Page 151 of High Roller

“Yes, yes. Let’s go.”

Victor holds up his phone. “Take her, butterfly. I’ll be up with dinner in a few minutes. I need to check in with everyone.”

Grace takes my hand and together we walk up the stairs towards Victor’s bedroom. Inside, Grace pulls me close again and kisses me, first on the lips and then on the scrapes on my cheek and chin.

“You could have died,” Grace whispers, her voice wobbly with emotion.

“But I didn’t. That’s the important part.”

“Was it Phineas?”

“I don’t see how it could have been anyone else. There had to have been someone in that attorney’s office who recognized me and called him. I didn’t expect him to try and kill me so openly.”

“Victor wants you to lie down. You should get comfortable,” Grace murmurs.

Exhaustion sets in at the mention of laying down, and I walk to the king size bed and lay on one side. Grace settles behind me and puts her arm around my waist.

“I’m sorry we scared you, lover,” I murmur as sleep threatens to take over.

“And I’m sorry for everything that has happened. At least this all could mean we are doing the right things if Finn is trying to kill you.”

I can’t help but chuckle at her attempt to put a positive spin on this. “You’re sweet Grace. We are doing the right thing, but hopefully it won’t take Finn killing me to resolve everything. I wouldn’t mind a shot at killing him, though.”

My eyes are droopy, and I want to fall asleep, but I want to make sure Grace is OK at the same time, so I force myself to stay awake.

At least until she kisses the back of my neck and rolls away. “You should sleep. I’m crowding you. I’m so sorry.”

“Stop. You’re not crowding me. I like you being close to me. Especially after the day I’ve had.”

She is silent for a moment before she rolls toward me and one slender arm settles across my waist. I sigh and let my eyes drift closed. As I’m giving in to sleep, I hear Victor enter and the mattress shifts as he slides into the bed behind Grace.

Even with the tragic way the day ended, I’m at home with the two of them. I want to be here. I just hope I can stay.

A firm hand on my shoulder wakes me sometime later.

“It’s Victor, sweetheart. I’ve been called out, and I didn’t want to leave the two of you without alerting you, so you don’t wake up panicked.”

Grace stirs and sits up next to me. “What’s wrong?”

Victor clears his throat and looks away. “It’s nothing. At least not yet. I’ll give you more information when I have it to share. Take care of Lili, Grace. I’ll be back as soon as physically possible.”

Grace is tense beside me, and I wonder what she sees in Victor’s body language. To me it definitely seems like he’s holding something back. But I don’t know him as well as she does.

I sit up for a kiss and lean back so he can kiss Grace next.

“You promise you’re not going somewhere dangerous?” she asks, her voice shaking.

“I’m going to the club, Mariposa.” He picks up her phone off the nightstand and taps a few buttons, then hands it to her. “See? You can follow my location.”

Grace’s eyebrows shoot up. “You hate location services being on your phone.”

“I hate you being worried about me even more. If you see me somewhere that causes questions, all you have to do is text. I’ll do my best to answer.”

That relaxes Grace, and I fall a little more in love with Victor by the second. The way he’s willing to make himself slightly uncomfortable to keep from worrying her… to keep from worrying us. It’s heartwarming. And so different from what I’m used to in a partner.

And Grace would do the same for Victor and me. Just like I would do the same for them.

I don’t know how we ended up together—how we got so lucky—but I plan to make it last for as long as possible.

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