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“I’ll be out on bail by morning,” he struggled to utter with my arm against his throat.
I slammed my fist into his face. Blood sprayed from his nose.
Everyone was quiet.
“Did you see what he did?” Martine demanded of Clay. “I want to press charges.”
“It’s unfortunate that you slipped when we were walking you out of the manor,” Clay said.
“Saint? Sawyer? Would you like a piece of him?” I asked and they both eagerly stepped forward.
“I would,” my mother said, stepping forward and moving in front of Martine. “Look at me.”
He wouldn’t.
She snapped. “Look at me, Goddamnit!”
He begrudgingly met her gaze.
“I don’t want you to think for one second you replaced my husband. He was an extraordinary man who didn’t deserve what you did to him. He had my whole heart even when I said ‘I do’ to you.” She raised her hand and smacked him across the face, thethwacksilencing us all. “Take him away,” she ordered Clay as she wiped Martine’s blood from her hand onto the leg of her expensive pants.
The cops moved Martine out of the office.
My mother walked over to me and wrapped her arms around my waist, twisting into me and sobbing. I held her as she cried. It would take time for her to understand why he’d done what he’d done. Time to get past the fact that she’d slept in the same bed as a murderer. Time to trust people again.
I glanced to Grace who nodded her approval at my attempt to ease my mother’s pain. “I love you,” she mouthed.
Even in a moment like that, her words warmed the emptiness I’d felt inside of me for the past three years. “I love you,” I mouthed back. Without Grace, I would’ve lost the only parent I had left.
“They’ll be back up to help me collect all this evidence,” Clay said, pulling my attention from Grace. “You did good today. I don’t think I could’ve handled it as well as you did. Though, if he drank the water and you killed him, I would’ve had a hell of a lot of paperwork to fill out.”
I tried to smile, but I couldn’t as my mother was sobbing in my arms. Saint and Sawyer moved over to us and threw their arms around me and my mother. Grace stepped back to give us space. I waved her over and took her hand as she stood outside our embrace. She may not have been a Grayson yet, but I’d been honest with her when I said I’d marry her one day. Because when Seren Grayson set his mind to doing something, he always did it.
EPILOGUE
Five Months Later
Grace
The roar of the Texas stadium overwhelmed my senses. The last time I’d been in a place that rumbled so loudly, it had been a Savage Beasts concert and I’d been one of the people screaming. I mean, the lead singer Z. Need I say more?
Seren had led his team to an undefeated season. They’d won the Conference Championship game and were now at the National Championships in Arlington, Texas against Georgia. Maureen had paid for my friends and me to attend the game, springing for front row seats on the fifty-yard line. She’d really changed since the truth about Martine was revealed. She’d stopped having work done on her appearance—per Seren’s request—and she was beginning to look like a normal person and not some fake Barbie doll. She’d also kept Grayson Industries. It gave her something to do and gave her a purpose. And while she was doing a great job running the company, she assured the boys it was only temporary and would be there whenever Seren—or one of his brothers—wanted it.
She was currently off schmoozing with other rich people up in the boxes with my mom. Yup, Maureen had even been spending time with my mom, promoting her to her personal assistant—which was ultimately a paid friend position. They’d begun doing all the things they should have been doing all along as best friends—shopping, getting manicures, going out for lunches and dinners. And, my mom would be there for her when Martine’s trial began next year.
My mom had even become #TeamSeren. She understood why he’d acted the way he had since his father died, and she respected the way he’d been trying to make up for lost time with his mom.
“His ass looks so hot in those tight pants,” Holly said from the seat on my left.
“Holly,” Laney admonished from my right. “That’s Grace’s man.”
I laughed. “He does look hot in the pants.”
“That’s my brother,” Sawyer chimed in from beside Laney.
“I always knew she wanted him,” Saint grumbled from beside Sawyer.
I rolled my eyes knowing that could not have been further from the truth. I hated Seren Grayson at one time.Wholeheartedly.
