I stared at her back, unable to accept what she was telling me. She looked slight and fragile, with the thin blanket wrapped around her shoulders. My brave, strong, beautiful girl…

I couldn’t explain what I was feeling inside, even to myself. But for the first time since Danny’s death, I had the cold, unfamiliar sense of powerlessness. And there was something else as well. Something without a face to it. Something I could feel, but couldn’t touch… Something in what Grace had told me about her childhood…

I headed for the closet and reached in, pulling out the bags I’d brought and throwing my clothes in, along with the ones Mrs. Sparr had provided for Grace.

“You’re coming with me,” I ground out the words through my teeth. “It’s your right to end the… business between us, but there’s no fucking way I’m leaving you alone after what Cole tried to do to you. You’re coming home with me, where I can keep you safe.”

“Kaine… It’s over,” she said, turning to watch me. “You don’t owe me anything. We had a business deal, and now it’s done. Tell the police what you suspect about Cole and we’re even.”

In two strides, I had her in my arms. The desire to kiss her… or shake sense into her warred inside me. I held her by the shoulders, trying to burn my will into her… into those brilliant green eyes. She bit her lip and I lost the last ounce of control I had…

I took her mouth with mine like a desperate man. I crushed her to me, pulling the blanket from her body and wrapping my arms around her warm, naked flesh. She was the whole world, my whole world. Warm and soft, wet and lush. I kissed her like a man standing before the gates of hell, with nothing but this woman to keep him from burning alive. She was me and I was her… everything that could exist, had ever existed between a man and a woman filled the space between us. Grace was mine. She would always be mine. Even if she needed to leave me.

“Grace,” I said softly. The word caught at my throat. “I’m asking you to come with me. I’ll respect any choices you make, any boundaries you set. But I need to keep you safe from Cole. If he’s capable of what I suspect, you won’t be safe until the trial is over.” I held her chin in my hand. She was so tiny, so perfect. “This isn’t about business…” I struggled with the words, and the riot of feelings behind them that I couldn’t begin to face. “I only know that I can’t let anything happen to you.” I kissed her again, gently, pulling the roundness of her lower lip between mine. The desire I felt for this woman made everything I’d ever known or wanted fade to nothing. “Please, Grace. I’m asking you for this. And I never ask for anything…”

She pulled herself gently from my arms and coldness filled the space she left behind. I felt a sharp lurch of desperation… but only for a moment. Then she reached for her pink sweater and folded it, placing it inside the suitcase along with my jeans. Something in my chest released and I exhaled hard. I listened to three hard beats of my heart, and when I opened my eyes again, I saw Grace pick up the house phone and dial.

“Mrs. Sparr? Can you send up the bag I brought with me, please? Yes… thank you. No, nothing’s wrong. Kaine and I are leaving a little ahead of schedule is all… Yes… of course…” Grace held the phone out toward me.

* * *

Fifteen minutes later, Mrs. Sparr arrived personally to deliver the small brown backpack that Grace had brought with her to La Laisse. In it were the clothes she’d worn here a few days ago, when she came to sell her body in an attempt to save the mother who’d neglected her… who’d hurt her. The mother who’d failed to protect her own child…

Grace stepped out of the bedroom, dressed in her own clothes at last. They were worn and cheaply made. Jeans and sneakers with a grey baseball sweatshirt. She tossed her hair over her shoulder and I felt my heart and groin tighten at the same time. She was exquisite…

Mrs. S finished tucking the envelope I’d given her into her generous bosom and smiled as Grace entered the room. The hundred thousand had been transferred immediately after the auction, and adjusted to cover the week in addition to the single first night. But I’d wanted to give her the thick envelope as well. Her wrinkled cheeks had flushed bright pink and her eyes sparkled.

“If there’s anything at all I can do in the future… for either of you…,” she said breathily, “feel free…” She headed over to Grace and took her hands. I heard them speak, their tones hushed. Then she gave Grace a kiss on the cheek and moved to the door. I followed, opening it and letting her pass. I closed it behind us, wanting a moment with her alone in the hall.

“You’ll talk to her?” I asked, keeping my voice low even though we were alone.

“You don’t even have to ask, Mr. Arkaine. Consider it already done.” Mrs. S patted her bosom. “Some of the girls have already complained about him, and it’s no loss to me or to them, if he never returns to La Laisse again.”

“Will Dalia agree?”

Mrs. S smiled up at me, her eyes glittering again. “Like me, Dalia would refuse you nothing.” She turned and headed toward the elevator, her steps falling silently on the thick carpets. I turned, breathing somewhat more easily, and went back inside to Grace.

She was tucking the last of our things into my leather bag. The rest was already in the foyer. I took her face between my hands and brushed her lips lightly with mine. “I…”

For a moment the next word hung on my lips, so ready to be said. It seemed so natural… But it was a word I’d never said. Not to anyone. Not in my whole life. I looked into the depths of her eyes and flashed back to her kissing the scars on my back, one by one…

“I have a call to make before we leave,” I said, working to keep my voice steady and my head clear. “Brian sent a text a few hours ago, that he had a lead on Carlson Marks.” Grace sat down on the sofa and I sat down beside her, phone in hand. “If I can get to Marks, offer him protection from Cole, I think there’s a chance that he’ll help us.” I shifted, thinking as I spoke.

“Cole has held Marks hostage for years, with the threat of exposing him. Ruining his political career, destroying his family. Even the possibility of facing charges for what he did to that girl. If we can get to him, offer him help in exchange for giving us the truth about Cole and whatever connection he has… to Claire’s death and to your mother’s connection…” My mind was racing. “Marks could be the key to everything. And if my gut instinct is right about Cole, there’s gonna be a lot for him to tell.”

Grace put her hand gently on my arm and I felt a jolt of energy run like hot liquid silver between us. I took a deep breath and stayed still. “But will he be willing to do that? He’s lied all these years, to save himself. And Cole lied to keep him safe. Why would he risk Cole telling the whole world that he was a rapist, just to help us?”

“Because blackmail is a fucking dirty business. And because it never ends. Marks needs to come clean, to have any hope of ever being free of Cole. And, if I’m right, he’s going to need someone on his side, if the truth lies where I suspect that it does. That Cole forced him to testify that he’d seen Evelyn’s car hit Claire that night.” I looked at Grace. Her eyes were wide and her bottom lip slack.

“I think there’s a chance, a very good chance, that your mother was set up. That Cole had Marks kill Claire that night, and that Evelyn never had any involvement at all. She may have never been anywhere near the accident scene that night.” I could see hope shining in Grace’s eyes. “If I’m right about all this, it’s the end of Bastien Cole. And I’ll be fucking glad to see him go.” I paused for a moment, realizing the truth of what I was about to say. “But I want this for you, Grace. More than I want Cole out of my way. I want the truth for you and for your mother. And I think Marks is the key.”

I sat with my hand over Grace’s. Her fingers were warm on my forearm, relaxing and squeezing, as she sat deep in thought. She leaned against my arm and I wove my fingers through hers. The light was soft, coming in through the windows and for a long while we sat in easy silence. I felt a feeling I hardly recognized. It seemed like hope. As if the future could hold more than I’d ever dared to want. I wondered if Grace was feeling the same. That perhaps the same man could free us both from our painful pasts, and the future could be anything we chose for ourselves.

My cell rang abruptly, breaking the silence. “Brian,” I said too loudly. “I was about to call you. I need you to say you found him.”

“I did, Kaine,” his voice crackled faintly. “But I didn’t find what you hoped for.”

“Goddamn it, Brian… just tell me what the fuck…”

“I found him in an alley, behind the club he’s been staying at. I’m sorry, Kaine. If I’d found him a day sooner…”

“Tell me.”

“He’s still alive, Kaine. But he’s been beaten, almost beyond recognition.”

“Whoever did this left him for dead.”