Page 337 of Tormented Billionaire Romance Series

THE SEDUCTION OF POWER

ZACH

I’m just getting home to the penthouse when there’s a knock on my door. Whoever it is, I’m not in the mood.

After spending all day on the phone with investors who swore they’d have my back through anything, only to find out they’re already preparing for when I’m gone, I don’t want to speak to anyone. I don’t want to see anyone. I don’t want to be in the same room with anybody.

What’s worse, Jacque won’t answer my calls, and even when I went out to his house, he wouldn’t come to the door. Objectively, Stingray’s just moving in the same direction every other company that doesn’t give a crap about anyone or anything has been for ages.

Is the world going to be that much different if they get their way? Probably not, but that doesn’t mean I’m just going to lie back and let it happen without doingsomething.

That’s what’s going through my head as I open the door.

“Before you say anything,” Grace speaks before the door’s all the way open, “I’ve done some thinking, and I don’t know if this is going to change or not, but for now at least, I don’t want to know how you knew all that stuff. Perhaps you had a good reason, maybe you didn’t, but if there’s any chance for anything happening with us right now, I need some time before we come back to that.”

“Hey, you’re at my door for half a second and already back to making demands,” I say. “Looks like we picked up right where we left off, didn’t we? Did you want to come in?”

“I guess I deserved that,” she says. “If I’m wasting my time here, I’ll just go.”

As I’m looking at her, I notice swelling over parts of her face. Her bottom lip is split, too, right in the middle.

“What happened?” I ask.

She rolls her eyes. “It was a whole thing with Naomi,” she says. “Can we talk?”

I move out of the way, and Grace comes in.

“To be honest,” I tell her, “I’m a bit surprised you found this place. If I’m not mistaken, this is the first time you’ve been here.”

“You told me what building you were in when I first came here to New York,” she says. “I figured finding your place from there couldn’t be too difficult. Thanks to the tabloids, everyone knows who I am and assumes we’re still very much together, so making it past the lobby was relatively easy.”

I close the door.

I don’t know what I’m meant to be feeling right now, but my emotions are too raw to feel much of anything but overwhelmed. If I had to take a guess, I’d call what I’m feeling right now anger with a hint of surprise and just a sliver of hope. That emotional structure changes from moment to moment, though.

Walking Grace into the living room, I say, “Here’s the obvious first question: why are you here?”

“I’m here to tell you I’m sorry for the way I acted,” she says. “Not just for the way I left that night in the restaurant, but for all of it. I was blaming you for things. After Naomi and I had our slugfest, she helped me see how I’ve been running away from this, from us, from you, from whatever from the get go and if nothing else, I wanted to apologize for that.”

“You could have called,” I tell her, looking out the window.

“Yeah,” she says. “I may have deleted your number after that night.”

“I’m sorry, Grace,” I say, “but it’s been a long few months and today’s felt just as long as the rest of it put together, so if you don’t mind …”

“What I came to realize was that I’ve been running away, not because I thought it would never work out with you, but because it was starting to look like it could,” she says.

“I don’t get you,” I tell her. “I deal with a lot of people, but I have never met anyone whose motives are more a mystery than you.”

“I get that a lot,” she answers. It looks like she’s trying to smile, but her lips hardly move. “I guess what it comes down to is I want to see if you’re willing, maybe, to give things another shot.”

Yes, of course. Nothing would make me happier in the world.

“Why would I do that?” I ask. My brain and my mouth aren’t communicating very well right now.

It takes a few seconds for her to answer.

“Because at the end of the day, I realized that the feelings I have for you are real, not just some fantasy. I’m ready to stop running,” I tell him.

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