Chapter 4 - THE BOSS WHO COULDN'T BUY A THANK-YOU|
Clare woke the next morning to the smell of coffee and the sound of Noah arguing with a nurse.
“I don't need breakfast,” Noah insisted. “I need my sister.”
“You need both,” the nurse replied.
Clare smiled weakly.
“Noah?”
The boy spun around.
“CLARE!”
He rushed to the bed, then stopped when he remembered the bandages.
“Can I hug you?”
“Very carefully.”
He wrapped his arms around her shoulders and began to cry.
“You scared me.”
“I know, baby.”
“You promised you'd come home.”
Clare held him close.
“I'm sorry.”
“You can't keep saying sorry for things that aren't your fault.”
The words made her look at him.
Noah wiped his nose with his sleeve.
“That's what you tell me when I get sick.”
Clare laughed softly, then winced.
“Okay. No more laughing.”
“Good. The doctor said you need rest.”
“You've been talking to the doctor?”
“And the nurse. And the man who owns the hospital.”
Clare frowned.
“Who?”
Noah pointed toward the doorway.
Adrien Voss stood there holding a paper bag.
“Good morning.”
Clare stared at him.
“What are you doing here?”
“Checking on you.”
“Why?”
He considered several answers and rejected all of them.
“Because you saved Lily.”
“I didn't do anything special.”
“You took a blade meant for my sister.”
“I didn't know who she was.”
“I know.”
Clare looked away.
“Then you know I don't want anything.”
Adrien placed the bag on the table.
“I brought breakfast.”
“I didn't ask for breakfast.”
“No. You asked whether your brother was safe. That's why he's here.”
Clare's expression softened briefly before she looked at the bag again.
“What do you want from me?”
“Nothing.”
“People don't usually do things for nothing.”
“Perhaps that's why you find this difficult to believe.”
She studied him.
“You're the man everyone is afraid of.”
“Yes.”
“Should I be afraid of you?”
Adrien didn't answer immediately.
He could have told her that his enemies feared him, that his associates followed his orders, and that he had never needed to raise his voice to make a room obey.
Instead, he said, “You should judge me by what I do, not what people say.”
Clare looked at him for several seconds.
“Then don't use money to make me agree with you.”
He nodded.
“Fair enough.”
He asked whether she had insurance, whether her brother had a regular doctor, and whether she needed help arranging transportation.
Clare's expression grew guarded with every question.
“I'm not a charity case.”
“I didn't say you were.”
“You're offering to solve every problem I have because I saved your sister.”
“I'm offering assistance. You can refuse it.”
“Can I?”
“Yes.”
She looked genuinely surprised.
Adrien continued.
“If you need medical care, I'll pay the hospital directly. If you need help getting Noah to appointments, Maya can arrange transportation. But nobody will decide where you live, what you do, or whether you owe me anything.”
Clare looked toward Noah.
“What do you think?” she asked him.
Noah considered the question.
“I think the rich man has terrible coffee.”
Adrien glanced at the cup in his hand.
“It's hospital coffee.”
“Then you should buy better coffee.”
For the first time in years, Adrien laughed without calculating who might hear him.
Clare smiled before she could stop herself.
Then the pain returned, and her expression tightened.
Adrien immediately called the nurse.
As the nurse adjusted Clare's medication, he stepped back to give her room.
She noticed.
“You don't have to leave.”
He looked at her.
“Are you sure?”
“I said you don't have to leave. I didn't say you could take over my hospital room.”
“Understood.”
He sat in the chair near the window.
For the next twenty minutes, Noah told him about school, the science project he hadn't finished, and the small aquarium he and Clare had been trying to save.
Adrien listened.
When Noah mentioned that Clare had sold her laptop to pay for his prescriptions, Adrien's expression darkened.
Clare noticed immediately.
“Don't.”
He looked at her.
“Don't what?”
“Don't turn my life into a list of things you need to fix.”
Adrien fell silent.
Then he nodded.
“All right.”
It was a small concession, but Clare recognized how difficult it was for him.
Later that afternoon, Maya arrived with the first official report on the attack.
Marcus Reed had been paid through three intermediary companies. The money originated from an account connected to Damian Cross, but the trail was incomplete.
There was also an unexpected discovery.
Marcus had visited the restaurant twice before the attack.
On both occasions, he had met Victor Hail in the office.
Adrien read the report.
“Find out what they discussed.”
Maya nodded.
Then she glanced at Clare.
“There's another issue. Victor has told the restaurant staff that Clare was responsible for the incident because she approached the attacker before security arrived.”
Clare stared at her.
“He's blaming me?”
“Apparently.”
Adrien stood.
“Then he can explain that accusation to the police.”
Clare caught his sleeve.
“Please don't threaten him.”
Adrien looked down at her hand.
“I wasn't going to threaten him.”
She raised an eyebrow.
He sighed.
“I was going to ask him some very uncomfortable questions.”
May you like
Despite herself, Clare laughed.
And for the first time since the restaurant floor had risen to meet her, she began to believe that the man everyone feared might be capable of something other than making people afraid.
