Chapter 12 Grace #3
Duke visibly pales when he sees me, a reflection of my own bloodless complexion. He turns so I can only see his profile when he answers with one damning word. “No.”
The world tilts, but I still catch Hunter’s expression. He’s as shocked as I am. “What the fuck?” He glares at Duke, demanding an explanation.
Duke’s body is rigid, but he manages a stiff shrug. “I gave my word that I’d see this through. It’s going to be done before October 16th when she turns twenty-one. Isn’t it, Katarina?” he asks, grinding out the question.
There’s a tapping sound down the line that makes me shudder. Sharp fingernails pecking at a hard surface. “I’ll leave the day after my party,” she announces.
“What party?” Duke and Hunter ask at the same time.
Katarina sighs. “My twenty-first birthday party, of course. If I have to go into exile, I want to go out with a bang.”
Duke rakes his fingers through his hair. “Your uncle will expect you to be married by then.”
“Baby, is that another proposal? You’re such a romantic.”
Maddie squeezes my arm. If she wasn’t holding me in place, I’d be running back through the corridors by now.
“You shouldn’t worry about me so much, Duke,” she continues. “You can throw my party on the Saturday before my birthday and, just to make Uncle Vasili happy, we can have our wedding the day after. The adorable Griffins can whisk me away before or after the service, I really don’t mind which.”
“I fucking do,” he snaps.
“And here I am trying to be reasonable,” Katarina pouts. “Hunter, tell your brother I’ll allow him decide on my final destination. I’ll even let one of your harpies choose a suitable home.”
“How about the bottom of the ocean?” Maddie calls over.
“Not nice, Maddie,” Katarina scolds, unfazed that someone else has joined the conversation.
“And I thought you championed women who’ve been exploited?
” Before Maddie can come back with a remark, Katarina continues, “But enough chit-chat. We now have a more pressing issue to deal with, don’t we, Duke? ”
“Which is?” Hunter asks when Duke simply scowls at the phone on the countertop.
“If it was this easy for me to uncover his little tryst, how long do you think it’ll be before Danyl and Andrey start to take an interest in Grace?”
Maddie shoots a look at Hunter, asking the question I’d also like to know the answer to. “They’re her bodyguards,” her husband says.
“Uncle Vasili’s spies take their work seriously,” Katarina adds. “You know I have no control over them and if they suspect my future husband is misbehaving, I won’t be able to stop them digging deeper.”
A shiver runs down my spine. Duke said I’d be safe, but I’m about to become a person of interest to the Bratva. What the fuck?
Duke straightens to his full height and turns to face me again.
There’s no hint of the downtrodden man I’d glimpsed when I entered the kitchen.
One look from him and I do feel safe. I feel protected.
“Firstly, there’s nothing for anyone to find out,” he tells Katarina coldly.
“But more importantly, your uncle’s goons won’t care whether I’m cheating on you with one woman or twenty because Vasili doesn’t give a fuck.
If anything, it’s a way of life he approves of if his actions are anything to go by. ”
The silence on the other end of the line stretches. “He’ll care if I tell him to care.”
“If that’s a fucking threat,” Hunter warns, his words razor-sharp and lethal, “you’ll quickly find your friends turning into your worst enemies.”
“In my experience, dear Hunter, there isn’t much difference between the two,” she says.
“And for the record, I’m not threatening Duke.
I’m merely pointing out the possible repercussions if he continues with his irresponsible behavior.
He needs to haul his ass back to Chicago and pay better attention to his fiancée. Right. Now.”
Duke’s eyes don’t leave mine. He’s still holding me. He’s not letting me go. But he doesn’t tell Katarina to go to hell like I wish he would. He’ll do what she asks.
Hunter tries his best to get Katarina to make her disappearing act sooner rather than later, but it falls on deaf ears. I can hear the smile in her voice when she ends the call. No one else is smiling.
The food cooling on our plates is looking more and more unappetizing by the second. Bile rises in my throat and I fight the urge to be sick.
Hunter’s eyeing Duke carefully. “Care to explain what the fuck that was about?”
“I don’t know what you mean.”
“Then let me elucidate,” he says. “As far as we’re concerned, if you want to call off the engagement, you can.
You don’t have to put up with her shit, none of us do.
It’s becoming more apparent by the day that she doesn’t want to sink back into anonymity.
She’s acquired a taste for blood and revenge recently, and there’s a very good chance she isn’t going to follow through with this latest plan.
Walk away, Duke, before you find yourself with a bride you never intended. It won’t end well.”
Duke’s jaw tics as he finally looks to Hunter. “I can wait a few more weeks.”
“Really?” Hunter shakes his head. “Then I repeat,” he says carefully. “What the fuck is going on?”
“I’m keeping my word.”
Hunter stares at him for the longest time. “I’m not buying it.”
Duke squares up to him. “I don’t give a shit what you think. Just leave it, Hunter, for fuck’s sake.”
Hunter remains cold, calm, unmoving. Much like an unexploded bomb that Duke looks ready to kick.
“Can we get back to Chicago tonight?” I ask, breaking the silent stand-off.
With two private jets on standby, I already know the answer.
I’m simply hoping for a different one. After hearing first-hand how Katarina spoke to Duke, I’m in full agreement with Hunter.
With the Griffins’ backing, he doesn’t need to put himself through this.
He can choose to walk away. He can choose me.
Duke’s face creases with pain. I shouldn’t feel rejected, but it hurts. “We’ll leave within the hour. I’ll get Max to speak to our pilot,” he says, already tapping out a message on his phone.
Maddie gives my arm a final squeeze before going to her husband. “Care to run that past me again,” she says, hand on her hip. He looks confused before she adds, “That bit about it not ending well if you find yourself with an unintended bride.”
I can only guess the pair have an interesting backstory, and maybe I’ll get to hear it one day, but for now, Maddie’s quip serves only to defuse her husband’s tension. He manages a smile. “Not everyone can be as lucky as me.”
“Nice save,” Duke tells him. It’s a peace offering.
Hunter’s grim-faced again. “We’re not done,” he warns.
“For today we are,” Duke says pleasantly. Too pleasantly.
“And on that note,” Maddie interjects before the war of words can resume, “we should go. Duke and Grace need some time alone before he’s pulled back into Katarina’s orbit.”
Hunter fixes the starched white cuffs poking out of his dark grey suit. “Of his own choice, apparently,” he mutters. “But you’re right, as always, wife. And I need to make some calls.” He shoots yet another glare at Duke. “Can we at least agree that we need to tighten security around Grace?”
“Yes,” Duke agrees, too quickly for my liking. He hears my breath catching in my throat. “We’re just taking precautions, that’s all.”
“What kind of precautions?” I’m already imaging bodyguards and bullet-proof vests.
“We can start by strengthening your home security,” Hunter explains.
“It’s a modern apartment two blocks from the Excelsis,” Duke says before I can answer. “There’s twenty-four-hour security at the entrance, surveillance cameras on every floor, and her apartment has its own security system.”
My jaw drops. “How the hell do you know all that?”
“I just do,” he replies, but his evasion makes me suspicious.
I couldn’t believe my luck when I’d been offered the chance to housesit the most amazing apartment situated in a prime location midway between the DeVere office and the Excelsis.
Noah had forwarded the email while I was still in Philadelphia, and as I recall, it came from someone with a Moncrief email address.
The six-month agreement made it sound like I was the one doing the owners a favor, hence the ridiculously low rent.
I have a sneaking suspicion that if I checked that email again, it would have Ed’s fingerprints all over it.
“You own the apartment, don’t you?” I ask Duke.
“Yes. But I can always sign it over to you if that makes you feel better.”
“No, that wouldn’t make me feel better,” I push back. I can’t believe he’s so matter-of-fact about gifting me a whole goddamn apartment. Or that I’m crazy enough to refuse, but as someone who grew up collecting coupons for my grandma, this level of extravagance is dizzying.
“Whoever owns it, we should still get Mace to do an audit,” Hunter says.
Duke nods. “Agreed. All I want is to keep Grace safe.”
“We can do that,” Hunter replies. “We’ll protect both of you, if you’ll let us.” He pauses to give Duke an opportunity to share whatever’s keeping him tied to Katarina. When the silence stretches, he shakes his head. “Whatever happens, Duke, you’re not on your own. Don’t forget that.”
“Noted.”
“Please take some food with you,” I tell them as the Griffins prepare to leave. “You still haven’t eaten and it’ll all go to waste.” I certainly won’t be eating anything.
The tension between Duke and Hunter is tangible as we start sealing containers, and it’s Maddie who breaks the silence this time.
“Grace, I’m going to hold you to making something for Quinn’s baby.”
My stomach untwists just a notch, grateful to be discussing something that doesn’t involve ruthless crime families or the need to upgrade my security. “Do you know if they’re having a girl or boy?”
“They aren’t telling–”
“A buh…” Hunter had started to say at the same time.
Maddie shoots him a look. “They’re having a boy?”