Page 27 of Amazing Grace
Grace and Molly looked at each other. “Isn’t she the girlfriend of the investment broker doing business with Jeremy?” Molly asked.
“Yeah, she is. Or was. I heard they broke up, remember?”
“What does she want with us?” Molly slid out of bed and began to get dressed. She tossed Grace her underwear and bra while she put on her own. Then she reached for her jeans and sweater.
Grace put on her underthings then shimmied into her jeans and pulled on her shirt in record time. “Guess we’ll find out in a couple of minutes.”
After checking themselves in the dresser mirror and trying to tame their sex-wild hair, they hurried downstairs.
A beautiful Black woman was waiting for them in the parlor along with Emma and Zoe.They must have already putLily down for a nap,Grace thought.Good. We can use the backup.
The woman was dressed in a colorful wrap dress and stylish shoes. Her coat was hanging on a hook by the door. She moved with an elegance that a woman was either born with or paid a hell of a lot of money to learn.
She had a lovely face and large dark eyes that seemed so deep one could easily get lost in their depths. Her lips were full, and her gleaming white teeth showed in her smile.
Ordinarily, Grace would be taken with someone so outstandingly beautiful, but Anna Bonnet Sanders’ smile was cold and predatory. “How do you do? I’m Anna. I assume you’re Molly?”
“No, I’m Grace. This is Molly,” Grace said, indicating Molly by putting an arm around her shoulders. Marking her turf, so to speak.She’s mine. Deal with it.
“Oh, pardon me. How do you do, Molly?” She reached out a hand with long, perfectly manicured nails studded with rhinestones.
Molly shook it and nodded to Anna. “What can I do for you, Ms. Sanders?”
“Oh, do call me Anna. I was hoping you and I could have a private chat.”
Grace did not like the sound of that and practically growled.
Molly didn’t like it either, evidently. “Anything you can say to me, you can say in front of Grace.”
“I prefer us to be alone.”
Molly lifted her chin. “I prefer otherwise.”
Anna sighed, as if greatly put out. “Very well.” She looked pointedly at Zoe and Emily. “If you two ladies will excuse us…?”
Zoe looked like she was about to argue, but Emily took her arm and quieted her. “Of course. We’ll go check on Lily, our daughter. She’s asleep in the nursery.”
She led Zoe upstairs, and Grace knew Emily would get an earful when Zoe got her alone. Probably about being ordered out of a room in their own house by a perfect stranger.
“Please, have a seat, Anna,” Grace said, gesturing to the sofa.
“No, I prefer to stand, thank you.” Anna never looked away from Molly for a moment. “I’ll make this short and sweet. I understand you’re the girlfriend — or was — of that piece of trash Jeremy Prada. Is that true?”
Molly looked at Grace, almost in a panic. “I…I was. A year ago.”
“You mean to tell me you haven’t talked to him in all that time?” Anna asked. Her arms crossed in front of her.
“No. Not in a year.”
Anna’s lips curled into her shark smile again. “Listen. It’s just us girls in here. I’m not wired, and I’m not with the police. I only need to know where my money is.”
“I have no idea where your money is!” Molly said, her eyes wide.
“Come on. The boyfriend must’ve let something slip during pillow talk. Please tell me it’s not in an offshore account. Or in Switzerland, God forbid? Tell me where it is.”
“I don’t know where it is. I swear to God, I don’t!” Molly cried.
Grace stood up. “That’s enough. Molly has told you she doesn’t know where Jeremy put the money he stole. I’m sorry if you got caught up in a Ponzi scheme. Why didn’t your boyfriend stop you from investing in it?”