“What the hell was that all about, Beaumont?”
“That” she hissed through her teeth as her eyes fired heatedly, “was nothing to do with you.”
I snorted and pushed her further into the wall. “Don’t fuck with me Grace; I’m not a good person to be fucked with.”
She laughed sardonically, her sarcasm flowing out in waves of antagonism as she smirked at me. “Oh and how you have proved that time and time again.”
“What the fuck is that supposed to mean?”
We were drawing a crowd as our voices rose and our argument filtered across to the ears of the bored travellers waiting for their coffee to be served.
“Oh come on Kade, you couldn’t even defend yourself against a sixty year old woman. You have been saved from death how many times? And always by someone else.” Her eyes dropped to the scar running my neck and she scoffed loudly, “but you step up to the mark for Mrs Fox don’t you. Have to show her how much of a fucking hero you are!”
“Nice, Beaumont. But until you know the story, keep your vicious judgments to yourself. No wonder your fiancé fucked your best friend, the relief to screw someone warm and affectionate was too great a temptation after you.”
I wish she had laid me out or at the very least shot me through the head because it wouldn’t have hurt as much as the expression on her face did. My heart dropped through my stomach and I swear it leaked out of my arse and fucked off because if it had stayed the ache and pain on her face would have torn it apart viciously.
“Grace… I…”
She shook her head marginally and took a deep stunted breath before turning her back on me, “We have to go.”
She spoke so quietly, I almost didn’t catch it but I sliced my teeth through my bottom lip as her shoulders slumped and she dragged herself across to the car. Various heads turned to watch her but she didn’t seem aware as the trail of sadness that followed her pushed her forwards until she just about fell into the car.
I finally moved when I heard her fire the ignition but I made sure I picked her fallen pride up off the ground before I climbed back in with her.
***
The journey back to London was fun. She didn’t speak, even when I tried to apologise. She just leaned forward and turned the stereo up louder. I couldn’t feel more of a bigger dick if I’d murdered some child’s bloody puppy.
I frowned as we turned onto my street and when she pulled up outside my apartment I finally turned to look at her with wide eyes. “What… what are we doing here?”
“You live here.” It was said bluntly without any emotion but she still didn’t look at me as she killed the engine and waited for… me to get out I presumed.
“Beaumont, I can’t… They’ll kill me.”
“I’ll sort everything out.”
“What the hell? How can you sort it out?” I pressed. I wasn’t sure if I wanted to shake some sort of reaction from her or take her and hold her close to try and alleviate some of the hurt I’d delivered.
“How did you know about Brady?”
I closed my eyes and willed us not to get into an argument as I wasn’t sure which way it would go when I decided to be honest. “Mason told me.”
I watched the jerk in her throat as her distress took even more of her damaged pride but she just nodded. I turned slightly in the chair so I was facing her but she tilted her head towards the window and focused her attention on something in the park opposite.
“Ava was just worried about you Grace, and Mason was being his usual charming self and giving me a warning, that’s all. He didn’t tell me to hurt you; he was just worried I would…” I exhaled heavily, her detachment was frustrating and I had to fist my hands to stop myself from grabbing her.
“You would what?” she urged absentmindedly as she shifted in her seat and straightened her back but continued to gaze out of the window.
“Well, he was worried I would add to your upset by being an arse, which of course wouldn’t even be possible for me.” It was meant as an attempt to lighten the mood with a joke but she didn’t laugh as she slid her hand down her leg.
What the hell was she doing? I watched in silence as she slipped a knife from her boot and flicked it so it was hidden under the sleeve of her top and then secured her other hand over the gun she had tucked in the back of her jeans.
“Listen to me, Kade. I told you I was going to sort out this mess and I am but you need to adhere to what I’m going to tell you exactly.”
“Oh fuck, not again. I told you we shouldn’t have…”
“Shut – the – fuck – up!” she demanded as she lifted a hand to the window and a man who seemed a little familiar stopped in his tracks and stared at Grace through the window of the car from across the street. He seemed to frown in confusion at first then his eyes widened and he appeared to groan in either acceptance or relief, I couldn’t tell which.
“You need to go inside and let me deal with this.”
“What? No fucking way!” I scoffed as I reached over and grabbed her arm. She turned so sharply I didn’t have chance to react before she had the back of my head slammed against the car window and a hand around my throat holding me down.
Fuck, she was strong.
“I asked you to respect what I told you to do. For once in your damn life, if you want to live, you’ll do as you are asked!” She wasn’t showing anger, but her beauty was flawed by what appeared to be worry, “I will deal with this. You do not fuck with this man, Kade. Do you understand?”
“I won’t let you do this Grace, not for me.”
She bit into her lip in frustration and squeezed her eyes shut in annoyance as the driver’s door opened and the man leant in. “Come on Kid, I haven’t got all day.”
Holy Shit! It was the guy from the nightclub. The same fucking guy who was currently trying to kill me.
“Just give me five, Grant.” Grace requested with her jaw clenched but he laughed loudly and mockingly.
“I presume you are exchanging?”
“Yes” she replied frankly and I stared at her.
“Exchanging what?”
Nothing was making sense and I glanced from Grace to Grant as though the reason for all this bullshit would be written across their foreheads. He smirked at me, his jaw moving rhythmically as he chewed his gum cockily, “Awww, do you not understand the rules of the game, Mr Hamilton?”
Grace eyed me and I read the warning she gave me within them but I wasn’t taking this crap, I wouldn’t let her exchange her money for my life.
“You don’t need to take Grace’s money. I have some, you can have that.”
His eyes widened sharply as Grace’s closed in distress before he laughed so loudly and heartily that I jerked back further into the door in alarm. “My God, Kid, where the hell did you find this one?” He barked to Grace before his eyes moved back to me and he beamed at me with glaringly over-white teeth, “You think she’s exchanging money for your life?”
I shrugged at him. The twat was a complete moron but I didn’t voice that opinion. I sagged as Grace sighed and let me out of her hold, yet her gaze held me for a moment too long and the sadness that they conveyed ripped hard inside me. Something was seriously wrong but I couldn’t ascertain what it was as I took hold of her hand, “Grace?”
She smiled softly before she leaned in and pressed her lips to mine. The passion and sorrow in her kiss stole something away from me as she communicated everything in one short but deep moment. She pulled away, secured my gaze for a second then turned to Grant, “Okay.”
“Grace!” I shouted as she climbed from the car. I was fighting with the seatbelt in my desperation to get out but Grant leaned in as Grace walked away.
“Don’t mess with me again. People in my circle don’t give a gnat’s gonad about money. We don’t trade in pounds. We don’t exchange cash for a life.”
I frowned at him and shrugged as the illegible twat smirked again. “We trade in lives, Mr Hamilton. The divine Miss Beaumont has just
exchanged her life for yours. Now that’s what I call love.”
My lungs shut down, my whole body turned to ice and my heart juddered to a stop as my brain established what he had just said. I stared frozen and motionless with an open mouth at him as he winked and shut the door behind him. My eyes watched whilst my body remained static and inert as he trotted up to the side of Grace and took her arm in his grip. She scowled and shook him off, causing his head to fling back in a deep laugh before he grabbed the back of her neck in a cruel hold.
I suddenly snapped into action and managed to release the lock of my seatbelt before I scrambled from the car, my palms hitting the pavement in my frantic attempt to catch them.
“GRACE!”
She turned, her face showing her displeasure but I carried on running towards them. She shook her head rapidly and mouthed ‘No’ but I kept on going, my legs shaking and trembling as I tried to reach her.
“NO!” she shouted and I looked up from where I had fallen to the ground in my frenzied effort to stop her. My breath caught when I watched her draw her gun alongside Grant and point it at me. “I told you no, Kade. Why the fuck don’t you ever listen to me?”
I stilled as both guns trained on me. Grace’s small pistol aimed lower than Grant’s slightly larger firearm which was targeting my forehead. I looked at her, my eyes narrow and stern as I shook my head, “I won’t let you do this, Beaumont. I’ve already proved that you won’t shoot me. No way are you giving him your life in exchange for my bullshit attempt at existence.”
Grant looked at her and shook his head in exasperation, “You either do it or I will. Please let me Grace, I really have an aversion to this annoying arsehole and nothing would give me greater pleasure than to let you play out your life like you were meant to.”
She shook her head at him, aimed and locked my gaze. The remorse and grief held in her eyes brutalised my soul and broke my heart as my lungs grasped at whatever oxygen they could get a hold of in my disbelief and hopelessness.
Her lips moved and I dropped my eyes to read the words that left her mouth.
“I’m sorry.” She whispered as she pulled the trigger.
Chapter Eighteen
Grace
“Do you have to be so bloody unpleasant?” I groaned in pain as I took the Codeine from Grant and shoved it to the back of my throat.
“Oh come on Kid, business is business.”
“Christ Grant, you’re my father’s best friend.”
“Yeah and we had a deal,” he grumbled as he sat on the bench beside me. “You should know by now, word is word, Grace. And you’re lucky I let you trade your life for a bout with Gina.”
“Like you would ever end me,” I winked cheekily but then hissed loudly at the pain in my right eye. “She gonna be okay?” I asked as I watched the two guys working on the tall blond that had, give her her dues, put up a good fight.
He shrugged blithely and took a cup of coffee from the plump redhead who held a tray of both painkillers and drinks, then handed it to me. “You put up a good fight, Kid. Quite entertaining. She’s past her time; I need a new number one anyway, you up for it?”
I smiled at the medic as he tended to the cuts on my face. “A couple need stitches, love. You okay for me to do that?”
“Yeah, be my guest.”
He nodded, giving me a cute smile and I whistled as he injected my poor face with anaesthetic then proceeded to stitch and knot. “We need to talk.” I said as I shifted my eyes to Grant.
He sighed and nodded. “To be honest, I expected it sooner than now. We’ll take it in my office but I need to know, do you still have it?”
I nodded then grimaced in apology to the guy trying to fix my broken face, “Sorry.”
“No worries love, I’m done. You’re good to go but please sanitize your hands and you need to apply this cream to the bite on your neck. I’ve given you a tetanus shot, the rabid bitch needs her teeth extracting.” He glared at Gina as he handed me a tube of ointment then winked and went to help the other two still tending to Gina.
“Come on” Grant offered me his hand then slid his arm around my waist to help me to his office when I struggled to walk with the pain. “You sure you don’t want any more medical aid?”
“No, I’ll be fine.”
He nodded as he settled me into a seat across from his behind his desk. “Why did you do this Grace?”
“Do what?” I asked in puzzlement as I took a sip of my coffee and frowned at him over the rim. “Come to you?”
“No, run an exchange for him.”
I looked away, diverting from giving an answer I couldn’t even give myself and then smiled at the photo of Grant and my Father on the shelf to the side of the room. “I remember the day you had that taken.”
He glanced at it and smiled himself, “The day Marcus was born.”
“Yes, he was so happy. They both were.” I shifted my eyes to Grant and he in return held mine. He knew my question before I had even asked it.
He sighed then closed his eyes. “Are you sure you wanna know the answer Grace? Because if I’m honest, I wish I didn’t know it.”
“Will has come back into play.”
His eyes shot to mine, his surprise and fury giving them a bright glaze, as his tongue poked at the inside of his cheek in his attempt to remain calm, “Really?”
“Yes, and I know Grant.”
“You know exactly what, Grace? Because there is so much more that I’m positive you are not aware of.”
It was so hard to voice it. It was buried deep inside me and the task of digging deep to drag it back up was physically similar to splitting myself in two to reach it from the dark depths of my shattered soul.
Grant waited patiently for me. He knew it was hard but he was also aware it was about time that I faced up to it and took it for what it was. “I know… I know it was Will who killed my Dad.”
His smile was sad but compassionate as he reached across the table and took my hand in his. “Do you know why?”
“Yes. He wanted the software.”
“He didn’t just want it Grace. Will thought he was entitled to it. What he discovered hurt him and twisted the final knot.”
“What he discovered? With the program?”
I watched him struggle with himself, his teeth chewing rapidly on his bottom lip but he flicked a key on his keyring and opened the drawer in his desk. He sorted through the pile of papers and then pulled out a brown envelope and held it in his hands, just gazing at it for a while before he placed it slowly on the table in front of me.
“Your Father asked me to give you this if ever you came to me. He knew it would end like this, Kid but you have to understand, what he did, what they both did, was for Will and only Will. They both loved him, whatever he had become.”
My heart was pounding as I took the envelope and deliberated whether I actually wanted to see what was in it but I knew I had to, so I slid the paper from inside and frowned at it before glancing back up at Grant, “Marcus’s birth certificate?”
He didn’t say anything, just watched me sadly as I let my eyes roam the paper.
“No…”
My whole body erupted in goose bumps as I saw it. As I read it. As I discovered what couldn’t even be possible. “No Grant, please tell me this isn’t true.”
He shot out of his chair and took hold of me as I scrambled upwards in distress. “No…”
As I crumbled to the floor, his arms shot around me and pulled me in close. His soft words of comfort flittered into my frazzled brain but didn’t even register, “It can’t be true, Grant. It’s just…”
“There is so much more to go with that story Grace, stuff that… things that changed Will, altered the course of what was destined for your family but you listen to me.” He tilted my head back until I was looking up at him through the burn in my eyes, “Marcus can never know. Do you understand? Do you even know what the knowledge will do to his already fragile mind?”
I nodded but he curse
d when the door opened and a big broad man entered the room. “Show some fucking respect!” Grant barked at him as he shifted me gently and settled me on the floor so he could get up.
“Sorry Boss but I need a word.”
“I’ll be right back, Kid.” Grant stated as he left the room.
I nodded as I stared at the floor without focusing on it and tried to comprehend everything that was now changing my whole past. My childhood, my family, my parents, my brothers… every single part of it was bullshit and lies. Each memory in my mind was now flawed and corrupt. Every happy moment spent growing up; even the unhappy parts suddenly seemed unreal and false as though they had just been part of a movie that had been playing in my head for thirty one years.
I scanned the room frantically as I grabbed the waste paper bin and vomited into it, my stomach curling with the inconceivable words on Marcus’s birth certificate. I tried to veer it in a different direction but it wouldn’t give me the respite I so craved for as I threw up again.
The door opened and a familiar voice jarred both my head and my heart, “Oh, Jesus Christ. What the fuck have you done to her?”
I slowly looked up and stared at her, her concerned expression adding incredulity to what was already turning into a day full of shocks and tragic events.
She smiled softly and crouched before me, her eyes showing the love she held for me even though we weren’t related or family. But what did that matter anyway? Blood meant nothing anymore. “Hello, Hun.”
“Ava?”
Chapter Nineteen
Kade
“Jesus Christ you whining sod, it’s just a slight graze.” Nate chastised as he helped me from the car and into his house.
“She fucking shot me, Nate. She bloody shot me. But right now, that’s the least of my worries.”
He rolled his eyes and sighed as he settled me onto the sofa and Liv appeared with a mug of steaming something, her pretty face full of concern as she handed it to me. “It’s taken care of. She’ll be fine.”
Kade (NSC Industries) Page 13
