“Where’s Mari?”
“She’s reading in the living room.Gracie, what’s going on?What’s the matter?”
“Do you see her?Tell me if you see her.Dad, go look for her.Now.”
“Hang on.Honey, everything’s okay.All right.I’m looking at Mari and putting you on speakerphone.Gracie?Can you hear us?”
“Hi, Grace,” Mari said.“What’s going on?”
Tears crashed down her cheeks.“Oh, thank God.”She dropped onto the bed and folded over.She couldn’t catch her breath.“You’re okay?”
“Sure, yes,” they both said.
“Everything’s fine,” Dad said with a harder edge.“Where are you?What’s going on?Is Callum with you?”
She ignored her dad.“Mari, do you have your phone?”
“Yes.Right here,” Mari laid on her stern-mom voice.“What is going on?”
“I don’t know.Dominic called, but it was Mari’s number that he called from.”
“I promise, sweetheart.I have my phone in my hand.”
“She’s dancing it in front of my face,” Dad confirmed.“What the hell did Dominic want?”
There were so many things Grace hadn’t told them over the years.She didn’t know where to start and wasn’t ready to discuss the meeting with the attorneys.It would needlessly worry them when they’d worried so much about her already.“I don’t really know.To mess with my head.”
“What did he say?”Mari demanded.
She bit her lip.Was she allowed to mention the attorney’s meeting?Even if she was, she didn’t know the details.Dominic obviously knew about the meeting and wanted her to keep her mouth shut.There was no need to involve her parents in anything he was involved in.The man was a black hole and sucked the life out of everything.“That he missed me.”
“He’s an abuser.That’s what they say and do.You need to stay away from him,” Mari ordered.
“I know.I’m staying away.”
“People get sucked back into bad situations.There’s no shame in asking for help—”
“Callum is helping me with Dominic.He will deal with him.He’ll fix everything.”
Dad and Mari paused two long beats before Dad added, “What does that mean?”
“We have to meet with investigators.”
“Why?”
“It’s sort of hard to explain.”After telling them time and time again that she would explain later, Grace could tell that her dad and stepmom were reaching their threshold.
She was their grown daughter but was skating dangerously close to the brink where one of them—probably Mari—would put their foot down and demand Grace be more forthcoming with details.“I have to go.I need to tell Callum about Dominic’s call.I’ll call you later.I promise.”
She ended the call and tried not to fall apart.
Callum knocked on the bedroom door and walked in.“Hey, do you—” His scrutiny tightened on her face.“What’s wrong?”
Grace tossed the phone onto the bed and wanted to curl into a ball and hide.
He moved closer.“What’s up?”
“Dominic called.”
