Page 1 of Saving Grace

Roman/Atticus

“Excuse me, are you Roman?” At the sound of her voice, I stopped breathing. The papers I had been holding slipped from between my fingers and floated to the ground, landing at my feet. My dormant heart roared to life and pounded against my chest like a freight train. Frozen by the past— I could do nothing more than stare. Standing in front of me was the woman that had irrevocably changed my world when I was thirteen. It had been twelve long years since I’d been in her presence, had basked in her glow.

Grace Devereux. My Grace, the ethereal concoction of my savior, my friend, my lover. My all. Everything I had learned about being a man, about friendship and love. I learned from her. The only reason I was still alive was because of her.I fought against the urge to blink, scared that she’d disappear again.

Sadly, my own actions had been the reason we had been ripped apart. But I had to believe that fate was giving me a second chance at making things right. To make her mine finally and forever.

Losing her had broken me. I spiraled becoming everything, she wouldn’t have wanted me to be.

But now she was back. We were face to face and suddenly, I knew how to breathe again, how to feel again. I couldn’t tear my eyes away from her. She was beautiful. She’d grown and her body had changed physically, but she’d kept her hair natural. The kinky twisted locs that had been shoulder length the last time I saw her now hung nearly to her waist and I could still see the old fire burning brightly in her hazel eyes.

I wondered to myself what she’d bring to my life this go around, redemption?

Was I even worthy of it? At the moment I didn’t think so. I’d committed so many sins in the pursuit of running away from my daddy’s legacy and creating one of my own— that I’d become an even bigger monster than he ever was. I had blood on my hands and the weight of the lives I’d taken and ruined weighing heavily on my shoulders.

Time passed as we stared at each other. Our gazes locked and it was all I could do not to pull her into my arms and beg for forgiveness.

But I couldn’t. Not yet. Watching her, I waited for her to recognize me. The moment never came.

I was beyond hurt. I raised my hand to my heart to massage away the ache that was caused by the only person I ever loved not knowing who I even was, but then I couldn’t blame her. There were times when I looked at myself in the mirror and even I didn’t recognize the person staring back at me, the image had become warped and dirty.

She spoke, breaking the silence. “I’m leaving. I shouldn’t have come” Her voice was barely above an anxious whisper but I heard every syllable.

She turned and quickly exited the way she’d come before I could speak. It took a few seconds before I even thought to call after her.

“Wait!” I shouted loud enough for her to hear me, but she didn’t break her stride. I pushed myself up from behind my desk and followed her. She was shoving through the outer door of my restaurant by the time I made it from my office and down the hall. I rushed through the dining area, ignoring the curious stares of my staff. They knew not to question me, nobody ever did anymore. Money, power, and violence had long ago made me beyond reproach.

I caught up with her in the parking lot. “Wait a fucking minute!” This time my voice was harsher and more demanding. The tone I used had made some extremely dangerous men stop what they were doing and listen, but not her, she continued walking like she hadn’t heard a thing.

I stopped following her and watched her walk away, she wasn’t leaving, even if I had to drag her from the car, so I figured I had time to admire the view. The way her hips swayed was fucking perfection. The black sundress she wore molded to her luscious curves. Her hair bounced with every step she took. I started imagining her locs wrapped in my fist as I fucked her from behind. I could still remember the day she’d allowed me in between her sweet thighs, it had been nearly fifteen years, but the image of her beneath me was still so vivid I could feel it. I nearly had to bite back a moan.

When I tell you this woman—my Grace had literally ruined me for all other women, It’s the absolute fucking truth.

I loved her in the past, present, and I would in the future. Even if I took up residence in Hell, I’d love her enough to make the devil weep. I needed her in my life and I was determined to keep her around this time, no matter what.

Too bad my grandfather wouldn’t agree. He thought love was a silly notion, but fuck him, if it came down to her and him. I’d always choose her. I’d always choose her over anybody. But I’d deal with that when the time came.

I let the thoughts of my grandfather go on a harsh exhale. I didn’t want to think about him and his demands of me.

“Grace.” The sound of her name, her real name, not the alias she was going by these days stopped her dead in her tracks.

For years I’d been searching for her to only find out I’d been chasing a ghost. She was Veronica now. Married to a man who owed me a lot of money.

I never loaned money to people I didn’t know everything about. If they didn’t pay— I liked to know who their loved ones were so I could take from them as they had taken from me.

That’s how I’d discovered Grace, and her husband’s sidepiece and his child’s mother. He had two other lives while Grace sat at home, completely unaware of the type of man she’d married.

Finding out she was who he was doing dirty had me seeing red. Grace was supposed to only be shown love.

But who was I to judge him? I wasn’t any better. My life had become a lot more complicated than it was that last time she’d seen me, the day when I was being led away in handcuffs.

She swung around to face me, a look of fear was etched on her pretty brown face. Her expression made me think I should have done things differently.

“How do you know that name?” Her voice shook and wobbled.

“I know a lot about you, Grace Devereux of Moss Point, Mississippi.”

“Who are— how do you know me?” She took a step back; panic darkened her eyes. She shifted her weight preparing herself to run.