Chapter 4 - The Bridge
For the next month, I was no longer a maid. Damian Mercer reassigned me entirely. My only job was Noah.
We sat on the floor of the library every day. I taught Noah the signs for hungry, tired, scared, play, and bear. I watched the life slowly return to his stormy gray eyes as he realized he was no longer trapped in the silence.
And Damian watched us.
He cancelled meetings. He stood in the doorway of the library, leaning against the doorframe, a man who controlled the city's underworld reduced to a silent observer in his own home. He started learning the signs, too. The first time Damian clumsily signed I love you to Noah before bed, Noah signed it back. Damian Mercer, the man who had ordered the destruction of rival empires without a second thought, had to turn his face away to hide his tears.
But my past hadn't forgotten me.
On a Tuesday afternoon, my phone rang. It was Ray Maddox.
"Time's up, sweetheart," the loan shark's voice hissed through the speaker. "You didn't make the payment. We know where you work now. We're waiting outside the gates."
Panic seized my throat. I packed my battered duffel bag in less than three minutes. I couldn't bring that kind of violence to Noah's sanctuary. I was rushing down the back staircase toward the servant's exit when a massive hand clamped around my arm.
Damian.
"Where are you going?" he demanded, looking at the bag.
May you like
"I have to leave," I choked out, tears spilling over my cheeks. "There are men outside. Bad men. My ex-husband owed them fifty thousand dollars, and if I don't leave, they're going to come in here—"
Damian's eyes darkened, a terrifying, lethal coldness settling over his features. "No one comes in here. Give me your phone."
