The Marshal Unleashed at Midnight

Chapter 007

Camille had complete faith in her proposal.

Things between her and Adrian had soured, true, but she thought of the five years of quiet devotion before that, and now she had the invitation to the Marshal's Return Gala in her purse. Weighed against anything that creature Natalie could offer, she was certain she came out ahead.

Dangle a little hope in front of him, and he would come crawling back exactly as he used to.

The Sinclair family fell silent, every eye turning to Adrian.

They all understood how tempting Camille's offer really was. If Adrian switched sides, Gordon would lose the department head's chair he had barely warmed.

"Sure."

Adrian's mouth curved, cool and unbothered. "Let me offer you something too. Take your mother and get out of my sight, and I won't bother holding a grudge over the two of you ganging up to kick me while I'm down."

"It's almost funny, watching you stand there so sure we've still got a future."

The words hit Camille like a slap. Whatever confidence she had walked in with shattered.

"Fine. Don't say I didn't warn you, because you two brought this on yourselves!"

She grabbed Deborah's arm, practically spitting with rage. "Adrian, you just wait. I'm not letting you and that bitch Natalie off easy. I'll make sure the two of you are ruined, and I'll watch her precious company burn to the ground!"

"Once I'm done at the Marshal's Return Gala, I'm coming straight back to deal with this entire family!"

With that, the Ashford women turned and swept out.

"Wait. What did she just say?"

Lorraine froze, her face draining of color as the words caught up with her. "The Marshal invited our family? The Sinclairs?"

Adrian nodded, unhurried, a thin trace of mockery in his voice. "Pathetic, the both of them. Won't quit until they've humiliated themselves completely. It's a small gala, nothing more, and all they'll earn by showing up is a front row seat to their own embarrassment. If any of you are curious, I could walk you in myself in three days and get you proper seats of honor..."

"Shut your mouth!"

Lorraine cut him off before he could finish, her voice shaking with fury. "Are you trying to bury this entire family? Is that the only way you'll be satisfied?"

"We already made an enemy of Julian, and now Camille too. Both families have invitations, which means they are not nobodies. One word from either and this family is finished."

"You've got no real skill to speak of, only a big mouth! If you truly cared about Natalie, you'd stay away from her!"

Gordon said nothing. He stood rooted where he was, torn in two directions at once.

He respected Adrian's needlework and was genuinely grateful for his life. But the family was staring down disaster, and all of it traced back to this one man.

What was he supposed to do?

"I made Natalie a promise. I told her I'd protect her, and I meant it."

Adrian faced the accusations without flinching. "The Roarke family and the Ashford family are ants. Nothing to fear."

"Still talking big, are you? Never stops, does it?"

Uncle Walter sneered. "You know a little medicine and suddenly you are somebody important? No power, no money, and that mouth keeps running!"

"Natalie, listen to your uncle for once," Uncle Bernard said. "Cut this man loose before he costs you everything."

He shook his head with a heavy sigh. "Isn't Mr. Roarke a thousand times better than him in every way that matters?"

The rest chimed in, singing Julian's praises while piling scorn on Adrian.

The noise built until Natalie's ears rang, and she finally snapped. "Enough. All of you, just stop. Julian can be as impressive as he wants, but it was Adrian who saved my father's life. Or has everyone conveniently forgotten that?"

"Since when did you learn to talk back to your elders?"

Nobody had expected Natalie to push back. The room went quiet, every face carrying guilt no one would admit. Uncle Bernard set his jaw. "You'd speak to your elders like that, over some outsider?"

"All right, everyone settle down." Lorraine shot a glance at Gordon, silently begging him to say something, anything, to smooth things over.

But Gordon only exhaled and said nothing.

"Looks like Gordon's out of danger now, so let's call it a day."

Uncle Walter said it like a verdict, and the others filed out behind him.

That was when Natalie's phone rang. "Hello? I'm at the hospital, yes. Something has happened at home..." Her face changed completely. "What did you just say? Okay, I'm on my way!" She hung up and turned to Lorraine.

"Mom, you and Dad head home first. Something's come up, I need to go."

She grabbed Adrian's wrist and pulled him toward the exit.

Once they were in the car, Adrian asked quietly, "Natalie, what happened?"

"The mill just called." She pressed her fingers to her temple. "Camille has already started."

"She's cutting off the partnership between Roarke Construction and the steel mill. If that goes through, we lose at least half our business. Maybe more."

The mill was hers, built from nothing over years of grinding work, and its biggest account by far was supplying steel to Roarke Construction, the company under the Roarke family's name. Camille, as the firm's business manager, had handled that relationship for years. Now the two sides were enemies, and the outlook was bleak.

At the mill she walked straight in and pulled her senior staff into the conference room.

She had spent the drive telling herself it might not be as bad as it sounded. It was worse. One manager confirmed Roarke Construction was terminating the account effective immediately, no transition, no negotiation. Something cold dropped through her chest. She sank into her chair, face drained of color.

More than half her business, gone in one phone call. If she could not line up new clients fast, the losses would be impossible to calculate.

What was she supposed to do now?

The others filed out. She was still staring at nothing when Adrian lowered himself into the chair across from her.

"Natalie," he said gently. "Are you all right?"

"Not really." She pressed her lips into something that was not quite a smile. "I knew this was coming. I just didn't think Camille would cut us off completely." She shook her head. "This mill is everything I have built. I don't know if it can survive this."

"I understand."

His tone was almost too calm for the moment. "I was going to hand you the assets of the richest man in Goldhaven outright. But since the mill means this much to you, I'll do it differently. I'll make your company the strongest in the industry. Nobody will be able to touch you."

Natalie stared at him, anger cutting through the numbness of the last hour.

"Adrian." Her voice came out tight. "I'm genuinely scared right now. Can you please not talk nonsense at a time like this?"

"And hand me the assets of the richest man in Goldhaven? Do you have any idea what the Hale family's standing even means?"

"I'm not blaming you for not being able to help. I just need you to not make this harder than it already is."

Seeing how worked up she'd become, Adrian closed his mouth and said nothing more.

Inside, he only sighed. He had worn the mask of an ordinary man so long that nobody believed a word out of him anymore, not even when he meant it. Who would guess that the unremarkable man across from her was Marshal Vance, or that the Hale family's fortune was something he had quietly arranged five years ago?

If he wanted to, a single word from him could turn this entire city upside down overnight.

"Fine. I know you're trying to make me feel better." Natalie had no way of seeing what went through his mind. She shook her head again, more tired than angry. "You've burned your bridges with the Ashfords and made an enemy of Julian. You probably have nowhere to stay. This is partly my fault. Come stay with me until things settle down."

"As for work, you can come run business development at the mill. I'll put you on payroll."

She glanced toward the door and her voice dropped. "Though with Roarke Construction and Camille both pushing against us now, I don't know how much longer this mill can hold on."

"Thank you, Natalie."

Adrian's voice was steady, free of the lightness from before. "I promise you, I won't let you down. This mill still has a long road ahead of it."