerous.”
He smiled.
They were still smiling when Vanessa Hartwell entered the bookstore.
Hannah saw her first.
Her smile disappeared.
Vanessa stopped ten feet away.
Adrian’s posture changed immediately.
Not aggressive.
Alert.
Vanessa raised one hand.
“I came alone.”
Adrian looked toward the windows.
“No driver?”
“Waiting two blocks away.”
“What do you want?”
Vanessa glanced at Hannah.
“Five minutes.”
Hannah stepped back.
“I can take Lily—”
“No,” Vanessa said.
Hannah stopped.
Vanessa’s expression was serious.
“You should hear this too.”
Adrian frowned.
“Why?”
“Because my uncle has decided the easiest way to force you back to the table is to make you believe people around you are becoming vulnerable.”
Hannah’s stomach tightened.
Adrian’s face became cold.
“Explain.”
Vanessa looked toward Lily.
“Not here.”
Twenty minutes later, Lily sat with a security man in the diner eating pie while Adrian, Hannah and Vanessa occupied the back booth.
Vanessa placed her phone on the table.
“My uncle is pressuring your business.”
“I noticed.”
“It will get worse.”
“Why tell me?”
“Because I broke with him this morning.”
Adrian stared.
“What?”
“He wanted me to call you.”
“To say what?”
“That reconsidering the engagement would repair everything.”
Hannah looked at her.
“And you refused.”
Vanessa gave her a faint smile.
“I have many flaws, Hannah. Volunteering to become leverage in my uncle’s business negotiations is not one I intend to develop.”
Adrian leaned forward.
“What will Raymond do?”
Vanessa’s expression darkened.
“He’ll test whether ending the alliance made you weak.”
“I’m not worried.”
“You should be.”
She looked at Hannah.
“Especially because he thinks he knows why you ended it.”
Hannah went cold.
Adrian’s voice dropped.
“What did he say?”
Vanessa held his gaze.
“That Adrian Mercer abandoned a strategic marriage because he fell for his maid.”
The diner noise continued around them.
Coffee cups.
Silverware.
A child laughing near the counter.
Hannah felt suddenly exposed.
Adrian’s jaw hardened.
“Raymond is wrong.”
Vanessa looked at him carefully.
“Is he?”
Nobody spoke.
Hannah stood.
“I need air.”
Adrian moved.
She held up a hand.
“Don’t.”
He stopped.
Hannah walked outside alone.
Adrian watched through the window.
Vanessa sighed.
“You need to decide what you are doing.”
“I’m doing nothing.”
“That may be the problem.”
“She asked me not to rush.”
“Good.”
Vanessa leaned closer.
“But if my uncle starts using Hannah as proof that you are compromised, doing nothing will not keep her safe from gossip, attention, or pressure.”
Adrian looked outside.
Hannah stood beneath the diner awning.
Hands in her coat pockets.
People passing around her without recognizing her.
For eight months, she had been protected by anonymity.
Now his world had noticed her.
May you like
And Adrian realized that wanting Hannah was no longer the only question.
The far more important one was whether being near him would cost her the ordinary life she had every right to keep.
