Page 96 of Obsession

I tucked the personal checks from reputable patrons of the gallery, as well as a pile of certified checks into our bank bag. It had been a good haul for Phil, and I’d made a few commissions of my own. She might’ve started the gallery as a lark, but she was turning a very good profit these days.

Finally, I came to my name on the ledger and paused. If the patron didn’t want the artist to know who they were, we made anonymous sales part of the agreement. Phil hadn’t told me the name of my buyer earlier, but there wasn’t a mark on the sales receipt to keep it a secret.

Normally, I was the one who didn’t want to know. Once it was out of my hands, I just wanted the person to enjoy it, but Ihadto know this time. I opened the computer to see who’d made the first request.

Catherine Bishop had been one of two people who had inquired about it. The other name, I didn’t know. Then a third name had been added to the history of “Fallen Angel.”

My fingers shook over the tab key.

No.

The bids had been neck and neck for a good hour before the one name outbid by nearly ten thousand dollars.

It couldn’t be. I opened the bank bag and fanned out the checks. Sure enough, there was a personal check with a familiar block print, followed by a scrawling signature.

Blake Carson.

“I’m going to kill him.”

Chapter Thirty-One

“Grace?”

Now I actually knew what blind fury felt like. This was the second time that it had taken me out like a wave during high tide. The familiar red haze over my vision—it was a real thing. I literally saw a bull’s-eye on Blake Carson’s chest in my mind.

I punched out of the gallery door and raced down the pathway to the parking lot.

“Grace!”

“I’m sorry, Phil. I have to go kill someone.”

She rushed down the lane after me. “Please don’t do anything stupid.”

I whirled around to face her. “Hewas the one who bought it? Seriously?”

Philomena smoothed her dark hair over her shoulder. “Blake was quite taken with it.”

“Oh, he was taken with it, all right.” I paced down two parking spots and then back. “He just wants to control everything. Well, he isn’t going to have this part of me. You’re not going to cash that check.”

“Now, Grace.”

“I don’t care if I have to work for the rest of this year and next to earn back that sale, you willnotcash that check.”

“I’m not going to let you do that.”

“What?” I whipped my head around. My smooth chignon slipped, and a thick lock of my hair slid down. There’d been no saving my hair after this afternoon with Blake. I pushed it back with a huff. “You can’t.”

“I can. This is my gallery.”

My eyes flooded. “Phil.”

“Don’t give me that look. You are not going to sabotage a very lucrative art deal, not to mention the buzz that your name got tonight, because of who bought the sculpture.”

“Buthim?”

“Grace Cordelia Copeland, you were naked with that man less than five hours ago!”

I fisted my hands. “You don’t understand.”

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