“I’m leaving for the afternoon,” he said. “Please take care of things for me.”
“Of course.” She looked a little confused, but she nodded. “The update is almost ready, you know. Don’t you want to stay to check it?”
“I know. But this is more important.”
Leaving Autumn standing uncertainly in the hallway, Alex hurried to the elevators. He had to talk to Grace. Now. He couldn’t waste another second.
CHAPTER 23
ALEX
The drive to Grace’s apartment seemed to take years. Alex drummed his hands impatiently on the steering wheel and tried to take a shortcut but ended up getting caught in San Valentino’s midafternoon traffic.
Maybe that was a good thing. He still needed to plan what to say to Grace.
He ran through about a hundred variations of “I’m so sorry. Please forgive me” before realizing that nothing he could possibly say would be enough. He’d hurt Grace badly. And not just once, but many times. He was an untrusting jerk, and she was the mother of his children and the woman whom he loved—because hedidlove her. He could see that now.
He should have seen it before.
After what felt like hours, he finally pulled into Grace’s parking lot and hurried inside. He took the stairs two at a time up to her floor and knocked on the door. No one answered.
Alex could have kicked himself. He hadn’t even considered that Grace might not be home. He’d only thought about howdesperately he needed to see her, to make things right. He knocked once more, and relief flooded him when the door swung open.
Grace wore a pair of leggings and an oversized T-shirt that showed the curve of her baby bump. She looked tired, and when she saw Alex, she folded her arms across her chest, her expression closed.
“What are you doing here? I thought we agreed that you were out.”
“I need to talk to you,” Alex said. “Please. It’ll just be a few minutes.”
“I can’t.” The anger on Grace’s face broke a little to reveal the vulnerability beneath. “Please go, Alex. I can’t do this again.”
“This is different. I promise.”
But Grace shook her head. “I’m sorry, but I can’t believe that.”
“Please.” Alex took a tiny step closer. “I’m here to apologize. I know that you didn’t take the laptop.”
Grace tilted her head.
“Do you?”
“Yes. I do. I should never have believed it was you.” Alex paused. “And there’s more.”
“Okay.” Grace sighed. “I may regret this… I’m sure Iwillregret this, but come in. You have two minutes.”
Alex stepped into her familiar apartment. Her ocean scent wafted over him, making his heart ache. Grace went into theliving room and sat on the couch, her hands resting on her stomach. He followed her.
“I’d like to stand, but I’m exhausted,” she said. “Sit.”
Alex did.
“You’re down to a minute and a half.”
“I—” Alex nodded. He couldn’t blame Grace for not trusting him after everything he’d done, even though it was almost impossible to explain everything in only two minutes. “First, I am so, so sorry. Today, at work, I found an email chain between Louisa and Patrick. They planned the laptop theft together—or Patrick planned it, and Louisa went along. Patrick framed you. He must have planned everything, including the lawsuit, beforehand. I understand now that you never did anything wrong, and I amsosorry for ever thinking otherwise.”
Grace stared at him. He’d thought she’d be relieved or happy at this news, but her expression was blank. It made sense. She’d always known her innocence, and she’d given Alex many chances to believe her. He never had. So, the fact that he now knew she hadn’t done anything wrong wasn’t a relief, just an expectation.
“Thirty seconds.”
