Chapter 7 - The Master of Vale House
By 2:00 AM, the grand gallery of Vale House was filled with eighteen heavily armed, loyal guards wearing dark tactical gear.
Grant Mercer and Caroline Wells had been removed from the property under armed guard. Grant was being transported to a private holding cell beneath the South Philadelphia docks to await the Commission's tribunal, while Caroline had been sent back to her father with a cold, final message from Adrian: The dock agreements are terminated.
The remaining six elite women had been quietly escorted off the estate by private chauffeured cars, their dreams of becoming the mistress of Vale House completely shattered.
The mansion had returned to a deep, heavy silence.
I stood near the grand fireplace, my hands clasped together over my plain black staff dress, my fingers trembling slightly from the night's sheer exhaustion and adrenaline.
The mess had been cleared. The marble floor had been wiped clean of blood, and the Impressionist painting had been returned to its frame on the east gallery wall.
Adrian stood by the wide bay windows, looking out at the rain that had begun to fall over the eleven wooded acres of his estate. He held a crystal tumbler of amber whiskey in his right hand, his charcoal jacket removed, his white shirt sleeves rolled up to his forearms.
He turned around slowly, looking across the vast, empty gallery toward me.
"You didn't run, Nora," he said softly, his voice echoing in the warm room. "When the doors locked, when the guns came out... you stayed."
"I work here, Mr. Vale," I said softly, a tiny, faint smile touching the corner of my lips despite my fatigue. "Someone has to make sure the hall is clean."
Adrian set his whiskey glass down on the mantelpiece and walked slowly across the marble floor until he was standing directly in front of me.
The sheer size of him—six-foot-three of quiet, terrifying authority—usually made people shrink back. But I stayed right where I was, looking up into his dark, intelligent eyes.
"Four years ago, your father died owing a heavy debt to a loan shark in Southie," Adrian said quietly. "You took a job as a maid in this house to pay off his debt six dollars at a time."
I blinked, stunned that he knew the real reason I had applied for the job four years ago. "You knew?"
"I paid off your father's debt three years ago, Nora," Adrian revealed softly.
May you like
My breath caught in my throat. "What?"
"I bought the note from the loan shark and destroyed it," Adrian explained, reaching out to gently touch a loose strand of dark brown hair that had fallen from my low knot. "I wanted to see how long you would stay... whether you were staying out of obligation, or because you saw this house for what it really was."
