Grace Anne by Kathi S. Barton Read Free Book Online Page A

she wanted. The woman laughed and Trace
grinned at her.
    “Grandma wants to see where you
make your stuff.” Trace winked at her from the same beautiful eyes that his
father had. “So when she and Granddad picked me up from school, we came right
over.”
    Grace didn’t want to show them
around. Not today. They’d had a terrible morning which had progressed into a
worse afternoon. And her temper hadn’t helped. When she’d snapped at Becky for
the fourth time about something stupid her assistant had called it a day and
sent everyone home. Probably a good thing or Grace might have fired them all. She
had to do that soon enough anyway, but not just yet.
    “It’s a mess down there. I’ve
been…I have a catalogue to finish and it’s not going well.” Grace stood when Joey
did. “I guess you can look around.”
    They’d been in the lower two
floors for about ten minutes when she felt someone staring at her. She looked
up to see Michael coming toward her with Trace. She knew that boy had let him
in and couldn’t be upset with him. He was his father, after all. She started to
herd her guests toward the doors and out when he came up beside her.
    “May I speak to you, please,
alone?”
    She shook her head at his request.
    “Please? I’ll be polite and I
promise not to piss you off. Well, I’ll try not to piss you off.”
    She turned away from his attempt
at humor. “I’m having a bad day, Mr. Cunningham. And I have a headache from
hell. Whatever you want is in the contract. If you have any questions I’m sure
my attorney would be more than happy to listen to you.”
    “Grace, please. I want to speak to
you about your family.” She looked at him sharply then at the phone that
started ringing. Before she could get to it he moved to the desk. The voice at
the other end sent chills down her spine.
    “Did you really think I’d not find
you? You’re as stupid as those cunt sisters of yours if you thought that. When
I find you, and never doubt that I will, I’m going to enjoy killing you.
Killing you so that I can get what I want.”
    Michael picked up the phone as the
person continued. “Who is this?” He looked at her and paled. Then he put the
phone down in the cradle and walked toward her. Stalked would have been a
better term. “Come with me. Now.”
    She suddenly found herself in her
office. It was cramped and with him in the room, it seemed smaller. When she
was sitting on her little couch with her head between her knees she saw her
tears falling to her shoes. She didn’t want to cry in front of this man more
than any other person she’d known.
    “I get those sorts of calls all
the time,” she told him from her bent position. “It’s not that big of deal. And
you had no right to answer—”
    “She knew my son’s name. She told
me that if I was smart, I’d take Trace away from here before whoever it was
came after him too.”
    She brought her head up and looked
at him as he continued.
    “Now, we’re going to calmly talk
about this and you’re going to tell me truthfully if this is the reason you’re
selling this building to me.”
    The knock at her office door didn’t
really give her any reprieve. She’d hoped that his family wanted to go and they
wanted him to come with them, but she wasn’t that lucky. Michael told them that
they’d meet them in the restaurant and that she and he would be there soon. The
door was closed again before she could voice that she wasn’t going anywhere.

Chapter 6
     
    Michael watched her as she stared
at her lap. He wanted to pick her up and shake the truth from her, but knew
that he’d only upset her more. Instead, he looked around the small office. He
was both impressed and horrified at what was there.
    The desk was huge. He couldn’t
believe how big. But he could see that it was more of a workstation with a
computer than it was a working desk. He didn’t know why, but he thought she’d
have her real desk, one that she’d do her business on,