Page 75 of Shattered By Grace

No more second-guessing. She needed something completely unhinged, something to shake him up, to make him feel the fire she was sending through every damn picture.

With trembling hands, she typed, her words spilling out faster than her mind could catch up to.

Victoria

Come and get me.

She attached the photo and hit send, the weight of her actions hitting her a beat too late. Her heart was pounding in her chest. She hadn’t thought it through. She didn’t care. She wanted him. And now, she was making sure he knew it.

Victoria walked back into the living room, her pulse still hammering from what she’d just done. The alcohol was one thing, but now she was riding a whole different kind of high: the rush of reckless abandon, the thrill of pressing send before logic could interfere. Her skin was hot, her face flushed, and the moment she stepped back into the room, she fanned herself with one hand.

“Is it hot in here? Are you hot? I’m burning up,” she muttered, running a hand through her hair, as if that would cool her down.

Taylor’s eyes snapped to her immediately, her wine glass halfway to her lips before she slowly set it down. “Ohh. What. Did. You. Do?”

Victoria scoffed, feigning innocence. “What makes you think I did something?”

Taylor let out a sharp laugh. “Because you have the ‘come fuck me’ eyes.”

Victoria rolled her eyes, but the smirk tugging at the corner of her lips gave her away. She flopped down onto the couch, wiggling the laptop open, as if she could pretend like she wasn’t buzzing with anticipation.

“You didn’t,” Taylor accused, leaning in, her eyes narrowing in delight.

“What?” Victoria blinked, the picture of innocence as she waited for her laptop to load. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

Taylor snorted. “Bitch.”

Victoria just smirked, but inside? She was combusting.

Acting like nothing happened, Victoria pulled up the web browser, her fingers moving over the keyboard. The screen’s glow illuminated her face, but she barely saw it—her mind was still back in her bedroom, still locked onto the reckless text she’d just sent.

“Uh-huh. So we’re just gonna act like you didn’t just detonate a nuclear bomb in your love life?” Taylor watched her with suspicion, swirling the wine in her glass.

“I have no idea what you’re talking about.” Victoria kept her eyes on the screen, biting back a smirk.

Taylor groaned. “You’re impossible.”

Victoria exhaled, finally dragging her focus back to the reason they were up at two in the morning. “Okay, let’s see if these judges are still sitting on their thrones.”

Taylor handed over the notebook as Victoria typed in the first judge’s name. She frowned at the screen. “Huh. Okay… he’s dead. Boating accident.”

Taylor leaned in. “Weird.”

Victoria typed in the next name, the judge from her father’s case. Her stomach dropped. “Taylor… he’s dead.”

Taylor scooted closer, eyes darting to the screen. “What?”

“Check Judge, um…” Taylor flipped through the notebook, dragging her finger down the list. “Allen.”

Victoria’s fingers flew across the keys. A second later, she blew out a slow breath. “Dead.”

Taylor’s brows shot up. “You’re kidding.”

Victoria leaned back, staring at the screen. “Nope. All three of them. Gone.” Her fingers hovered over the keyboard, a creepingunease settling in her chest. “One in a boating accident, one in a hit-and-run, and the last one…” She clicked on an article, eyes narrowing. “Heart attack, supposedly.”

Taylor let out a low whistle. “That’s convenient.”

Victoria’s stomach twisted. “Too convenient.” She flipped back to her father’s notes, scanning the pages like the answers would suddenly jump out at her. “These deaths weren’t random. Someone’s cleaning house.”

---