By mid-morning, Grace knew Chase was suspicious that she was up to something, and despite her best acting abilities, she couldn’t muster enough fake happiness to make him think otherwise. He didn’t outright ask her, which was the worst part. Instead, he was quiet, barely smiling when she talked to him or when she asked what they were going to do for the day.

He told her he had some paperwork to catch up on and spread his work out on the dining table, asking if she’d be alright entertaining herself until dinner. His question was so cold, she almost lost it, but she caught herself at the last second and nodded brightly.

“Sure, I’ll just play Halo all by my lonesome,” she teased, but he barely glanced at her.

Her heart broke a little each time he gave her the easy brush off, but she told herself it was for his own good. When it was all over, he’d understand and they’d be fine. Everything would be as it was before and they’d laugh about it one day.

She was barely into her fourth round of killing whomever was online in the local area when her cell went off again. Letting herself get killed so she could leave the round, she checked the screen and pushed to her feet. Chase was hunched over his papers, his long hair covering his face, so she hurried to hide in the bathroom.

When she locked the door and slid her finger across the screen, she gasped and nearly dropped it. A picture of Jimmy, his lip split and nose broken, and behind him, Mickey, filled the screen. A second later, her cell rang.

“Jimmy? God, are you alright? What happened?”

“This ain’t Jimmy, love, and I’m tired of playing games,” Mickey snapped on the other end.

“Mickey, please, alright? Just let him go.”

“First, your mother tries to swindle me out of what she owes me,” he yelled, cutting her off. “And then she leaves town and you—you promise me twenty thousand by Monday and guess what, love? It’s Wednesday, and I don’t have me damn money!”

Grace flinched when she heard the smack of flesh on flesh and Jimmy groaning in pain. “Just let him go. Please, I thought she paid you! That’s all. Just a misunderstanding.”

“No, the misunderstanding was me thinking I could trust your mum or you.”

Grace chewed her lip and prayed to God she wasn’t about to listen to her best friend get killed over the phone.

* * *

Chase watched Grace all day from the corner of his eye as she checked her cell as much as she did the night before. When she got up and rushed to his bedroom, he worried for a second she was getting sick again so he followed, but when he lifted a hand to knock he stopped at the tone of her voice.

“Just don’t, alright? I said I would have it, and I will. You just have to wait.”

Silence fell over the room while he assumed the person on the other end of the call was speaking.

“Look, I’ll have the money by Thursday. It’s a done deal, might be able to get a little extra and then this whole thing will be over. Trust me, I’ve got exactly what I need to get what we’re both after.”

Chase flinched and stepped away from the door quickly. Money. She was telling someone she’d have money for them by Thursday. This whole time—the entire damn time—he thought he’d found the woman he was meant to be with, but she was scamming him for money. More money than was agreed on in their contract. Anger flooded him and he raised his fist to pound on the door but stopped. No, this was too easy a way out for her.

If she wanted his money, he’d make sure she got it—all of it—but it wasn’t going to be without a little payback. He was, if nothing else, a man who gave people exactly what they deserved.

Fuming, Chase left his bedroom quietly to sit down at the table again. He called Dexter and asked if he would be so kind as to swing by his office and pick up the money he’d set aside to pay Grace for her weekend on the yacht.

“Oh, and throw in an extra ten thousand. My secretary will be there to gather it for you,” he told him. “Bring it by as soon as you can.”

“Of course, sir. Is there anything else you will require today?’

“No. No, that should be all. Thank you, Dexter.”

Once he was finished with that call, he left a message for his secretary at the office about the money and to block out his schedule for the rest of this week and week following. He would have to make a note to stock up on the scotch and find a few women to keep him company this weekend. The second he set his cell down, his heart shattered as it had with Tiffany, only so much worse. He’d been so sure Grace was his and wanted him just for him.

Yet again, he was proven wrong.

A few more hours, then he could kick Graceland Summers out of his life. If only he could rid his heart of her in that little time, too.

* * *

Grace paced back and forth in the bathroom, listening to Mickey tell her exactly what he expected. “I don’t know if I can get that much that quickly, but like I said, I’ll pay you whatever you want when I can,” she told him again. “Please.”

“That’s not good enough. You will deliver the money to the pub Thursday morning, Graceland,” he said. “No more games.”

“Fine, fine… Just promise you won’t hurt Jimmy anymore.”

“Once I have a down payment in hand, we’ll let your friend go.”

“I’ll be fine, hon!” Jimmy called through the phone. “Just do what they say!”

Mickey cackled darkly, and Grace shivered, picturing what that man might do if she were a minute late. “Listen to your friend, and this will all be over. Oh, and come alone.”

“I don’t have anyone to come with me anyway.”

“You really think I’m that blind? I saw you with him at the carnival, love. Chase Valentine, the third? Did some research over the weekend while you were busy acting like his fiancée, though from what we saw at the carnival, I’d say that professional line has been crossed.”

Grace begged him quietly not to drag him into this, hoping he wouldn’t.

“Maybe I’ll go to him for the money,” Mickey threatened. “I’m sure he wouldn’t mind taking care of his new lover.”

“Please, I’ll bring you what I can and I’ll come alone. Leave Chase out of this,” she said desperately. “Please, he has nothing to do with this shit.”

“You better keep your word, love, because if you don’t, it’s not just your friend we’ll take it out on, but you as well. I said you were pretty enough to be used in other parts of our business. Test me again and you’ll learn how mean Mickey can be,” he warned. “Thursday morning, eight o’clock sharp, the pub. Do not be late.”

Grace was shaking when the call ended. He’d doubled what her mom owed from last week. Eighty thousand. There was no way in hell she’d ever be able to work that debt off. And Chase? She’d drag him right down with her into a world he should never be involved in. Her world crashed down around her in that bathroom, and there was nothing she could do except watch each piece fall and shatter. Tears burned her eyes, and she let them fall as heavy sobs wracked her body.

Once they made it through the dinner tonight, she’d leave Chase forever and pray that one day he could forgive her. It was the only way to ensure his safety. Her tears dried up and her body exhausted from her cries, Grace cleaned her face and prepared for the hardest night of her life.