Chapter 5 - A New Beginning in Millbrook
Vivian’s mouth dropped open in shock and fury. She opened her mouth to scream, to threaten him with lawsuits, but looking into Nathaniel’s unyielding eyes, she realized she had completely lost. With a choked sob of rage, she turned on her heel and stormed out of the diner, slamming the glass door so hard the brass bell rattled off its hook.
The diner was dead silent for three seconds. Then old man Miller from table two cleared his throat and raised his coffee mug.
“Well,” Miller announced loudly. “Good riddance to bad rubbish.”
A chorus of chuckles and murmurs of agreement rippled through the room.
Nathaniel stood by the booth, feeling a weight lift off his shoulders that he had carried since the day his father died. He looked down at the white apron in his hands, then turned his gaze across the table.
Elena was smiling—a warm, genuine smile that reached her eyes and made the afternoon sunlight streaming through the window look pale by comparison.
“Well, Mr. Whitfield,” Elena said, picking up her coffee cup. “It looks like you just lost your fiancée, but you’re still about three months short on your apron-duty training hours.”
Nathaniel laughed, tossing the apron back onto the table, but he didn't sit down. Instead, he leaned against the edge of the booth, looking right at her.
“As it turns out, I happen to own a controlling interest in a lot of things,” Nathaniel said, his eyes sparkling with a new kind of certainty. “But I think I’d rather invest my time right here. Are you hiring full-time managers, or do I have to start as a dishwasher?”
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Elena raised her mug in a silent toast, her smile widening. “Depends. Can you handle a double shift on Saturday? Because the billionaire discount only applies if you actually earn your keep.”
Nathaniel sat back down, signaling for a refill. For the first time in his life, he didn't care about his net worth, his empire, or his legacy. He had found something much rarer—a woman who saw right through the money, and a life worth building from the ground up.
