Kade (NSC Industries) (17 page)

“No, run an exchange for
him
.”

I looked away, diverting from giving an answer I couldn’t
even give myself and then smiled at the photo of Grant and my Father on the
shelf to the side of the room. “I remember the day you had that taken.”

He glanced at it and smiled himself, “The day Marcus was
born.”

“Yes, he was so happy. They both were.” I shifted my eyes
to Grant and he in return held mine. He knew my question before I had even
asked it.

He sighed then closed his eyes. “Are you sure you wanna
know the answer Grace? Because if I’m honest, I wish I didn’t know it.”

“Will has come back into play.”

His eyes shot to mine, his surprise and fury giving them
a bright glaze, as his tongue poked at the inside of his cheek in his attempt
to remain calm, “Really?”

“Yes, and I know Grant.”

“You know exactly what, Grace? Because there is so much
more that I’m positive you are not aware of.”

It was so hard to voice it. It was buried deep inside me
and the task of digging deep to drag it back up was physically similar to
splitting myself in two to reach it from the dark depths of my shattered soul.

Grant waited patiently for me. He knew it was hard but he
was also aware it was about time that I faced up to it and took it for what it
was. “I know… I know it was Will who killed my Dad.”

His smile was sad but compassionate as he reached across
the table and took my hand in his. “Do you know why?”

“Yes. He wanted the software.”

“He didn’t just
want
it Grace. Will thought he was
entitled
to it. What he discovered hurt him and twisted the final knot.”

“What he discovered? With the program?”

I watched him struggle with himself, his teeth chewing
rapidly on his bottom lip but he flicked a key on his keyring and opened the
drawer in his desk. He sorted through the pile of papers and then pulled out a
brown envelope and held it in his hands, just gazing at it for a while before
he placed it slowly on the table in front of me.

“Your Father asked me to give you this if ever you came
to me. He knew it would end like this, Kid but you have to understand, what he
did, what they both did, was for Will and only Will. They both loved him,
whatever he had become.”

My heart was pounding as I took the envelope and
deliberated whether I actually wanted to see what was in it but I knew I had
to, so I slid the paper from inside and frowned at it before glancing back up
at Grant, “Marcus’s birth certificate?”

He didn’t say anything, just watched me sadly as I let my
eyes roam the paper.

“No…”

My whole body erupted in goose bumps as I saw it. As I
read it. As I discovered what couldn’t even be possible. “No Grant, please tell
me this isn’t true.”

He shot out of his chair and took hold of me as I
scrambled upwards in distress. “No…”

As I crumbled to the floor, his arms shot around me and
pulled me in close. His soft words of comfort flittered into my frazzled brain
but didn’t even register, “It can’t be true, Grant. It’s just…”

“There is so much more to go with that story Grace, stuff
that… things that changed Will, altered the course of what was destined for your
family but you listen to me.” He tilted my head back until I was looking up at
him through the burn in my eyes, “Marcus can never know. Do you understand? Do
you even know what the knowledge will do to his already fragile mind?”

I nodded but he cursed when the door opened and a big
broad man entered the room. “Show some fucking respect!” Grant barked at him as
he shifted me gently and settled me on the floor so he could get up.

“Sorry Boss but I need a word.”

“I’ll be right back, Kid.” Grant stated as he left the
room.

I nodded as I stared at the floor without focusing on it and
tried to comprehend everything that was now changing my whole past. My
childhood, my family, my parents, my brothers… every single part of it was
bullshit and lies. Each memory in my mind was now flawed and corrupt. Every
happy moment spent growing up; even the unhappy parts suddenly seemed unreal
and false as though they had just been part of a movie that had been playing in
my head for thirty one years.

I scanned the room frantically as I grabbed the waste
paper bin and vomited into it, my stomach curling with the inconceivable words
on Marcus’s birth certificate. I tried to veer it in a different direction but
it wouldn’t give me the respite I so craved for as I threw up again.

The door opened and a familiar voice jarred both my head
and my heart, “Oh, Jesus Christ. What the fuck have you done to her?”

I slowly looked up and stared at her, her concerned
expression adding incredulity to what was already turning into a day full of shocks
and tragic events.

She smiled softly and crouched before me, her eyes
showing the love she held for me even though we weren’t related or family. But
what did that matter anyway? Blood meant nothing anymore. “Hello, Hun.”

“Ava?”

“Jesus Christ you whining sod, it’s just a slight graze.”
Nate chastised as he helped me from the car and into his house.

“She fucking shot me, Nate. She bloody shot me. But right
now, that’s the least of my worries.”

He rolled his eyes and sighed as he settled me onto the
sofa and Liv appeared with a mug of steaming something, her pretty face full of
concern as she handed it to me. “It’s taken care of. She’ll be fine.”

“What the hell does
taken care of
even mean?
Bloody hell Nate, she could be hurt. She could be… dead.”

Why wouldn’t they talk to me, tell me what was happening?
Their frantic whispers were irritating the shit out of me and I reached into my
pocket for my phone, well the new phone Nate had purchased for me.

“Who are you ringing now?” The tone in Nate’s voice held
frustration but his eyes held pity and to be honest, I didn’t like either.

“The police.”

He snatched my phone from me and as I reached to snatch
it back the wound on my thigh screamed in pain and I jolted backwards. “Will
you listen to me!” he shouted as he slammed my phone on the table out of my
reach. “We are taking care of it; or rather Liam has sorted it.”

I narrowed my eyes on him, there was something in his
expression, a sliver of anguish and I knew it was something bad for me. “Tell
me.”

“I can’t.”

“Yes, Nate you can. What the fuck has been sorted?”

He clenched his teeth and I noticed Liv slip from the
room when Nate sat beside me. “Liam got someone else in to sort out your shit.”

“What the hell do you mean, my shit? I told her not to do
it. What the hell was she thinking? Who in their right mind exchanges their
life for someone else?”

“Grace Beaumont does!”

My jaw dropped as I stared towards the door and Mason
stood, leaning on the frame with his arms crossed as he studied me. “Hello,
Kade.”

“What… why….”

“I am the
someone else
Liam pulled in to help sort
out your shit.”

He grinned as he walked across the room and sat on the
other side of me as Nate slid out of the room. “You came all the way back… for
me?”

I stared at him in shock but he just laughed again, “Calm
down. We came back for Christmas. Well, we weren’t supposed to be until Monday
but Liam rang Ava in a bit of a panic when Grace went missing.”

I nodded, still stunned and shocked at the sight of him.
“Mason…”

He shook his head and took hold of my hand, “Relax,
relax, she’s fine.”

I studied his face to ascertain if he was just saying it
to shut me up but he looked genuine enough, “She isn’t… They didn’t…?”

He narrowed his eyes on me and tipped his head to the
side as he regarded me and tried to climb inside my head, “What is she to you?”

“What? She’s just… she’s…”

“You fucked her didn’t you? Jesus Christ, Kade!” He shot
upright and glared at me as he shook his head in disappointment, “I told you to
stay away from her. I warned you!”

“What? What the fuck has it got to do with you anyway? So
what if I fucked her? She was a willing participant you know. I didn’t bloody
force her!”

He ran his hand through his hair agitatedly and cursed
under his breath as he turned away from me. His anger was unwarranted and
definitely over the top and I didn’t understand the reason for it. “There are
things in play that… you don’t need to involve yourself with.” He turned back
to me and locked me down with one of his intense stares, “Stay away from her
Kade, please.”

I tipped my head and shifted forwards, “What? Mason, what
the hell is in play that you don’t want me involved with?”

I was starting to worry and from the look on Mason’s
face, he too was rather bloody troubled, “It doesn’t concern you but please
listen to me this time, stay – away – from – her.”

“No, no way.” I managed to push myself off the sofa and
drag my legs across the room until I was stood in front of him. “You tell me,
you tell me right now.”

“Back – off!”

“No,” I pushed him, egging him to get this out in the
open and I watched as his fists clenched by his side. “You tell me. If anything
happens to her that I could have helped avoid in any way, I will personally
come for you, Mason. Do you understand that?”

His face clouded with his anger and I fought against the
chill that swept the room. Mason’s fury was infamous but right now, I didn’t
give a fucking shit if he maimed me for life. Something was wrong, something
was very wrong and Mason knew what it was. Grace needed me and if Mason was
worried then it was trouble in epic proportions and I rammed the heel of my
hand in his chest. “FUCKING TELL ME!”

“SHE’S A MARK!” He yelled back, his face red with his
anger, “She has a target on her back you obstinate fucking arse, and they will
take you down with her.”

My veins seemed to constrict and flush all the blood to
my head in one crushing surge as the significance of the situation kicked my
heartbeat up to a troubling pace. My legs wobbled and the squeeze of my lungs
made a funny whistling noise erupt from my mouth. I palmed the table as I fell
backwards to soften the fall, “Wh...what?”

He closed his eyes in distress and drew in a deep breath
before he opened them and looked at me regretfully, “She’s being hunted Kade,
by big guns this time. Grant Baxter is small fry compared to these guy’s.
Kerrie informed me she heard it on the roll round. Now do you see?”

I shook my head at him and pushed myself back up. “Where
is she?”

“She’s fine, calm down, she’s with Baxter.”

“I need to warn her.”

His chest heaved with his wrath but I didn’t care, I
needed to get to Grace, get her out of here and hole up her up somewhere safe.
“She knows.”

“What?”

“She knows. She also knows who took out the contract. Why
the hell do you think she gave herself over for you? She knows she’s dead
before Christmas.” His expression deepened and his eyes seemed to die a little,
“I’m sorry, Kade.”

“NO! No… fuck that. If you think I am just gonna sit back
and let some mad bastard take away the first thing in my life that actually gives
me a reason to be here, then you can go fuck yourself.”

I refused to think there was nothing I could do and I
forced my legs to carry me across the room.

“Kade!”

“Fuck off!”

I stumbled from the house, my hand snatching Nate’s car
keys out of the small bowl on the hallway table as I passed.

I had to get to her. I had to tell her before… before I
didn’t have chance to tell her. She had to know. Did she already know?

Nate shook his head in exasperation as he watched me pull
away. My thigh screamed and blazed angrily but I didn’t care. I needed to get
to her, in pain or not.

I punched a few numbers into my phone and waited with
bated breath until he picked up on the other end.

“I need an address.”

I stared at them both, Ava frowning at me with concern,
Grant just staring back at me as he ran his forefinger across his lip in
contemplation. “I don’t know, okay. I… I need to get my head around this before
I figure out how to save my own damn life.”

“I have someone bringing Marcus in,” Grant divulged and I
smiled gratefully at him.

“Thank you but I’d already offered him five thousand so
he’d come with me.”

Ava snorted and shook her head, “Bloody hell Grace, he’s
your brother.”

“He’s also a heroin addict and you of all people should
know that their next hit comes before reasoning and family.”

She sighed and nodded, “You need to get out of here,
Grace, please. Even Mason can’t help with this one.”

“I don’t want Mason to help. I’ll be fine, don’t worry
but I need to sort this shit out before anything happens. I need to know that
Marcus will be taken care of.”

Grant took my hand and squeezed. “Kid, you know why I
couldn’t take you in after your parents died; the prison didn’t take too kindly
to me adopting a kid whilst I was on the inside. And the courts would never
have allowed you into my care anyway, but I can and
I will
promise you
that I will personally see Marcus sorted.”

I sighed heavily in relief, “Thank you.”

He shook his head and waved me off as he pulled his
ringing phone from his pocket and answered it. “Fucking hell,” he grumbled.
“Okay, I’m coming.”

“Can I ask you something?” I asked Ava when Grant shut
the door behind him.

“After I ask you,” She smirked at me but then narrowed
her eyes as her expression grew serious and hard. “Do you love him?”

“No!”

She nodded deliberately and pursed her lips, “Bit quick
to answer, Grace.”