Chapter 38 #2
Mary placed a hand on Grayson’s cheek, her eyes going misty as she smiled up at him.
“And look at you now. Grinning like a lovesick fool. That’s all a mother could want.
” She pinched his cheek playfully and I just about fell over the sofa.
Never in a million years did I expect to see someone pinch the devil’s cheek while he just stood there, taking it, not ripping the person to shreds with his teeth.
I peered over at Director Devereux. Was I dreaming?
Was it wrong for me to feel a twinge of betrayal in my gut?
He was the man who raised Grayson. All that work we’d put in to catch the Apparitions he had undermined from the very beginning.
If he hadn’t been there, we surely would have stood a better chance, right?
But that wasn’t right anymore. I was glad the Apparitions were free.
Gods, this was fucked up!
I had so many questions, so many emotions. I felt like a volcano about to erupt. But as I came to a stop in front of the director, only one question came flying out my mouth. “How is he?”
Director Devereux gave me a sympathetic smile.
“He knows you’re alive, but he pretends to believe you’re dead.
I’m not sure why.” He frowned. “I had given him time off, but he still comes to work every day. He and Syntax are trying to recover the lost data from our servers, but it’s not looking good. ”
“What do you mean? What data?” I interrupted.
Grayson placed a hand on my back. “When I came for Liam, I planted a bug to wipe the servers of us. I had to be seen to keep suspicion off Jo.”
I snorted. “Don’t think that was ever an issue.”
Director Devereux pursed his lips. “All the physical files are taken care of too,” he grumbled, righting his suit jacket.
“You are all ghosts, once again. You too, Ava.” He lifted his gaze to Grayson, giving him a stern glare that had my insides squirming.
“I will never tamper with evidence like that again. Do you understand, son?”
Grayson gave a solemn nod. “Yes, sir. I will never put you in that position again.”
I cringed inwardly, shrinking a few centimetres. It seemed I had caused a lot of problems for them. More than I knew.
The room fell silent around me as I processed everything.
“So Owen has nothing?” I whispered, my heart bleeding. We never stored anything on personal devices. Everything was kept securely on the FBI database.
No one answered.
I couldn’t get over how messed up everything was. I didn’t know what to feel.
Owen must be crushed.
Tears slipped over my cheeks. He would never let this go.
The director placed a hand on my shoulder. “I’ll take care of him, Ava. You have my word. I’ll make sure he gets through this.”
Grayson wiped at my tears. “Jo is good at helping the lost find their way. The pup is in good hands.”
I only nodded, deciding to change the subject before I broke down in front of everyone. “So how did the director of the FBI end up taking in ten-year-old Grayson?” I sat down on the couch, my legs like jelly.
The director sat down on the arm of the chair that Mary sat on. She smiled warmly, rubbing his knee affectionately.
“I was just an agent then. First one to respond after a call from the police.” He frowned down at the floor.
It wasn’t a pleasant memory for him either.
Grayson stiffened beside me, steeling himself for the rest of the story.
“I found him in the ambulance, holding his mother’s hand after they had loaded her up.
The police had called the social workers, then all but forgot about him in the chaos.
” The director shook his head. “I still don’t understand what came over me, but I loaded him into my car and just drove home.
” He chuckled. “I was breaking all kinds of laws but all I could think was that the boy needed a mother.”
Dianna stood behind the director, a hand on his shoulder, smiling down at him.
Tears sprang to my eyes, and I clasped a hand over my mouth. She was so beautiful. Her features sharp and perfect, just like Grayson’s. I had seen her before, I realised. I had seen that smile in what felt like ages ago. In the mist, in my atrium.
A lump sat heavy in my throat. “It was Dianna. She couldn’t rest until she knew her son was going to be okay.”
Director Devereux smiled to himself. “I like to think so too.”
Grayson leaned closer to me, pulling my attention from his mother, his eyes filled with mischief. “A good thing for me, but not so great for them.”
Mary laughed. “Oh, yes. He was a menace! Raised all kinds of hell for us.”
Grayson shook as he silently laughed.
I looked up at him, feeling light as a feather. “Like the devil.”
He pushed a curl behind my ear, his eyes intense and sparkling, like it did under the rainbows. “Like the devil.”
After dinner, I stole Grayson away. Dianna reminded me of something that I had kept for Grayson. Even when I was hellbent on seeing him dead, I had held on to it for him. Treasured it.
I snuck into Rachel’s room with Grayson in tow. “She brought it!” I squealed excitedly, seeing our jewellery box on her vanity.
I opened it and found the flash drive inside.
Thank. You. Rachel!
Back in our room, I turned the TV on and stuck the drive into the USB port.
Grayson had flopped down onto our bed, one hand propped under his head, watching me adoringly.
“I found something. Or more like it found me.” I smiled at him. “When we went looking for clues in your parents’ hometown. I found this. And I kept it for you.”
He looked up at the TV as I pressed play, the amusement dropping from his face immediately.
On the screen stood a young Dianna at the high school talent competition. She adjusted the mic with a shy smile that was as dazzling as Grayson’s, then clutched her guitar nervously. “I wrote this song for someone very dear to me.”
Goosebumps overtook my skin at the sound of her voice.
“Varon!” a bunch of boys hollered in the background. “Just kiss already!” they jeered.
Dianna rolled her eyes and began playing—the same happy melody that Grayson always whistled while cooking.
Grayson was sitting upright on the bed now, his face frozen in utter devastation. I sat down next to him, holding his trembling hand while we watched his mother sing.
“You used to pull my pigtails and told me I looked stupid.
But if anyone dared to laugh, they would end up with the fishes.
You broke the bike that broke my hand
But on my cast wrote clumsy clam
And that’s why…
I hate the way you laugh because it’s always at me.
But I love the way you cry because it’s always for me.
With a friend like you, who needs an enemy.
In a friend like you, I found my family.
Yes, a friend like you, my gravity.”
Grayson gave a broken laugh and sang the rest of the words with Dianna.
“Keeping me humble, keeping me down.
Keeping me safe, keeping me sound.”
I kissed away a tear that came rolling down his cheek as Dianna sang the last chorus and the video cut off.
Grayson turned to me, fisting a hand in my hair, holding me to him. “Where the hell did you get this, little witch?”
I chuckled, nuzzling my nose against his. “Deep, deep in the high school archives.” With the help of your mother.
“Baby, you have no idea…” he said thickly, unable to finish.
“I do, Gray. I know,” I whispered back. Shit, I could feel it. All his emotions swirling around me, inside me like thick mist. I knew exactly how much this meant to him. I had known from the very first time I’d seen the video.
Grayson pulled me onto his lap, stroking my hair out of my face. “This is the best gift anyone could ever get me,” he murmured.
“I know.” I kissed him softly.
“I love you, Ava. More than fucking life. I. Love. You.” His chin trembled. He did not try to hide it. “So much. So fucking much.”
Gods! My ferocious devil. My beautiful angel. I smiled softly at him. “I still love you more, Gray.”
His eyes bored into mine. “Impossible.”