Chapter 59
Kate
Kate had needed some air to clear her head, but then Alan had surprised her on the path.
“You need to pay up,” he said. “And I don’t mean money.”
He was trying to drag her off the path when the Holbrook cousins had shown up. She was so relieved to be rescued.
She didn’t think Alan would try to blackmail her any further. Between Grant and Carter, he was probably scared out of his mind. She hoped he didn’t press charges, though, but he had been able to walk, so it probably wasn’t that bad.
“What happened, Kate?” Grant said, lying next to her after she ran out of energy to cry.
“You don’t understand,” she said, her voice husky. “He was my professor. He was married. His teenaged daughter found out. She called me.”
“You didn’t know,” Grant told her. “He lied to you and led you on.”
“But you don’t understand.” She could barely talk through a new round of sobs. “I still kept seeing him for days after. He said his wife was a bitch and hated him and he loved me and he was leaving her for me. His daughter finally gave me a list of other students he did the exact same thing to. I’m so stupid. I ruined that poor girl’s family.”
“Alan Von Breuer ruined his family,” Grant said firmly. “He was wrong on so many levels.”
“He’s going to come back and ruin you!” Kate cried. “You’ll go to jail, and it will be all my fault!”
“Hey,” Grant said, taking her face in his hands, “I can take care of myself and you. Don’t worry about it. I saved you, didn’t I? Let me handle it.”
“You did save me,” she agreed, sniffling.
“I’ll always save you,” Grant said solemnly, “if you’ll let me. I’m serious about you. We should just, I don’t know, go out for dinner or something and talk like normal people.”
“Okay,” she said, smiling at him. “I’d like that.”
Kate didn’t know when it would happen because as soon as they got back from the wedding, she and Walter were immediately back in the air for several weeks to build off the success Grant had had with the Ethiopian mining contracts. They flew back in town for a big party being thrown in Grant’s honor.
Grant was a rock star, and in addition to selling Holbrook Enterprises to the mining company in East Africa, he had also managed to secure a contract with a Nordic shipping company.
At the party, when asked how he had managed to beat out the German and French logistics companies, he had smiled sheepishly and said, “I did a tour in Afghanistan with a Norwegian Special Forces guy whose dad runs this company.”
Tapping his fork against his glass, Walter got up on a chair to make an announcement.
“When Grant first showed up on the scene, we were all a little skeptical, especially my brother, Jack.”
Everyone laughed, and Jack shook his head in bemusement.
“In only a few short months he has managed to make Holbrook Enterprises internationally renowned,” Walter continued. “He has also brought in two of the single biggest contracts Holbrook Enterprises has ever been awarded. It will keep us in the black for the next few years. So here’s to Grant!” Walter raised his glass.
“Thanks, Mr. Holbrook,” Grant said, hopping up on his own chair. “Just because I managed to land the contracts doesn’t mean the work is done. I’ll be transitioning to overseeing client relations on these international projects, plus the big defense project with Raytheon. Hopefully, there are some other rock stars out there to win us more projects. We should all be pretty busy the next few years, so here’s to hard work and a great team.”
Kate smiled and turned to Jack and said, “Grant is doing so well.”
“Yes, he’s really blossomed,” Jack conceded.
“And in the next couple of days, he’s going to be adopted officially by Walter,” she reminded him.
“He’s going to be a right and proper Holbrook,” Jack said and went to grab a plate of food.
Kate thought back to the night of Ginny’s wedding. She hadn’t heard anything more from Alan. She also hadn’t had a chance to go for a drink or dinner with Grant yet since she’d been gone. Maybe they would meet up later in the week. She couldn’t wait.
As she followed Walter and Jack out to the car after the party was over, she thought, Maybe I don’t have to wait.
“You know what?” she said to Walter as he and Jack climbed in the car. “I’ll take a different car in a little bit. There’s something I have to do first.” She was going to go for it and ask Grant if he wanted to grab a drink with her.
The automatic lights in the office had dimmed, but they flickered back on as she wandered around the floor, looking for Grant. She didn’t think he’d left. When she turned a corner and looked into the glass conference room, there he was. His suit jacket was strewn on the table, and Brandy had her top off with Grant’s hand pressed to her chest. Kate stifled a sob and ran back to the elevators.
Kate was in a daze as she slumped against the elevator wall. She had watched Brandy and Grant kissing in the conference room.
She ran outside and collapsed in the waiting car. As the driver pulled away, Kate received a message that Grant’s watch would be ready the day after next. He had the adoption ceremony that afternoon. He would want his watch for it, and Gus needed to go to the groomer’s again. Kate tried to keep her mind busy with thoughts about all the things she had to do and tried to completely forget that she had well and truly lost Grant to Brandy.
She received several text messages from Grant during the car ride.
What are you up to?
What about dinner?
Are you free tomorrow?
She ignored them. Not happening. She wasn’t going to be played anymore. She was done with men, especially sneaky, terrible ones.