“I wasn’t going to be at peace until I spoke to them. Until I fixed that jagged piece inside me. I think we’ll see the St. Germaines around a bit more.”
I smiled. “Good.”
He pulled me back into a kiss.
“Wait—” I pulled back, but Grayson went right back for my lips. “This is important,” I sighed into his mouth. “I still don’t know how West got the final coin.”
Grayson paused. “You, little wife.”
“Me?” I blinked. “What?”
Grayson stood off the floor, giving me his hand. “This is a conversation better had with clothes on…” He raked hi
s hot gaze up and down my body. “Unfortunately.”
Grayson gave me his shirt, and then we went to Gemma.
“The house is so…empty,” I said.
“Anyone who had even a remote allegiance to my grandfather or the du Lacs is gone.”
“The servants who helped me?”
He nodded. “They’re left, but everyone else…well, we’ll have to hire new…everyone.”
The crystal chandelier refracted on the wall. “We can rewrite the story of Crowne Hall.”
When we found Gemma, she had Sonnet propped up on her bed, surrounded by a mountain of pillows—in the midst of putting lipstick on her.
“Gemma, what the hell are you doing?” Grayson yanked Sonnet out of her reach. “She’s barely a month old.”
Gemma rolled her eyes. “You’re never too young to learn your perfect shade.”
Grayson closed his eyes, exhaling through his nostrils.
“Thank you,” he gritted, like it hurt to say. “For watching her.”
She gave us a thumbs-up, face twisted in sarcasm.
Gray held Sonnet the entire way back to his wing. Shirtless, muscles flexing as he walked, he reminded me of some old king finished with battle. As she slept in his arms, he held her with a powerful protection.
He held her even as he rooted around his drawer for whatever he had to show me. My stomach twisted in all kinds of delicious knots. I never thought I’d get this moment. Grayson holding our child, Sonnet curled into his bare bicep, perfectly happy.
He finally found what he was looking for, handing it to me.
I took it. “A journal?”
“It was under my pillow. I think West left it on purpose.”
Just like that, my gut dropped. The fuzzy warm feeling I had vanished. I didn’t realize my knees had gone weak, until Gray had gripped my bicep, helping me to sit on the couch.
I gripped the leather. “Did you read it?”
He nodded. “No secrets, little wife. If you don’t want to read it, I understand. It was clearly left by him, so I’m not sure if his motives were anything other than selfish. But…”
I lifted my eyes to his.
“It will give you insight,” he said. “Into everything.”