Chapter 9 - THE WOMAN WHO WOULDN'T ACCEPT HIS MONEY
I offered Faith compensation.
Not because I believed money could erase her mother's death.
Because I knew the company owed her family answers and potentially restitution.
She refused the personal check.
“Dominic.”
I looked up.
“I don't want a gift.”
“It's not a gift.”
“Then what is it?”
I hesitated.
She sat across from me.
“If your company harmed my mother, let the investigation establish what happened. Let the legal process determine responsibility.”
I nodded slowly.
“You're right.”
She looked surprised.
I smiled faintly.
“I can say that now.”
Faith laughed.
Then grew serious.
“I need to tell you something.”
“What?”
“I can't keep working here forever.”
My chest tightened.
“Why?”
“Because I want to finish nursing school.”
I stared.
She continued.
“I left when my mother got sick. I always planned to go back.”
“Then go.”
She blinked.
“Just like that?”
“Yes.”
“I still need to pay rent.”
“We can discuss your employment schedule while you make plans. You don't have to decide everything today.”
She studied me.
“Are you trying to keep me here?”
I shook my head.
“No.”
“Then what are you trying to do?”
I looked at her.
“For once, I'm trying not to make someone else's life about me.”
Faith smiled.
And I realized I was falling in love with her.
Not because she had saved me.
May you like
Not because she was fearless.
But because she kept reminding me that the world contained people whose lives mattered just as much as mine.
