Chapter 9
Kate
“Oh my God,” Kate whispered to herself in Walter Holbrook’s in-home office. She had fled there, cleaned up as best she could in the bathroom, then huddled in the corner behind the desk to cry.
“I have the worst taste in men. I just attract the worst men!” She could tell she was ugly crying, and she bit down on her hand to try to keep the noise down.
She was in the process of pulling herself off the floor when the door opened and a man’s tall suited form was silhouetted against the light of the hallway.
“Kate?” said a voice.
“Walter, hi,” she said, hoping that her tears didn’t give her away. “I was about to—”
“What?” her boss said suspiciously. He turned on the light, and she could see the anger rise on his face.
“What. Happened?”
She knew he was taking in her ripped blouse, her runny makeup, and her disheveled hair.
“What happened to you?” He came over to her.
“Nothing,” she said.
He gently rested a hand on her shoulder.
“Nothing. Grant—”
“Grant,” he spat. “Grant did this.”
“No, it’s not what it looks like!” she said. Horrified, she realized Walter thought Grant had forced himself on her!
“I’m calling the police,” Walter said.
“No! You’ve got it all wrong!” She hurried after him.
“I knew it was too good to be true,” he growled. “He’s exactly like his mother, that sociopathic—”
“Stop, please! That’s not what happened! Listen to me!”
“Stefan,” Walter said loudly, “call the police! And Kate needs to go to the hospital.” She ran after him, trying to calm him down.
“Where’s my rifle?” he yelled, striding into the boardroom and grabbing a gun from the case. He marched up the stairs.
“Don’t!” Kate screamed, grabbing onto the larger man. “It’s not what you think!”
“Don’t try to protect him. I’m sick of you women trying to minimize the threat of psychopathic men. I will not let it happen again.”
Kate was dragged behind him as he strode to Grant’s bedroom and kicked open the door. She tried to pull the gun out of his hands. The rifle went off, blowing a hole in the ceiling.
Then Grant was there with a large knife in his hands. He lunged at his father, slashing at him with the knife and wrestling him to the floor. Kate screamed as Walter blocked Grant’s attack with the rifle. Grant grabbed his father by the collar and held the knife to his throat, but Walter had maneuvered the gun to aim it at Grant’s head. Grant seemed unfazed at being held at gunpoint. His eyes flitted between Kate and Walter.
“You told him I raped you?” Grant hissed at her. “I would never do that. I hate rapists. I killed three men I caught with a young kid in Kabul. The MP wouldn’t do anything about it, said they were part of the coalition and we should let them do what they want. Screw that. I murdered them in cold blood while they were eating. Got knocked down a rank and was under investigation, but it was worth it. Do not ever accuse me of being a rapist,” he said, still holding the knife to his birth father’s throat.
“Please put it down!” Kate whimpered.
She didn’t know who exactly she was talking to. Neither man backed down. The police showed up then. She could hear the sirens as the pulled up the drive.
“Let go of each other, please. They’ll arrest you,” she pleaded with the two men. There were boot steps up the stairs and coming down the hall.
“Drop your weapons! Drop them now! On the floor!” the police officers barked as they barged into the room. Walter put the gun down slowly on the floor and put his hands up. After a moment, Grant did the same with his knife.
“Don’t arrest them,” Kate pleaded with the officers after they had taken her down the hall to another room. “It was a simple misunderstanding.”
“So you weren’t raped?” the female officer asked her skeptically. Kate shook her head.
“We had… sexual intercourse. And it was fine. Better than fine, even.” She smiled, but the officer only scowled at her. Kate pressed on. “But then he accused me of sleeping with his father as well.”
“Fine, then,” the female officer said, closing her notebook with a snap. “But you can always come file a report later. We have detectives that are trained to help people in your situation.”
“It’s not…” Kate sagged. “That’s not what happened, but I appreciate your concern.”
After the EMTs finished checking her out, she slumped to the floor. She didn’t have the energy to cry.
“Why do I keep making terrible decisions?” she whispered to herself.
There was knocking, and the door to the room opened. Walter stepped through the doorway hesitantly.
“I am so sorry,” Kate said, sniffling.
“It’s okay,” Walter told her and came to sit on the floor next to her.
“I’d like to put in my resignation effective immediately,” she told him sadly.
“No, there will be none of that,” Walter said. He wiped some of the tears off of her face with his handkerchief. “I trust you, Kate. Grant seems intense. I’m sure you were caught off guard. It happens.” He laughed bitterly. “Believe me, I know. I trust you won’t make the same mistake again.”
“It doesn’t seem like I can break the pattern. I make terrible decisions constantly!” she cried.
“It’s okay, Kate. It’s okay. I’ve lost so much this past year. You’re like a daughter to me. I don’t want to lose you too. No one died. Let’s not get too worked up, okay? I’ll have a car come and take you home. Maybe change so you don’t give your grandmother a fright?”
She shook her head. “It won’t help. She’ll know something’s wrong as soon as she sees me. I can’t hide anything from her. I’ll just have to tell her the truth.”
Walter helped Kate stand up. He wrapped her in a blanket and ushered her to the waiting car. She looked up, and she could see a figure silhouetted from the light of the window. Grant. She turned back to the car, feeling ashamed.
“Text me when you arrive home, okay?” Walter said as he shut the car door. “And Kate?”
She looked through the window at him.
“It’s going to be okay.”
She nodded and leaned back in the seat then pulled the blanket closer around her as the car drove down the lane to her grandmother’s house.
The house was dark when she arrived, and she hoped that her grandmother had already gone to bed, but she knew that wouldn’t be the case. Margaret always waited up when Kate was in town.
“Kate?” the old woman called. “Yoo-hoo! Kate, in here.”
Steeling herself, Kate went into the parlor. Her grandmother took one look at her and sprang up, rushing to her.
“What happened?” she asked, concerned. “Sit down! Who did this? Fetch some tea, Maria,” she said to the housekeeper.
“It’s nothing, Grandma,” Kate said.
The older woman frowned and said, “Tell me what happened. Was it Walter?”
“No!” Kate shouted. “Grant and I—”
“I knew something wasn’t right with that boy. Takes after his mother, I bet,” her grandmother fumed. Kate was worried she was about to go to the Holbrook estate and confront Grant.
“It’s my fault!” Kate shouted hoarsely. “I slept with him. I made a bad decision, just like I always do.”
“He took advantage of you. I’m going to call his father and give him a piece of my mind. He never should have brought that animal here!” her grandmother yelled.
“He’s not crazy. He… never mind. I need to shower and go to sleep. Don’t do anything stupid.”
“Humpf,” her grandmother said, following Kate up the stairs. Her grandmother hovered in her room while Kate showered, then she insisted on tucking her in. “Maybe I should stay here. What if he comes back?”
“He is not sneaking into the house.”
But Margaret was already settling in. Her grandmother spent the night on the couch in Kate’s room. After tossing and turning, Kate finally fell into a fitful sleep. She dreamt of Grant standing above her, impassive, on a balcony.