Grace remembered how nervous she’d been the night of her first major performance. Her hands shook, and she was sure she’d puke in the middle of her lines. Every muscle had been tensed to the point they hurt. This—waiting for Chase’s parents to arrive—was a hundred times worse.

It didn’t help that Chase almost completely ignored her the rest of the afternoon, and when she asked what she should wear, he simply shrugged and disappeared into the kitchen. She couldn’t begin to know what he thought of her. If his cold shoulder was any indication, it wasn’t good and had gotten worse since that morning. She called on her best acting skills to hide her sadness and her tears, but when the doorbell rang and he went to answer it, Grace was exhausted from the effort and worried she’d screw this up for him.

“Where is she? Where’s Grace?” Margot called out as soon as Chase opened the door. “Ah, there you are, darling! I missed you!”

“It’s only been a few days,” Chase grumbled as Margot embraced Grace tightly.

“It’s alright,” Grace laughed brightly, trying to keep the same attitude she had all weekend on the yacht. A quick glance at Chase said he failed to do the same. “I quite enjoy your mother.”

“Makes one of us,” he teased, and though he smiled, there was a bite to his words.

Grace tried to catch his eye, but he purposely avoided it and turned away, asking his parents what they wanted to drink. The men went to get their scotch, and Margot pulled Grace to the side, chattering about the last few days and trying to decide where to travel to next.

“I honestly don’t know what to do anymore. So much time off,” Margot mused. “What do you think, dear? Where should we go?”

“I’ve always wanted to go to New Zealand,” she said. “Beautiful country.”

“And very adventurous, is it not? What about New Zealand, old man?”

Chase Senior choked on his scotch. “Why in God’s name do you want to go there?”

“Something different.”

“Chase, I have a feeling your fiancée and your mom are going to drive us both crazy soon enough. I hope you have enough scotch to get you through,” he said and patted his son on the back.

Margot talked with Grace about planning a trip, maybe the four of them together, until Chase announced dinner was ready. He and his dad carried everything to the table, laying out the fresh fish and salad and whatever else he’d cooked. Grace had stayed away from the kitchen after he very coldly told her earlier he didn’t need help.

“Well now, this looks wonderful,” Margot told him. “You got your cooking skills from me.”

Her husband cackled. “God, no, you did not. You got them all from me.”

The conversation stayed light, but every time Grace glanced at Chase, he either glared back at her or turned away. Her resolve weakened until she was ready to excuse herself from the table. She was about to get up when Margot asked about their ideas for a holiday wedding and if they had talked it over or not.

“I’m just dying to know if I’ll have something fun to do this year,” she mused. “Grace? What do you think? I don’t want you to think I’m being pushy.”

“No, course not,” she said and waved her worry off. “I’ve been thinking it sounds like a great idea. Right, babe?”

Chase swallowed his food and took a large gulp of whiskey before his mouth turned up in an unfriendly smirk. It was harsh, and Grace’s stomach plummeted. “Actually, there’s something we need to tell you… Well, I guess I should tell you, since I only know part of the story I thought I knew.”

“Chase? What are you doing?” she asked quietly, her voice shaking.

“I’m telling them the truth, something I think we all should do tonight, don’t you think, Graceland?” he snapped.

“Chase? What on earth’s gotten into you?” Margot asked, concerned. “Did you two get in a fight?”

“Oh no, we haven’t even begun to get into a fight,” Chase fumed and slammed his napkin on the table. “Grace is not my real fiancée.”

“Chase!”

“What are you talking about?” his dad asked over Grace’s panicked shout.

“You pressured me to be with someone, so I did what any rich playboy does. I hired a fiancée for the weekend,” Chase admitted. “I did it so you two would get off my back about still being single after Tiffany.”

Grace’s face flared, and she hung her head as Margot looked to her. “Is this true?”

“Yes,” she said quietly. “I’m an actress for a local theater company, but he’s not telling you everything.”

“Yes, I am. I hired her, and I’m ending our contract.”

“What? Chase, just please, calm down,” she begged, but the hatred in his eyes froze her words in her mouth.

“No. No, I won’t. You know why? Here’s why. I fell in love with this woman for real!” he yelled, standing from the table to glare at her. “But you want to know the kicker? She’s just like that bitch Tiffany. All she wants is money.”

Grace’s mouth fell open in disbelief. How did he find out about Mickey? “You… you overheard me on the phone?” This wasn’t the way she wanted him to find out, even though she could explain it all! “Chase, wait, you didn’t hear everything.”

“I heard enough to know what you’re up to! This whole time, you played me!”

Margot and Chase Senior sat still as statues, watching the fight play out, and Grace hated that they had to do this in front of them.

“That’s not true,” she argued. “Please. Trust me—”

“Trust you?” he roared. “Why the hell would I trust you? After everything, I guess I just didn’t realize how good an actress you really are. Terrance would be proud.” He stormed away from the table, and Grace hurried after him.

“Chase, no—just listen to me!” She grabbed his arm but he shrugged her off.

“Chase, this is not like you,” his mom called. “Calm down. We can figure this out.”

“No, I’m finished with women like her,” he muttered darkly. “And I’m finished with you. Here. For the contract. I added a bonus for everything else you did for me.”

When he turned back around, there was a manila envelope in his hand. Shaking, he tossed it at her feet and stalked away. Tears filled her eyes as she stared at the money. “I didn’t want your money,” she whispered, her heart breaking so much it hurt to breathe.

“What was that?” he growled.

Turning around, she straightened. “I said I didn’t want the money, remember?”

“Clearly you wanted more and were just finding a way to get it. Well, there it is. For your services—all your services.” He leered, and Grace staggered as the full brunt of his anger hit her hard. She stumbled backwards, dizzy from the sudden loss of the love she thought they’d found together. He was paying her like a common whore. It hurt more than anything else in the world could to have him toss her aside so carelessly.

She sucked in a breath and tried again to get him to listen, but he turned his back on her and threatened to call the cops if she didn’t get out. Grace watched his shoulders heave with every furious breath he sucked into his lungs, wanting to go to him, but as she reached out a hand, she yanked it right back. It was over. She’d lost her chance to tell the truth, and he was beyond hearing her out.

“Fine. If that’s how you want it, then fine,” she whispered. Grace held out her shaking hand and pulled the engagement ring from her finger. “For the record, these last few days were not an act.”

Still he didn’t turn. Grace set the ring on the kitchen counter, muttered an apology to Margot and Chase Senior, and ran from the penthouse. On her way, she kicked the envelope of money, scattering it, but she didn’t stop to pick it up. She wanted nothing from Chase, not even what he owed her.

The elevator wasn’t fast enough so she took the stairs, making it down three flights before she slipped and her heel broke, sending her tumbling down to the landing. Her eyes blurred by tears, she kicked off her heels, wincing at the pain in her knees from smacking against the hard floor. She was going to break it off, but not like this. He tore her heart out and crushed it in his hands, destroying any hope she clung to. There would be no going back to him, even if she did find a way out from under Mickey’s thumb.

Grace didn’t know how long she sat in the stairwell, tears running down her cheeks, her body shaking as if on the verge of death before she forced herself to her feet. It didn’t matter. Jimmy needed her, and she was not going to let him get beaten up by Mickey again.

This was her life. She was destined to be alone, and maybe it was time she embraced that fact head on. She was Graceland Presley Summers, and she was not going to let another man ruin her life. After tonight, she wouldn’t cry any more tears for Chase and what they’d shared together. She’d drink it away, forget it ever happened, and move on. Her pain and anger were all she had left to hold onto, and she’d wear them like a coat every damn day to get through.

* * *

The second the door slammed, Chase’s arms fell to the side and he fought to keep the angry tears in his eyes. He hadn’t cried when Tiffany broke his heart, and he wasn’t going to cry for Grace either. He was better than that.

“What the hell just happened?” his dad snapped, slamming his glass onto the table. “Chase? You care to explain why you just destroyed that poor woman in front of us?”

“Me? You don’t understand,” he argued. “She was hired for the weekend, and she played me to get more money! That’s all there is to it.”

His mom hung her head, muttering about him being an idiot. “You, my son, are smart, but sometimes, you’re a blind fool! That woman loves you—or at least she did until you threw money at her!” Chase stepped back. He’d never heard his mom raise her voice. “Never in my years did I think to see you treat a woman like that! How dare you!”

“She lied to me,” he told her. “She twisted everything, manipulated me. I knew she was hiding something the whole weekend, and this was it. And yesterday, with the phone calls and getting sick. Probably saw her partner at the damn carnival.” He needed it to be logical and reason itself out, but as he said it out loud, nothing made sense.

At the carnival, she hadn’t played sick. She’d really been sick, and as he thought about it now, he realized what else he’d seen on her face. Fear.

“It doesn’t matter,” he yelled, throwing his arms up. “She’s gone.”

“Chase,” his mom said, shaking her head at him. “She didn’t take the money.”

His blood ran cold. “What?”

“She did not take the money you threw at her!” his mom yelled. “I don’t know what that girl is going through or what you overheard, but you just chased the only good thing out of your life.”

Chase stared the bills scattered across the floor. She left the money. All of it. Something sparkly caught his eye and he saw the engagement ring on the kitchen counter. He knew what he’d heard earlier. She talked about getting money for someone. Why would she leave it all behind?

The penthouse closed in around him, and he struggled to breathe, his hands shaking.

“We’re leaving,” Margot told him.

“Wait,” he said, but his mom shook her head.

“No. I’ve never been disappointed in you until tonight, and the next time you lie to me or your father, you’re going to have a very rude awakening as to how angry your mother can be,” she warned, turned on her heel, and stormed out of the penthouse.

Chase watched her go, his dad following. “I suggest you find a way to fix this, son,” he muttered and left, too, closing the door behind him.

Left alone, something he hadn’t been in days, the sudden silence echoed around him. Grace’s laughter was such a part of his life since the cruise, and not hearing it now ripped a hole in him. He glared at the money but left it lying on the floor and grabbed the ring instead. He held it so tightly in his fist, it cut into his palm, but he didn’t notice. Stalking to the windows, he leaned on them with his arm and glared out over the city.

She was out there somewhere, running far away from him and his anger. Most of it wasn’t even at her if he wanted to be truthful. He hated Tiffany, had held it inside of him for so long, and instead of working through it, he unleashed it on a woman he thought he knew.

For the record, these last few days weren’t an act.

Her last words to him repeated themselves in his mind until it was all he heard. He slammed his fist against the window, desperate for a way to end the turmoil inside of him, and as he watched a storm break over the horizon, a single tear slipped from his eye.