Page 57 of Billionaire Corruption

She told me about the car and the package and said her phone had died, she couldn’t call me. I said I’d been trying to ring her.

“We need to go to the police,” her grandmother said. I could see that while she may have been getting on in years and moving with some difficulty, Grace’s grandmother was no pushover. She had the same blue eyes that Grace had, but hers had more steel.

“I think we need to wait,” I said.

“Why?” The grandmother’s eyes narrowed suspiciously. Toby crossed his arms.

“They’re threatening us!”

“But we don’t know who exactly. I’ve found out some things today… it is more complicated than I thought. The investigation isn’t what you think,” I said.

“That’s for the authorities to find out!” Grace said, pulling away.

I could see that she was rattled, her face was drawn, and her hair was a mess. She had wrapped a blanket around her. She went to sit on the sofa, wrapping her arms around her knees. I sat down next to her.

“We need to be careful,” I said.

“Why?” the grandmother asked.

“Are you worried about the company?” Grace suddenly asked. “That this will get out and look bad for Ladden?”

“No,” I said quickly. “It’s not that.”

“Then what?” Grace was agitated, upset.

“Just calm down,” I said, meaning for her to relax, to settle her nerves and to sit tight while I figured out what the best next move was for us.

But she did not respond well to that.

“Don’t tell me to calm down!” she cried out. “Someone tried to run me down in the street! They could’ve killed me!”

“I know that, I didn’t mean….”

Her grandmother stepped forward, “I think you should leave,” she said.

Grace looked down, burying her head in her arms.

“Grace?”

“Just go, dude,” Toby said to me.

I looked at Grace again. “Stay here, stay safe, don’t talk to anyone, don’t open the door, okay?”

“We got it, okay.”

Toby was ushering me out of the door.

Before I knew it, I was in the cold hallway, alone.

Chapter 23

Grace

I didn’t know what to think or feel.

I had been so happy, so deeply in love, but that was before the car had tried to run me over and Paul had come in trying to wrangle me into submission. When he put his arms around me, I finally felt safe and protected, like nobody could get to me anymore.

But then, when he said we shouldn’t call the police or talk to anyone, I couldn’t help feeling that he wasn’t thinking of me anymore. He thought this might look bad for his company, that I’d been trying to expose corruption at his firm and was now being harassed and told to keep quiet.

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