2026-11-05 15:21:42
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Chapter 32
The grey-haired man bowed deeply to the Fruit Boy."Sir," he said. "Mr. Gordon Hayes asks to see you. Tonight. The car is outside."Behind him, the man with the iron bar slowly lowered it.Bruce Holland's mouth fell open."Gordon Hayes?" one of the old card players whispered. "The Gordon Hayes?""Who else?" the man beside him whispered back. "Half the buildings downtown are his. Men like Bruce don't even get into his waiting room."Jean put her hand over her mouth. "Gordon Hayes," she said faintly. "The old man at table nine? With the tea? He comes in every week, and I never once asked his name."In the window booth, Owen had gone very still."Gordon Hayes," he whispered. "My father waited three months to get ten minutes with Gordon Hayes. Three months. And he never got them."Gina turned her head and stared at him.The grey-haired man looked at Bruce for the first time. "Mr. Holland.""Sir." Bruce's voice came out much smaller than before."Last night, at that table, this young man s
Chapter 31
Before Alexander could answer, Erin stepped forward.Her hands were shaking. Her voice was shaking too. "Mr. Holland, it was my fault. I was late. Alexander only hit him because of me. Please don't hurt him.""Erin!" One of the other waitresses grabbed her sleeve. "Are you crazy? That's Bruce Holland!""I know who he is.""Then get back here!""No." Erin pulled her sleeve free. "He stood up for me. I'm not going to let him stand there alone."Bruce didn't even look at her. He came slowly across the floor, over the beer and the broken glass, and stopped in front of Alexander. Up close he was even bigger. He smelled of cigar smoke and expensive leather."So you're the boy who saved Jean on the river," he said. "Oh yes. I heard about that. I heard about my man too. The one with the sore back.""He had it coming," Alexander said."Maybe he did." Bruce spread his big hands like a reasonable man. "And if you'd hit anybody else in here tonight, I'd let it go. For Jean's sake. But this?" He p
Chapter 30
All over the warm, crowded floor of The Loon, heads turned toward the shouting."Leave it, Alexander," Erin whispered. She caught his elbow with a wet, shaking hand. "Please. It's my fault.""It's not your fault." Alexander kept his eyes on the manager. "She was one minute late, Mr. Shaw. One minute, because a bus broke down on the bridge. You've been shouting at her for five. And now you want a week's pay for it?""I don't want it." Mr. Shaw tapped his little notebook. "I've taken it. It's written down.""Do you know what that money is to her?""Do I look like I care?""No," Alexander said. "You don't. That's the problem."The bar had gone quiet. The old men at the card table had stopped playing. Behind the counter, the girl who washed the glasses stood with a glass in one hand and a cloth in the other, not moving at all."It's her rent," Alexander said. "It's the roof over her head this month. And you know she won't fight back, because she needs this job. None of them will fight bac
Chapter 29
Alexander set the fruit platter down on the table. "Enjoy your evening.""No. No way." Carter was laughing so loudly that the next table turned around. He kept the phone pointed at Alexander's face. "Gina, Owen, look at this! It's the Cavendish ex-husband! Carrying fruit!"The girl in the white dress laughed. The tall young man smiled behind his glass."Wait, wait." Carter wiped his eyes with one hand. "First Victoria throws you out. Then you move in with my little cousin Sophia and sleep on her mother's floor. And now this?" He turned to the girl. "Gina, I told you about him. The man who lost everything in one afternoon."Gina looked at Alexander with soft, pitying eyes and held out her hand. "Hi. I'm Gina. Don't mind Carter. I think it's brave, honestly. Working."Alexander looked at the hand, then at her face. Two seconds ago she had been laughing with Carter. He didn't take it."Excuse me. I have tables waiting."He walked away. Behind him, Gina's soft face went hard. "Well! Rude.
Chapter 28
"Let her go," Alexander said.The man smelled of beer from three steps away. He looked at a young man in a wrinkled shirt, alone on a dark path, and he laughed."Mind your own business, kid. Walk on."Alexander kept coming.The man stopped laughing. He looked at Alexander's face, and something in it made him let go of the woman all at once. She dropped onto the wet grass. Then the man turned and ran, away along the dark path.Alexander didn't chase him. He flicked a stone off the path with the toe of his shoe and kicked it.The stone flew like a bullet and hit the man square between the shoulders. He went down on his face with a cry.Alexander's one grain of spirit energy had gone into that kick. It was a small thing, but it was enough for a drunk.The man got up on his hands and knees, gasping. He looked back with pure hate. "You've got no idea whose man you just hit, boy," he spat. Then he stumbled up and was gone into the dark.Alexander knelt by the woman. "Are you all right?"She
Chapter 27
In the middle of the silent bank, Alexander gave the smallest shake of his head.Nobody else saw it. Vincent saw it.His bow stopped halfway down. For one second he hung there, bent over in the middle of the bank. Then he reached down and picked his cigar up off the marble, as if that was what he had bent down for all along.He straightened up, turned away from Alexander, and bowed to Emily instead."My apologies, Miss Ford," he said. "He was my man. The blame is mine."Emily blinked. "That's fair of you, Mr. Hale.""Only what's right."Then Vincent turned to the man on the floor. "Look at me when I'm talking to you."Simmons lifted his swollen face."Don't say sorry to me," Vincent said. "If the young lady doesn't forgive you, you won't see tomorrow. Crawl. To her, not to me."Simmons's eyes went up to Alexander's face, and whatever he saw there made him crawl the long way round. He crawled across the marble to Emily's feet and knelt there, with his tie torn and blood down his shirt.
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