Shadow Empire by Bri Blackwood
Grace
Anger blurred my vision as I tried to get out of the reception area as quickly as possible. I wished I had been in flats, but there was nothing I could do about it now. I’d just made it past the bathroom when I heard Broderick’s voice once more.
“Grace, wait right there.”
“Leave me alone. I don’t know what has come over you, but it’s something you need to deal with, not me.”
“Listen to me.”
That did it. I flipped around and sneered. “Stop being an asshole. I don’t have to explain myself to you.” There was no way that this could be happening. Not on this day and not from him.
“When you are standing there flirting with that fucker, the hell you do.”
I paused for a heartbeat, taken aback by his words. I hadn't been flirting with Todd, in fact I had been about to send him on his way, not that anything I did with the man was any of Broderick's business. My stare turned into daggers that if they could, would’ve struck him instantly. “What business is it of yours who I flirt with? What has gotten into you?”
“It became my business when you—Grace. Grace!”
I’d had enough and walked away again before Broderick grabbed my hand.
“Let. Me. Go.”
“Grace, we should talk about this.”
I scoffed. “Absolutely not. After the way you just behaved? Leave me alone.”
When I tried to remove my hand from his grasp, he tightened his hold. It wasn’t painful, but it was clear he was trying to keep me close to him. I was having none of it.
“Broderick.” I stared at him in the eyes unflinchingly. But it was as if I was laughing instead of glaring at the man because he didn’t heed the warning laced between my words.
“Grace, you aren’t allowed to go to Elevate with him. Or with anyone else for that matter.”
His words came out in a harsh whisper that further lit the anger coursing through my mind. “Get real. You can’t tell me where I can and cannot go.”
“The hell I can’t. You aren’t allowed in there. Do you understand me?”
My head jolted back as if I’d been slapped. There was no way that he had said that. “You can’t tell me what I can and can’t do and how dare you even try? I don't know who you think died and made you the boss of me, but clearly you're delusional. This conversation is over.”
I turned and walked away again, thankful that the hall where we were was mostly empty. That was due to everyone coming into the room to hear what Damien and Martin had to say. There were still a few people wandering around and I wouldn’t be surprised if rumors swirled about what they’d just seen. Hopefully they didn’t hear much because that would be another debacle that I didn’t want to deal with.
I had debated heading toward the bathroom to escape Broderick, but now I was too far away to turn back. Instead, I knew the only way out was to leave.
I rushed over to the door and gave a hurried smile to the attendant who was standing close by. When he opened the door, I rushed out, not taking much time to look at my surroundings, focusing on finding Patrick. When I saw him sitting in the driver’s seat of the car that he'd brought me here in, he gave me a small wave before he started to get out. I picked up part of my dress, making sure I didn’t trip going down the stairs, when someone said my name.
“Grace.”
I was expecting to see Broderick behind me, trying to force me to continue the discussion that I didn’t want to have with him, but I received my second shock of the evening. I felt my eyes widen briefly before turning into slits, studying the person before me.
“Dad. Now is not a good time.”
“Grace, I wanted to talk to you—”
“Dad, I meant what I said. I need to leave.” I walked down the stairs as my driver stood by the car door, waiting for me. He quickly opened the door for me, but I paused when I heard my father speak.
“Can I call you? Sometime next week?”
I shrugged before I looked over my shoulder. “You can try. But that doesn’t guarantee that I’ll answer.”
I slipped into the car without another word and was relieved to see that my father didn’t attempt any further contact. Soon Patrick slid into the driver’s seat and pulled away from the curb. I glanced behind me and saw my father still standing where I left him before I turned and faced forward, determined to leave the evening’s events behind me. The only good thing about tonight was that I didn’t have to deal with endless questions about my father.
* * *
“Here we are, miss.”
I looked out the window and found that he was correct. We were in front of my home. The brownstone stood tall among the other homes on the block. I’d bought the condo with a portion of an inheritance that I was gifted by my grandfather’s estate, and it was one of the best things I could have bought for myself. It was the perfect size for me, and I worked with a local acquaintance to design the space in the way I liked. The whites, grays, and browns that colored the home provided a neutral vibe that I liked. Once I locked my front door, I breathed a sigh of relief. I was home.
As I walked up the stairs to my condo, I opened my clutch and briefly glanced down at my phone, wondering if anyone had contacted me. I'd turned off my phone almost as soon as we pulled off, hoping to head off anyone who might want to reach out to me. I didn’t want to talk to anyone right now and was determined not to do so.
The first thing to go were the heels and with some maneuvering, I was able to get the gown off too and I changed into a college T-shirt and sweatpants that I had left on my couch. Once I was able to breathe normally again, I grabbed a glass of water from the kitchen. I walked into my living room, tossed the dress over my arm, and snatched my clutch off the coffee table and my shoes off the floor. Not knowing exactly where I wanted to go, I pivoted and wandered into my bedroom.
Instead of turning on a lamp, I turned on the overhead light, allowing that to illuminate the room. I stared at my bed, wondering if it was worth going to sleep early so that I would be well rested the next day. That thought went nowhere because there was too much adrenaline coursing through my veins after the evening I had. I couldn’t help but stare at my purse in my hand, wondering if I should turn my phone back on.
Instead, I placed the clutch at the foot of my bed, put the glass of water down on my dresser and put my gown and shoes back in the closet where they belonged. Then, I reclaimed my water and walked over to one of my bedroom windows and pulled back the curtains. After confirming that the street was quiet, which made sense given the time of night, I closed the curtains.
When I turned around, I stared at the clutch once again. With a slight shake of my head, I opened the clutch and pulled my phone out, giving in to the temptation. As it powered back on, I took a sip of my water bracing myself for what I might find once my device was fully functioning. As soon as my phone gained a signal, a light ping came from it and there were two things that shocked me. One was I didn’t have any calls or messages from Broderick or my father. The other thing was that I had a message from Hunter. Then again, maybe he was asking about how the party went tonight.
Hunter:You’ll never guess what happened.
I quickly typed out a response.
Me:Well, then tell me.
I hoped that the news he had to share with me was good. While I waited for him to type what he wanted to say, I debated whether I should tell him about running into our father this evening, but ultimately decided not to in the event that it might ruin anything he might be sharing. Telling him about my interaction with Broderick was out of the question. Although Broderick’s behavior was weird, I didn’t feel the need to bring Hunter into it and cause any friction between the two of them. After all, I thought I did a good job of handling it tonight. Yet the question remained regarding what had gotten into Broderick tonight.
If I knew Broderick, I knew that he was always a man with a plan. He worked methodically and from what I had seen, did the same thing in his personal life, so for him to diverge from his normal behavior was strange. If I hadn’t known any better, I would have assumed he was drunk, but he hadn’t shown any of the symptoms of even being tipsy, so I threw that reason out of the window.
I glanced back at my phone and saw that Hunter was typing out his response, and I couldn’t stop my foot from tapping on the floor. I walked over to my dresser and grabbed my water and took a larger gulp.
Hunter:I made partner.
My eyes widened as I read the text message. It took rereading it three times before I processed the news.
“Get the hell out,” I mumbled to myself as I quickly called my older brother.
“Hello.”
“You better not be playing with me.”
“Sis, why would I do anything like that? I’m not lying. I made partner.”
The squeal that left my mouth couldn’t be contained. I jumped up and down and almost dropped the phone. Although I’d averted that disaster, I hadn’t averted the other as water splashed down the front of my shirt. I cussed.
“Everything okay?”
“Yes, I just splashed water on myself because I got excited. Hold on.” I placed the phone down on my dresser along with the glass of water and quickly changed my T-shirt. Thankfully, the water spill had been contained to just my top half, so I didn’t have much to clean up. “Okay, I’m back.”
“Okay, good. Everything needs to be made official and then I can announce it to the world.”
“I’m so proud of you!”
The same elation that I knew he felt when I graduated from medical school shined through me as I heard Hunter chuckle on the other end of the line.
“I couldn’t wait to share it with you.”
I grabbed a hair tie from my dresser and put my hair up into a messy bun. “Did you call Mom?”
“I did. She cried.”
That wasn’t surprising. Our mother tended to get emotional about things, especially about things like this, but I knew they were happy tears.
“I’m sure I can speak for both of us and say that we are so proud of you.”
“Thank you! I need to do something to celebrate, but I’ll figure that out later.” Hunter waited a beat before he continued. “How’d tonight go? I’m so sorry I couldn’t make it.”
I waved him off even though he couldn’t see me. “Everything was pretty good. I saw Dad there.”
“You did?” The change in his tone was clear as day and I couldn’t say that I blamed him.
The man had put us through a lot of shit over the years and Hunter had more firsthand knowledge due to him being older than me. I was somewhat convinced that he hadn’t told me everything he knew or saw because he was trying to protect me and when I asked, he brushed me off. But there was always that nagging feeling that something was amiss.
“Yeah, he tried to speak to me, but I didn’t give him a chance to.”
“Good. I’m shocked he was even invited.”
Same.“Maybe he wasn’t and used it to get back into the Cross Family’s good graces? Bad move on his part either way. Has he tried to reach out to you?”
“Nope and that’s how I prefer it.”
And I couldn’t say that I blamed him one bit.