"She was leaving when I came in," the woman said. "I think she was calling a cab."

I ran back to the elevator and repeatedly punched the down button as I muttered under my breath, "C'mon, hurry up!"

When I finally reached the ground floor, I ran through the lobby and out onto the sidewalk where I anxiously scanned the line of cars waiting to carry guests home.

"Are you looking for someone, sir?" the doorman asked as he held the door for an expensively dressed couple.

"A blonde woman in a silver dress," I said hopefully. "Have you seen her?"

"If it's the woman you're asking about, she got into a cab a few minutes ago," he said.

"Thanks," I nodded as I ran a hand through my hair and thought about what to do next. I had no idea where Grace lived, and I was pretty sure that, at this point, a phone call wasn't the best idea.

I knew I would be a persona non grata upstairs, so I went back up to my room to figure out how to fix the damage that had been done.

Chapter Forty-One

Grace

I held back the tears until I arrived home, and then I let it all go. I sunk to the floor in front of my couch and sobbed until my eyes were nearly swollen shut. The discovery that Adam was the son of Gordon Wallace, and that he was now engaged to a Venezuelan socialite was almost more than I could bear, and the realization that I'd fallen for a man who was a lying manipulator made me feel ashamed of my impulsiveness. Mamm had warned me about my tendency to see the world through rose-colored glasses and leap before I looked, but no matter how many times I'd make mistakes, she'd always been there to comfort me and remind me that it would all be okay.

Except this time. Mamm wasn't here, and my family had been split apart because I hadn't told Adam to leave when I'd first had the chance. The whole mess was my fault and I had no idea how to fix it.

When I was finally cried out, I pushed myself up off the floor and went down the hall to my bedroom where I left my beautiful dress in a silver puddle on the floor and climbed into bed. I tossed and turned for hours until I finally fell into a fitful sleep that lasted only until the sun began to rise.

Exhausted, I hauled myself out of bed and headed into the kitchen to make coffee and a list of things I needed to do at the office before I headed back home to try and fix my family's problems. Around nine, Mike called.

"Hey, kid, you doing okay?" he asked sounding genuinely concerned. "I tried to call you last night, but you didn't pick up."

"Yeah, sorry about that, I must have left my phone on silent," I said feeling the shame rising in my chest again. "I'm okay."

"You high-tailed it out of there pretty quickly," he observed. "You sure everything's okay?"

"Honestly, no, it's not okay," I admitted. "Mike, I need to go home and get my family's situation straightened out, and I need to leave today. Can you give me some time to do that?"

"I truly wish I could, kiddo, but we've got a new client coming in for a meet and greet, and I need you there to handle the financial intake," he said.

"A few days, Mike! I just need a few days to get this all straightened out and I'll be back at work, I promise," I said with more than a hint of desperation in my voice.

"All right, be back by Thursday," he said. "But Thursday is the line, kiddo. If you're not back by then, I'm going to have to let you go."

"I'll be back, Mike," I assured him. "I promise."

Chapter Forty-Two

Adam

I paced the floor of the hotel suite as I tried calling Bugsy into the early hours, but he wasn't answering. I called my own phone to see if Honor could get Verity on the line, but no one picked up. The later it got, the more desperate I felt, and I knew I had to do something.

Around five, there was a light tapping on my door and when I opened it. I found my mother still dressed in her party gown looking like she'd had a long night.

"Adam, I'm leaving your father," she said. I could see the sadness in her eyes.

"I'm sorry, Mother," I said.

"Are you going to invite me in or are we going to have this conversation in the hallway?" she asked bluntly. I stepped aside as she swept into the room and went straight to the mini-bar to pour herself a drink. I waited until she'd settled onto the couch before I poured my own drink and joined her.

"Are you okay?" I asked tentatively.

Tags: Claire Adams Romance
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