Chapter 30
Chapter Thirty
GRACE
Waiting for Christian to arrive at Oakleigh feels a lot like how I imagine death row inmates must feel as they wait for the prison warden to appear in their cell when the last stay of execution has failed.
Not that I’m all that familiar with what happens on death row, but I’ve seen the documentaries.
I keep replaying our conversation over and over in my mind. I hated the idea that those kids would think differently of their parents if they knew what really happened.
What does that mean? Is he going to try to shift the blame for Nexus’s collapse onto Mum and Dad? Because if that’s his game, he’s picked the wrong path. My mum was an incredible architect, and my dad’s reputation in the construction industry was exemplary.
Before his phone call, I’d planned to sit him down and tell him who I was the second he walked through the door.
Now, I’ve changed my mind. I’m going to insist he talks first, and based on what he says will decide what my next move is.
Either way, tonight, almost a year after my parents passed away, I’m going to find out the truth.
Or rather, Christian’s version of it, anyway.
A car door slams, and I race to the window.
Charles and Alexander exit the vehicle. Imogen comes flying out of the house and wraps her arms around her husband’s neck.
He strokes her hair and murmurs something in her ear, and they walk into the house together.
Charles follows, raking a hand through his salt-and-pepper hair.
Even from here, I can see how tired he looks, and remorse presses down on my chest. He doesn’t know it yet, but I’m about to bring further worries to his door. Worries he doesn’t deserve.
Christian’s father has been nothing but kind to me from the moment I met him. The De Vils have a reputation as morally corrupt business types who walk the line between what’s lawful and unlawful, but I can only speak as I find.
Same goes for Christian. I still can’t square the circle of him as a callous killer. Nothing he’s shown me leads to that conclusion.
God, how much longer will I have to wait? He said he had business to attend to but gave me no idea how long it might take.
Wait up for me.
I could be here hours. Every minute that passes makes the knots in my stomach tighten and my throat get narrower and narrower.
Pacing doesn’t work to calm me, and the pain in my abdomen stops me from eating, even though the grumbles in my stomach are loud enough for the staff to hear.
Fifteen minutes pass, then thirty. When a whole hour ticks by and there’s still no sign of Christian, I can’t stand it any longer. Maybe a bath will calm my nerves.
I’m halfway to the bathroom when my phone rings. Pivoting, I dive across the living room and snatch it off the coffee table.
“Christian?”
“Afraid not,” Uncle Daniel’s monotone voice sounds in my ear.
I hiss between my teeth, glancing over my shoulder, even though I’m pretty sure I’m alone. “What the hell are you doing calling me on this phone? Christian could have answered it.”
A low chuckle comes over the phone line. “I highly doubt that considering I’m looking at your beloved right now.”
My entire world tilts on its axis.
How… how is that possible?
“He’s looking… how can I put this? A little worse for wear.”
My stomach plummets. “What have you done?” I whisper.
“Your fucking job. You’re done, Grace. I never should have sent a woman to do a man’s work.”
Anger rises in me, a pulsating fury I can’t contain. I should have seen this coming. He’s been growing more and more unhinged as time has passed. Never mind the negative effect he’s had on Arron.
“You stupid idiot. He was going to tell me everything.”
Dad’s younger brother lets out a single-note laugh.
“Is that what you think? He’s played you like a fiddle.
You’re too blinded by love. He could tell you any old crap, and you’d lap it up like a lovesick puppy.
Get your things and get out. It’s over. I’m taking charge. I should have from the very beginning.”
“You’re bluffing. Christian’s far too well protected for you to get close to him.”
“It was easy,” he bites out. “As easy as nicking a wallet from a drunk.”
“I don’t believe you.”
“Fine.” There’s a pause, and my phone dings with an incoming text. I open the message and gasp. Christian is slumped in a chair, his head hanging forward, clearly unconscious.
I waver, my head spinning. “Let him go.”
“He’s going nowhere until I’ve beaten the truth out of him. Maybe not even then. I’ll have to see how generous I’m feeling at the time.”
“Don’t you dare hurt him.” My voice is barely audible and loaded with menace. Blood rushes through my ears, roaring, uncontrolled.
“And there it is. I see where your loyalties lie, Grace. Your parents would be ashamed of you. Ashamed. Your dad always said you were weak.”
I swallow, hard, his words slicing through me as he intends them to. “My father would never say that.”
“You’ll never know for sure, will you? Your husband made sure of that when he killed them.”
Painful breaths saw in and out of my chest. Somehow, I have to get through to him. I can’t lose Christian. Not like this. Not until I’ve had a chance to talk to him and find out the truth. To hear from his lips what happened that night, not second-hand from an unreliable narrator.
“Listen to me. If you hurt him, his family will find you, and they will kill you. It’s not too late. Let Christian go. I’ll talk to him. I’ll tell him grief made you do this.”
“It is too late. Too late for me, too late for him, and too late for you, Grace. You think I’m the only one in the line of fire?”
No, I don’t think that. I’m all too aware of how much Christian will hate me when I tell him who I am and what I’ve done. I knew the risks coming into this. Now it’s time for me to face the consequences of my actions.
“Let him go, Daniel.” I purposely drop the uncle. He’s no longer my family. I only hope I can save Arron from the poison he’s been drip fed for weeks while I’ve been out of the picture. “Please. For all our sakes.”
“Gotta go, Grace. Loverboy is waking up.”
The line goes dead.
An involuntary moan spills out of me. My phone slips from my clammy hands, landing with a dull thud on the floor.
What do I do? What can I do? I’ve no idea where he’s holding Christian.
I don’t even know where to start. My feet move, carrying me to the hallway, but when I get there, I stop.
There’s no use in telling Christian’s family what’s happened.
I have no information to pass on. Nothing useful, other than I’m a charlatan who has put Christian’s life in danger.
If I’d known it would come to this, I never would have agreed to go along with Daniel’s plan.
Wouldn’t you? a quiet voice whispers in my ear.
It’s true, my desire for vengeance saw me suffer through two painful surgeries and endless study of a background Arron faked for me. But that was before.
Before I knew him.
Before I questioned the truth I’d once been so certain of.
Before I fell in love.
Hurrying over to my phone, I snatch it off the floor and call Arron.
If anyone knows where Daniel will have taken Christian, it’s my brother.
It’s too late to worry if my phone is tapped.
Daniel blew my cover the moment he called me, then sent that picture.
And if the De Vils are monitoring my activity, I expect I’ll find out soon enough.
Voicemail.
I hang up and redial.
Voicemail again.
Shit.
I call Juliet. She answers on the third ring. “Hey, babe.”
“Do you know where Arron is?”
“Yeah, he’s here. Everything okay?”
“Put him on the phone.”
I catch the hesitant intake of air, then my brother speaks. “Grace?”
“Daniel’s got Christian,” I blurt. “I don’t know where. Do you?”
“Daniel’s what?”
“He’s kidnapped Christian. Arron, if you know where he’s taken him, you have to tell me. Now.”
“I swear, I don’t know. Are you sure he’s got him?”
“Yes. Jesus, Arron. He sent me a picture.”
“What is he thinking?”
“He’s not. That’s the problem.” I fist my free hand and press it hard against my thigh. “Christian was going to tell me everything, but Daniel got to him first.”
“Tell me what he said, Grace. Word for word.”
I relay the short conversation, panic rising in my chest with every passing second that Christian is alone with Daniel. I also tell my brother what Christian said about my parents and not wanting us to think badly of them.
“Daniel said Dad would be ashamed of me.”
Air whistles through Arron’s teeth. “Don’t fucking listen to him. Dad loved you. He was proud of you. I’m proud of you. These last few months have been hardest on you most of all, but you’ve handled it with grace.” He snickers. “You were well named.”
A small smile pulls at my lips, but it’s gone a moment later. “What do I do, Arron? Do I tell Christian’s father?”
“No,” he’s quick to answer. “Pack your things and leave.”
“I can’t. There’s no way off the estate without a bodyguard following me.
” Funny how we’d only thought of a way in and not a way out.
Grief scrambles the mind. Although, in my defense, I hadn’t realized I’d have a bodyguard tailing me wherever I went.
Na?ve maybe, but this world is as far removed from my life as you can get.
No wonder it hadn’t occurred to me. To any of us.
“Shit.” I can almost hear the cogs turning in his brain.
“Give me some time to come up with a plan to get you out. In the meantime, sit tight, deny everything, and I’ll trawl round a few places Daniel could’ve gone and see if I can find Christian.
Send me that picture, too. I may be able to do a reverse image search and get a bead on the location. ”
“Okay. Just hurry, please. I honestly believe Christian didn’t kill our parents. I think there’s more to this story than we could ever have imagined, and Christian is the one with the key.”
The key to the truth, and to my heart. I know I’ve lost him, and I deserve to, but all I want is for him to come out of this alive.
As I hang up the phone, my legs go from underneath me, and I sink to the floor, wrapping my arms around my knees.
Please live. Please be okay.
Please don’t hate me.