Chapter 52
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Ethan
One Month Later
“What a great start to the day,” Grace sighed contentedly as I emerged from under the covers, her sweet taste still on my tongue.
I slid up along her naked body to kiss her.
She sighed happily against my lips but didn’t have the strength to return my kiss with much passion. I took that as a great compliment.
I grinned. “Tired already?”
“A bit,” she admitted, snuggling up to me.
“Should I cancel brunch with your family?” I asked, though I knew that was out of the question.
It was a Claymore tradition to have brunch in the Sky Garden on Grace and Amy’s birthday.
And this year, I was part of the tradition, which made me very happy.
I loved spending time with Grace and her family.
“No, Jason would be disappointed. He’s been talking about nothing else all week,” Grace said, only half joking.
Her brother and I had quickly become thick as thieves.
Her parents liked me, but Jason? He practically worshipped me.
I’d already given him two keyboard lessons and had invited him to the hotel to let him play my piano, which had raised me even higher in his esteem.
In a way, he reminded me of myself. Or the version I might have been if my dad hadn’t abused me all those years.
But whereas that thought would once have filled me with bitterness, I was now at peace with it.
At least on the good days—the past couldn’t be changed, after all.
All I could do was face the future with hope.
“You’re right. We can’t do that to him.” I glanced at the clock. Our table was booked for eleven, which gave us about an hour before we needed to leave. I looked at her again. “Ready for another present?”
“If you mean another orgasm, I’m out. I can’t go again.”
“Lightweight. But no, I mean a different kind of present. Or are you too tired for that as well?”
She perked up again. “No, give it here!”
Laughing, I got out of bed and walked stark naked across the room to retrieve the wrapped jewellery box from its hiding place in a drawer.
All at once, I felt nervous. This was the very first present I was giving Grace, and I wanted her to love it.
But that wasn’t the only reason for my flutter of nerves as I returned to join her on the bed.
I handed her the small package. “Happy birthday, Dreamgirl.”
“Thank you.” She took the gift from me and gave it an inquisitive shake, though there was nothing to hear. I could see that she wanted to tear the wrapping paper off eagerly, but she contained herself and opened it carefully instead.
I held my breath when the velvet ring box was finally revealed.
Any other woman probably would have had a small heart attack, but rings were Grace’s thing.
People gave them to her constantly, so I hoped she wouldn’t think my gesture lacked imagination.
On the contrary—I’d thought long and hard about it.
Grace opened the box, revealing a gold ring in the shape of a snake. It was modelled after the silver ring I’d taken from her weeks ago, which was still on my little finger. But this one was more intricate in design and made of a high-carat gold.
“It’s gorgeous!” Grace eased the ring from the cushion. She examined it and seemed genuinely thrilled, even though the ring itself wasn’t even the most important part of the present. “But please tell me those diamonds in the snake’s eyes aren’t real.”
“They’re not real,” I lied.
“I’ll pretend to believe you.”
She was about to slide the ring onto her finger when I stopped her. “Wait. There’s an engraving on the inside you might want to look at,” I said, trying to keep my voice steady.
Grace turned the ring over. My heart pounded in my throat as she read the inscription. Tears welled in her eyes, and for a split second, I was worried. But then she broke into a wide smile. She launched herself at me and flung her arms around my neck. Instinctively, I caught her and held her tight.
“Do you like it?” I asked into her hair.
She nodded vigorously. “I’ve been wanting to say the same to you for ages.”
“But you didn’t,” I teased.
“Strictly speaking, you haven’t said it yet either.” There was a challenging note in her voice, but she didn’t need to provoke me into saying anything. The words had been on the tip of my tongue for weeks, ever since the moment we’d rescued her from Alistair’s wine cellar.
I disentangled myself from our embrace and took the ring from Grace before reaching for her hand.
I searched for her gaze, and once I’d found it, I held it.
The warm sparkle in her eyes and her encouraging smile took the edge off my nervousness, but didn’t make it disappear completely.
Even though I knew what I felt, this was the first time I’d ever spoken the words aloud. I had never said them to anyone before.
“I love you.”
Although the ring engraving had already said as much, Grace’s breath caught. To my surprise, I realised it hadn’t been at all hard to say, because no three words had ever been truer than those.
“I love you, Dreamgirl,” I repeated.
Grace beamed. “I love you too, Beelzebub.”
Brunch at Sky Garden flew by. The food was average, but the view over London was phenomenal, especially on a sunny day like today.
We talked for hours about everything and nothing.
A couple of times, the conversation drifted towards Alistair and Charles, but no one wanted to let them ruin the day.
Official charges had been filed against the two of them, and as expected, the media had descended on the news like a swarm of ravenous piranhas.
My mum would also have to appear in court because of the deleted CCTV footage, but thanks to her cooperation and her willing confession, she would in all likelihood get off with a fine.
I still didn’t understand why she had helped Alistair just to cast my dad in a better light, but sadly, that was nothing new.
At least the scandal surrounding Alistair was causing such a stir that the press barely paid her any attention.
It was probably the only positive thing about the whole affair.
If there was one thing The Darlington could do without, it was more devastating publicity.
Alistair might have got my dad off the front pages, but ever since the court had obtained Hazel Parker’s video evidence, my dad didn’t have much reason to be cheerful.
Neither did Henry. The hotel was doing increasingly badly, and even though the peak tourist season was approaching, occupancy at The Darlington was lower than ever.
It was really taking a toll on Henry. I was trying to support him as best I could, but there was little I could do beyond helping with the planning of this year’s Pearl Gala.
But that would have to wait till tomorrow.
Today was Grace’s day. After brunch, we went for a walk through the park with her family before heading to the cemetery where Amy was buried.
It was the only sombre moment of the day.
This was the first birthday Grace wasn’t celebrating with her sister.
She was twenty-three now, and Amy would remain twenty-two forever.
Seeing Grace, Jason, and their parents in tears made me cry too, but I didn’t feel the need to hide it from them. I was crying for them, as well as with them.
After we said our goodbyes, Grace and I drove back to the hotel together.
We spent most of our time there now, because we had more privacy at The Darlington than in the flat in Shadwell.
I had started looking for my own flat now that my mum no longer lived at the hotel, but I still hadn’t found the right one yet.
Maybe, deep down, I was waiting for the right moment to ask Grace if she could imagine living with me.
It would be quite early for such a big step in our relatively new relationship, but on the other hand, we spent practically every minute together, except for when I was at university and she was working.
And we were both unhappy with our current living situations, so why not give it a try?
Once at the hotel, we made ourselves cosy on the sofa. We were both exhausted from the long day. I had my head in Grace’s lap, and she stroked my hair while we watched an anime. Technically, it should have been my job to pamper her today, but I wasn’t going to refuse her affection.
My phone buzzed with a new message. The preview showed that it was from my brother.
Logan:
Happy birthday to Grace!
It made me happy that he’d remembered this detail from my life. “Logan says happy birthday,” I told Grace.
“Tell him thanks from me.”
Me:
Grace says thanks!
Logan:
If you don’t already have plans this evening and fancy a romantic dinner, you can come to the Meridian. Then I’d finally get to meet Grace too!
I held my phone so Grace could read the message.
She wrinkled her nose. “That’s really sweet of him, and on any other day I’d love to, but I’m so tired. I’d rather stay here. Is that OK?”
“Of course. I’m pretty exhausted too.”
I messaged Logan to say we couldn’t make it, but promised him that Grace and I would stop by the restaurant in the next few days.
We’d seen each other twice since his birthday.
Henry had been there too on both occasions, but I felt I was ready to spend time with Logan without him, to get a sense of what our relationship was like when it was just the two of us.
I didn’t want my connection to Logan to exist only through Henry.
I wanted to build up something of my own with him.
“Shall I make us more popcorn?” I asked.
“Yes, please.”
I got up, and Grace stretched luxuriously while I went into the kitchen. “Did you have a nice time today?” I asked.
“I did, but I miss Amy,” Grace replied. She took a tissue from the box on the coffee table and dabbed at her eyes.
“It’s been nearly five months, and I don’t understand how it can feel so very long and yet so terribly short at the same time.
So much has happened in that time, but sometimes I still feel like she’s only just gone. It makes no sense.”
“I know what you mean,” I said, and I truly did, though in a different sense.
It felt like I’d been with Grace forever, because I could no longer imagine a life without her.
And yet, our first kiss in the pool hadn’t been all that long ago.
I’d never imagined I could fall in love so quickly, but Henry had assured me that with the right person, it didn’t just go fast—it was also exceptionally easy.
I turned on the popcorn machine and nearly missed the sound of the doorbell over the popping kernels. It was probably Henry and Kate, stopping by to wish Grace a happy birthday. I signalled for her to stay seated and went to the door.
My suspicion hadn’t been entirely wrong, but it wasn’t completely right either. Rather than the two of them, it was just Henry at the front door. And he looked furious. It was as though a storm cloud hung over him, darkening his features and lending him an unfortunate resemblance to Dad.
“What’s wrong?”
“The video is a fake!” he announced, pushing past me into the flat. He froze when he saw Grace on the sofa. “Oh, shit! It’s your birthday today, isn’t it? I totally forgot. I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to disturb you.”
“You’re not disturbing us,” I said, closing the door before Henry could run off again. He couldn’t just storm in, mention something about a fake video, and then disappear as if nothing had happened. “A bit more context would be helpful, though.”
He ran a hand through his hair. “The video of Hazel Parker and Dad in that storage room wasn’t real. He didn’t drug or rape her. He was telling the truth this whole time. None of that ever happened.”
“Are you sure?” Grace asked. She had propped herself up and was peering over the back of the sofa at us curiously.
Henry nodded. “Do you remember that I’d asked Edgar to investigate who leaked my pill addiction to the media?” The question was directed at me.
I nodded.
“He found evidence that proved Stuart Doyle was responsible. And that’s not all.
Doyle was also the one who had the health authorities breathing down our necks, and the sabotage of the power grid a few weeks ago was also his doing.
Apparently, he was trying to make The Darlington look bad to force me into selling it. ”
“Oh, fuck.”
“Yes, but that’s not all,” Henry said, beginning to pace nervously around the room. “After Edgar gave me the evidence, I filed a complaint against Doyle through my lawyers for antitrust violations and property damage.”
“When was that?” I asked.
“About a month ago. Shortly after the whole thing with Alistair and Charles. I didn’t want to burden you with it,” Henry explained.
That was so typical of him. He believed he had to handle everything on his own.
“In any case, the police got a search warrant for Doyle’s office and seized his computers.
They found evidence on them that Doyle commissioned the rape video.
Not just that, but he’d transferred multiple large sums of money to an account belonging to Hazel Parker.
Both of them are being questioned right now, but the investigator who just called me said the case is pretty clear-cut. ”
“Holy shit,” I murmured.
“So what happens now?” Grace asked.
Henry sighed as if the weight of the whole world rested on his shoulders, pushing him down. I could already guess what he was going to say next, but I dreaded hearing it anyway. “If his lawyers play their cards right, our dad could be acquitted.”