Eleanor fought them, looking back at Nicholas one last time. “You’ll regret this!” she screamed. “I made you!”
Nicholas stood like a statue. He said nothing. He just watched her go.
The police car door slammed. The blue lights flashed against the mansion’s stone walls as they drove away. Silence fell over the estate.
Nicholas remained where he was, staring at the gates. Max stepped up beside him. “Sir? Are you okay?”
Nicholas didn’t answer, but Sarah noticed his hand was shaking. Just slightly. Under the cold exterior, he was reeling. Then he turned, his eyes searching until they found Sarah. “Mikey,” he said, his voice raspy. “Is he safe?”
While the arrest was happening, Sarah had stayed with Mikey. She knew the most important task was caring for the victim. She had Steven bring warm water, soft towels, and a gentle skin cream.
With the tenderness of someone who had spent her life caring for the vulnerable, Sarah went to work. She carefully bathed Mikey, washing away the chemical residue. He was still whimpering, but he was exhausted. Sarah whispered soothing words as she worked.
He couldn’t understand her, but he felt the warmth of her hands. When she finished, she applied the cream to his irritated skin. Her touch was light as a feather.
Then, something wonderful happened. For the first time in two months, Mikey stopped crying. Not because he was tired, but because the pain was finally gone.
He lay there, his big blue eyes looking at Sarah with curiosity. The grimace was gone. The tears stopped. He was peaceful.
Then, he smiled. A tiny, shy smile. It was his first smile in eight weeks. Sarah felt tears prick her eyes. She picked him up and held him close, feeling his steady breathing. He curled up against her, finally safe.
Katherine ran into the room, her face pale. “Is he…?” she started.
Then she saw him, quiet and smiling in Sarah’s arms. “Oh my god,” Katherine whispered, covering her mouth. “He’s okay?” Sarah nodded.
“He’s okay. He’s finally okay.” Katherine hugged Sarah and the baby together.
They stood there in the quiet room, which was finally free of the sound of pain. Nicholas appeared in the doorway. The exhaustion was still on his face, but when he saw his son, his features softened.
Mikey fell asleep. A real, painless sleep. Nicholas walked over, looked at his son, and then looked at Sarah. He didn’t say a word, but his nod of gratitude said everything.
Two days passed. The mansion was strangely quiet without the crying. Mikey was recovering fast, eating and sleeping normally. Sarah stayed to make sure he was truly out of the woods.
But now her job was done. It was time to go back to her real life—the city hospital, her small apartment, and the double shifts. That morning, Steven told her Nicholas was waiting in his study.
Sarah walked in and saw him at his desk. He turned, holding a checkbook. He laid a check on the desk. Ten million dollars. Sarah stared at the number, feeling a jolt of shock.
It was enough for a house, her own clinic, a life of total comfort. “You saved my son,” Nicholas said seriously. “You exposed the truth and saved this family. This is the least I can do.”
Sarah didn’t touch the check. She just stood there. Nicholas frowned.
“Is it not enough? I can double it. Name your price.” “It’s not about the money,” Sarah said softly.
Nicholas looked confused. “Then what? A house? A car? I can arrange anything.”
Sarah looked him in the eye. “You paid fifteen doctors millions. They came with their degrees and their equipment, but they didn’t really look at the child. They didn’t see what was right in front of them because they were looking for something expensive.”
“They saw your power and told you what you wanted to hear. I don’t want to be one of them.”
Nicholas set the checkbook down. “Then what do you want?”
Sarah smiled. “I want to go home knowing Mikey is going to be okay. That he’ll grow up loved. That’s enough for me.”
She turned and walked toward the door, leaving the check on the desk. “Sarah,” Nicholas called out.
She stopped. “Thank you,” he said sincerely. “For everything.”
“Take care of him, Nicholas,” she replied and walked out. Nicholas sat there, realizing he didn’t want her to leave.
Sarah drove away in her old Civic. The mansion disappeared in her rearview mirror. She went back to her studio apartment on the fourth floor of an old walk-up. It felt tiny after the Bennett estate, but it was home.
A week passed. Sarah went back to work. Her coworkers noticed she was distracted. Every night, she thought about Nicholas and that conversation in the kitchen.
In the mansion, Nicholas couldn’t focus on his work. Max noticed. “Sir, you’re thinking about her, aren’t you?” Nicholas didn’t answer, but his silence was enough.
That night, Nicholas took his car and drove into the city alone. It was raining. He parked outside Sarah’s apartment building and just stood there in the rain, looking up at the fourth-floor windows.
He was a powerful man in an expensive suit, standing in the rain outside a run-down apartment, realizing he was in love.
At 6:00 AM, Sarah walked out of the hospital after her shift. She saw a black luxury car parked among the beat-up sedans. Nicholas was leaning against it.
Her heart skipped a beat. She walked over. “What are you doing here?”
“I’ve been asking myself the same thing,” he said, his voice raspy. “I stood outside your place last night trying to figure it out. I can’t get you out of my head.”
“You shouldn’t be here,” Sarah said. “We’re from different worlds.”
Nicholas stepped closer. “I know. But I don’t want to be anywhere else. Have coffee with me. Please. Just one cup.”
Sarah looked into his eyes and saw the man, not the mogul. “Okay. But at the diner on the corner. The coffee is terrible.”
Nicholas smiled. “I’ll survive.”
They sat in a booth. Nicholas held a thick ceramic mug. “You’re the first person who saw me as a person, not a monster,” he said.
“You’re not a monster, Nicholas. You’re a man who had to make hard choices.”
“I want to make better ones. You make me want to be better.”
Sarah hesitated. “I’ve been hurt before…”
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