Page 3 of Saving Grace

He gave me his name, a birthright. A new life after his son had ruined my old one. It was my duty to not disgrace him by regressing back to the sniveling little boy she’d know way back when.

“So, you’re Veronica now?” I changed the subject. It was for the best.

Life’s funny, I thought. I’d been searching for Grace for years, and it turned out to be a lot of money wasted because she wasn’t Grace anymore. I’d been wondering since I found her—why she’d changed her identity and became Veronica. My investigator had found out a lot about her, but not that, which was fine. I’d rather hear that story from her than to read it in a file.

She frowned then shook her head. She didn’t like that I was pulling away, but she knew me well enough to know that nothing would make me talk about what I didn’t want to talk about. Atticus and Roman were both stubborn in that way. Some things you can never change about yourself.

“How I became Veronica is a long, exhausting story and not what I came here to talk about, Atticus, or should I call you Roman?” She responded condescendingly.

“Touché, I guess we should get right down to the business at hand. Your husband’s debt brings you here today, I’m guessing?”

She nodded and opened her mouth to respond verbally.

I cut her off before she could. “Answer me this? Did your husband send you?” Her answer would determine how I dealt with him when I found him.

Marcus Davis was the type that would send her to fix his problems and Grace was just brave enough to walk into a lion’s den to save someone she loved. If he had put her in danger by sending her to me, he would regret it.

“My husband doesn’t know I’m here.” She wrung her hands together like she’d always done whenever she became nervous.

I hated how the words, “my husband” sounded coming out of her mouth. Irrational anger welled in my chest, stemming from the fact that she had a husband at all.

“So why exactly are you here? To beg me. Ask for a favor? What are you willing to do to save your husband’s life?”

I wanted to ask her if she loved him more than me but knew my heart couldn’t take it if she said yes.

She glared at me.

“Why be an asshole, Atticus?”

I rolled my eyes. “Just tell me what you came here for.”

“I came to see if there was anything I could do to get this debt paid without losing what I’ve built. My business is all that I have, and I worked too long and hard for it to just give it away.” she yelled angrily.

I frowned “What does your boutique have to do with me or your husband’s debt with me?” I was thoroughly confused.

“Don’t put on an act with me, Atticus. I know what you’re trying to do. You’re trying to take every fucking thing I’ve built.”

I mentally shook my head, it’s obvious her snake husband had lied to her.

“I honestly have no idea what you’re talking about.”

Her eyes darted across my face as she searched for the truth.

I schooled my features. She’d have to take my word for it.

She stopped trying to read me and reached into her bag.

“He gave me these papers.”

I took them from her outstretched hand and skimmed through them. I would never claim to be a legal genius, but it didn’t take a law degree to understand them. It was a transfer of ownership contract. Her husband wanted her to sign over her boutique to him.

I couldn’t hold back my mirthless chuckle.

What a piece of shit. He wanted her to pay for all the whores he fucked and the fun he had without her.

She snapped. “What the fuck is so funny about you trying to take my business for a debt my husband owes you?”

I dismissed the accusations with a wave and shoved her paper back at her. “I already told you I have no idea what you're talking about.”