Chapter 7 - A Seat at the TableBy afternoon, the Greystone mansion felt entirely different. The oppressive, freezing silence that had suffocated the hallways for seven years was gone, replaced by the soft, steady hum of a house beginning to heal.
In the master dining room—a grand space built for twenty, where Adrien had eaten alone for years—a smaller table had been set near the sunlit bay window. There were no silver plates for one. Instead, three plates sat close together: a large one for Adrien, a medium one for Grace, and a tiny, colorful plastic plate featuring a cartoon duck for Zoe.
Grace sat quietly, still processing the earthquake that had just reshaped her entire world. The man who owned half of Chicago—the terrifying mafia boss her husband’s colleagues whispered about in fear—was currently sitting across from her, carefully cutting small pieces of roasted chicken into bite-sized squares for a three-year-old girl.
"Eat your carrots, Zoe," Adrien instructed gently, his voice stripped of every harsh edge.
Zoe shook her head fiercely, hiding behind her patched teddy bear. "Only if the big dog stays."
Adrien raised an eyebrow. "What big dog?"
Grace smiled faintly, wiping her eyes. "She means the German shepherd the gardeners keep in the outdoor kennel. She spent twenty minutes trying to feed it a cracker yesterday."
Adrien chuckled—a low, genuine sound that hadn't escaped his lips since before his parents died. "Consider it done. The dog moves into the courtyard tonight."
Grace looked across the table, her heart swelling with an emotion she hadn't felt since Daniel died. "Mr. Romano... Adrien. I don't know how to thank you. For exposing Marcus, for bringing justice to Daniel... and for giving us a home."
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Adrien set his fork down. He looked at Grace, then down at Zoe, who was now happily drawing a blue cat on the tablecloth with a washable marker (which Adrien had quietly permitted).
"You didn't take anything from me, Grace," Adrien said softly. "You and your daughter... you brought back the part of me I thought was dead forever. From now on, nobody will ever touch you. No enemies, no threats. This house is your home."
