The NSC Boxset: Heart of Stone (244 page)

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 cursed 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.”

“What the hell does
taken care of
even mean? Bloody hell Nate, she could be hurt. She could be . . . dead.”

Why wouldn’t they talk to me, tell me what was happening? Their frantic whispers were irritating the shit out of me and I reached into my pocket for my phone, well the new phone Nate had purchased for me.

“Who are you ringing now?” The tone in Nate’s voice held frustration but his eyes held pity and to be honest, I didn’t like either.

“The police.”

He snatched my phone from me and as I reached to snatch it back the wound on my thigh screamed in pain and I jolted backwards. “Will you listen to me!” he shouted as he slammed my phone on the table out of my reach. “We are taking care of it; or rather Liam has sorted it.”

I narrowed my eyes on him, there was something in his expression, a sliver of anguish and I knew it was something bad for me. “Tell me.”

“I can’t.”

“Yes, Nate you can. What the fuck has been sorted?”

He clenched his teeth and I noticed Liv slip from the room when Nate sat beside me. “Liam got someone else in to sort out your shit.”

“What the hell do you mean, my shit? I told her not to do it. What the hell was she thinking? Who in their right mind exchanges their life for someone else?”

“Grace Beaumont does!”

My jaw dropped as I stared towards the door and Mason stood, leaning on the frame with his arms crossed as he studied me. “Hello, Kade.”

“What . . . why. . . .”

“I am the
someone else
Liam pulled in to help sort out your shit.”

He grinned as he walked across the room and sat on the other side of me as Nate slid out of the room. “You came all the way back . . . for me?”

I stared at him in shock but he just laughed again, “Calm down. We came back for Christmas. Well, we weren’t supposed to be until Monday but Liam rang Ava in a bit of a panic when Grace went missing.”

I nodded, still stunned and shocked at the sight of him. “Mason . . .”

He shook his head and took hold of my hand, “Relax, relax, she’s fine.”

I studied his face to ascertain if he was just saying it to shut me up but he looked genuine enough, “She isn’t . . . They didn’t . . . ?”

He narrowed his eyes on me and tipped his head to the side as he regarded me and tried to climb inside my head, “What is she to you?”

“What? She’s just . . . she’s . . .”

“You fucked her didn’t you? Jesus Christ, Kade!” He shot upright and glared at me as he shook his head in disappointment, “I told you to stay away from her. I warned you!”

“What? What the fuck has it got to do with you anyway? So what if I fucked her? She was a willing participant you know. I didn’t bloody force her!”

He ran his hand through his hair agitatedly and cursed under his breath as he turned away from me. His anger was unwarranted and definitely over the top and I didn’t understand the reason for it. “There are things in play that . . . you don’t need to involve yourself with.” He turned back to me and locked me down with one of his intense stares, “Stay away from her Kade, please.”

I tipped my head and shifted forwards, “What? Mason, what the hell is in play that you don’t want me involved with?”

I was starting to worry and from the look on Mason’s face, he too was rather bloody troubled, “It doesn’t concern you but please listen to me this time, stay—away—from—her.”

“No, no way.” I managed to push myself off the sofa and drag my legs across the room until I was stood in front of him. “You tell me, you tell me right now.”

“Back—off!”

“No,” I pushed him, egging him to get this out in the open and I watched as his fists clenched by his side. “You tell me. If anything happens to her that I could have helped avoid in any way, I will personally come for you, Mason. Do you understand that?”

His face clouded with his anger and I fought against the chill that swept the room. Mason’s fury was infamous but right now, I didn’t give a fucking shit if he maimed me for life. Something was wrong, something was very wrong and Mason knew what it was. Grace needed me and if Mason was worried then it was trouble in epic proportions and I rammed the heel of my hand in his chest. “FUCKING TELL ME!”

“SHE’S A MARK!” He yelled back, his face red with his anger, “She has a target on her back you obstinate fucking arse, and they will take you down with her.”

My veins seemed to constrict and flush all the blood to my head in one crushing surge as the significance of the situation kicked my heartbeat up to a troubling pace. My legs wobbled and the squeeze of my lungs made a funny whistling noise erupt from my mouth. I palmed the table as I fell backwards to soften the fall, “Wh . . . what?”

He closed his eyes in distress and drew in a deep breath before he opened them and looked at me regretfully, “She’s being hunted Kade, by big guns this time. Grant Baxter is small fry compared to these guy’s. Kerrie informed me she heard it on the roll round. Now do you see?”

I shook my head at him and pushed myself back up. “Where is she?”

“She’s fine, calm down, she’s with Baxter.”

“I need to warn her.”

His chest heaved with his wrath but I didn’t care, I needed to get to Grace, get her out of here and hole up her up somewhere safe. “She knows.”

“What?”

“She knows. She also knows who took out the contract. Why the hell do you think she gave herself over for you? She knows she’s dead before Christmas.” His expression deepened and his eyes seemed to die a little, “I’m sorry, Kade.”

“NO! No . . . fuck that. If you think I am just gonna sit back and let some mad bastard take away the first thing in my life that actually gives me a reason to be here, then you can go fuck yourself.”

I refused to think there was nothing I could do and I forced my legs to carry me across the room.

“Kade!”

“Fuck off!”

I stumbled from the house, my hand snatching Nate’s car keys out of the small bowl on the hallway table as I passed.

I had to get to her. I had to tell her before . . . before I didn’t have chance to tell her. She had to know. Did she already know?

Nate shook his head in exasperation as he watched me pull away. My thigh screamed and blazed angrily but I didn’t care. I needed to get to her, in pain or not.