Chapter 8 - Marcus Comes Back
Vincent Vale had been Adrian’s father’s younger brother.
He had attended every birthday.
Every funeral.
Every Christmas.
He had taught Daniel to drive.
When Adrian’s father died, Vincent had stood beside the coffin and promised Evelyn he would protect her sons.
Grace listened while Adrian explained all of this in the back room of Marlowe Books.
“You think he’s behind Marcus?”
“I think Daniel suspected him.”
“That’s not proof.”
“No.”
Grace looked at the ledger.
Vincent’s name never appeared.
Only initials.
V.V.
That could mean anything.
Or everything.
“We need more,” Grace said.
Adrian nodded.
A shadow crossed the frosted glass of the back door.
Grace turned.
The handle moved.
Adrian stepped in front of her.
The door opened.
Marcus walked in.
Six years disappeared.
Grace could not move.
Marcus looked almost unchanged.
A little older.
A little thinner.
Same careful haircut.
Same pale blue eyes.
Same expression that had once convinced Grace he was incapable of cruelty.
He smiled.
“Hi, sweetheart.”
Adrian moved forward.
Grace caught his sleeve.
“No.”
Adrian stopped.
Marcus noticed.
His smile widened.
“Good. He takes commands.”
Grace’s fingers released Adrian.
“What do you want?”
Marcus looked around.
“To talk.”
“You had six years.”
“I gave you six years.”
Grace laughed.
“You think you gave me something?”
Marcus’s eyes hardened.
There.
That tiny shift.
The real man underneath.
“I stayed away.”
“Because you thought I had evidence.”
“I stayed away because your mother asked me to.”
Grace’s stomach turned.
“Don’t talk about her.”
“She was a difficult woman.”
“Get out.”
Marcus glanced at Adrian.
“You hearing this? She always becomes emotional when family comes up.”
Adrian’s face remained blank.
Marcus continued.
“Did she tell you she left me without a word?”
Grace felt the old reflex.
Explain.
Defend.
Correct.
Then she remembered.
She owed Marcus nothing.
“Yes,” she said. “I left.”
Marcus blinked.
“I packed while you were gone and ran.”
His smile faded.
“I was afraid of you.”
“Grace—”
“I stayed afraid for years.”
“Because your mother poisoned you against me.”
“No.”
Grace stepped closer.
“Because you wanted me afraid.”
Silence.
Marcus’s jaw tightened.
Adrian said nothing.
That helped more than Grace expected.
Marcus could not turn the conversation into a contest between men because Adrian refused to participate.
Grace continued.
“You forged my name.”
Marcus glanced at the ledger.
“So you found Daniel’s little archive.”
“You used my identity.”
“I protected us.”
“There is no us.”
“There was.”
“That ended six years ago.”
Marcus looked wounded.
It was almost convincing.
“You were my wife.”
“I still am legally.”
Marcus smiled.
Grace regretted saying it immediately.
“Yes,” he whispered. “You are.”
Adrian’s posture changed.
Grace spoke before he could.
“Paper doesn’t give you ownership.”
Marcus’s smile disappeared again.
“What did Vale promise you?”
“Nothing.”
“That’s his best trick.”
“You don’t know him.”
Marcus laughed.
“I know exactly what men like Adrian Vale are.”
Adrian finally spoke.
“Careful.”
Marcus looked at him.
“There he is.”
Grace stepped between them.
“I said no.”
Adrian’s jaw clenched.
But he backed away.
Marcus noticed that too.
For the first time, uncertainty flickered across his face.
Grace realized why.
Marcus understood control.
He understood domination.
He understood fear.
What he did not understand was a powerful man choosing to listen.
“What is Vincent paying you for?” Grace asked.
Marcus’s expression froze.
There.
She had him.
Only for a fraction of a second.
But enough.
“I don’t know any Vincent.”
“You’re a terrible liar when you’re surprised.”
Marcus’s eyes narrowed.
“You always thought you were smarter than you are.”
The sentence hit an old wound.
Grace almost shrank.
Then Nora appeared in the doorway holding a fire extinguisher.
“I don’t know who you are,” Nora said, “but I’ve been waiting years to use this thing.”
Marcus stared at her.
Grace laughed.
The spell broke.
Marcus looked furious.
“Give me the drive.”
“No.”
“The files on it can destroy you too.”
“Then I’ll live with what they say.”
“You could go to prison.”
“For crimes you committed?”
“Try proving that.”
“We will.”
Marcus looked toward Adrian.
“You think he’s going to protect you?”
“I think I’m going to protect myself.”
That answer finally rattled him.
Marcus stepped closer.
Adrian moved.
Grace raised one hand.
Adrian stopped.
Marcus stared between them.
“Grace.”
She held his gaze.
“Leave.”
“Come with me.”
“No.”
“One conversation. Alone.”
“No.”
“You owe me—”
“No.”
The word echoed.
Grace had never said it to Marcus so many times in her life.
No explanation.
No apology.
No softening.
Just no.
Marcus’s face changed.
For one terrifying second, the old fury surfaced.
Then he smiled.
“All right.”
He backed toward the door.
“You’ll call me.”
“No.”
“You will.”
He opened the door.
Grace’s phone buzzed.
A message.
From Marcus.
She looked at it.
A photograph.
Nora leaving her apartment that morning.
Grace’s blood turned cold.
Marcus watched her reaction.
“Everyone has something they want to keep safe.”
Adrian crossed the room so quickly Marcus barely had time to step back.
But Grace grabbed Adrian’s coat.
“Don’t.”
Marcus smiled.
“See? Future wife already knows what you are.”
Adrian’s voice was quiet.
“If anything happens to Nora—”
Grace cut him off.
“No threats.”
Adrian looked at her.
She turned to Marcus.
“If anything happens to Nora, I take every file Daniel left and give it to every newspaper, every federal agency, every attorney, every competitor Vincent has.”
Marcus stopped smiling.
Grace lifted her phone.
“And I tell them you came here personally.”
For the first time, Marcus looked at her as though he did not recognize her.
Good.
She did not recognize herself either.
He left.
Grace waited until the door closed.
Then her knees gave out.
Adrian caught her before she hit the floor.
She stiffened.
He released her immediately.
“Sorry.”
Grace sat on a box.
Her hands shook uncontrollably.
“I thought I was ready.”
“You were.”
“I’m shaking.”
“That doesn’t mean you weren’t ready.”
She looked up.
Adrian crouched several feet away.
“You told him no,” he said. “And he left.”
Grace swallowed.
“He threatened Nora.”
“Yes.”
“He’ll do something.”
“Maybe.”
“Don’t tell me not to worry.”
“I wasn’t going to.”
“What were you going to say?”
Adrian’s gaze held hers.
“That we make sure he regrets underestimating you.”
Grace stared at him.
Then she looked at the closed door.
Marcus had returned believing she was still the woman he had trained to apologize.
He had been wrong.
May you like
And now Grace intended to make that mistake cost him everything.
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