Page 10 of Graciously His

Her voice turns shrill. “Why was the chain on?”

I open the door wider and suppress the urge to answer Mother’s forceful question. She needs to answer me first this time. The police officers are looking at me with something like pity. My worry turns into panic, making my stomach hurt worse than ever.

“Where’s Nick? Please, what’s going on?”

“First,” Mother snarls, “you’re going to explain why the hell you had the chain on! Don’t you know how dangerous that is?”

The officers seem to realise they have to intervene. The younger one takes her arm, gently leading her towards the street while the other addresses me.

“Can you please confirm that you are Grace Hadley, the wife of Nick Hadley?”

“Yes, I am. Please tell me where he is.”

“Let’s go inside first.”

My stomach threatens to double me over. I can hear Mother railing against the second cop, saying something about how I won’t be able to handle what’s coming without her. I close the door.

“Let’s get you sitting down, Grace, if that’s okay?”

I let him guide me to the kitchen, where my closed laptop waits like a mute friend.

“Grace, I’m very sorry to tell you this, but Nick was involved in an accident along the Esplanade this morning.”

“He went for a run.” The soreness has crept up from my stomach and into my throat, making it hard to talk. “H-he runs on Saturday mornings.”

“Yes, your mother informed us of that.”

“Is he—is he in hospital?”

“I’m so sorry, Grace, but I have to tell you that Nick was killed on impact.”

My tongue sticks to the roof of my mouth. “N-no.”

“I’m so sorry,” the officer repeats, regret creasing his brow. He seems genuinely concerned. “It’s terrible news, but I will say this: it was over very fast. Nick didn’t suffer, and we’ve got the driver in custody already. Now,” he takes a deep breath, “I need to ask, is there someone we can call for you? My partner is looking after your mother, but I get the impression that she might not be the best support for you right now.”

“Mother is the best support,” I say automatically. Then I falter. “She—she…” Tears arrive before I know what’s happening, and I’m shaking my head, my body negating what I just said. And finally, I tell the truth: “She’s going to kill me someday. And now Nick is gone and… I don’t know where anything is—his will or his share in the company—and she’ll want to consolidate everything, and I can’t… I can’t do any of it.”

The man frowns, his phone in his hand. “Okay, Grace. I’ll need to hear more about that. For now, I want you to know you’re safe. Even if it feels like you’re not, my partner and I are here for you. I’m making a note that you’re not to be left alone with your mother for the time being.”

He types for a minute while I cover my face with my hands, folding into my pain. And I know there is only one person who can handle my oncoming implosion.

“Call Nate,” I say between gasps, “my brother-in-law. Get Nate here, please.”

Chapter 7

Nate

The news comes as I’m sorting through the aftermath of a major update on our app. I’ve got my CTO, Derek, on the phone while I finish some curls in my home gym. He handles everything at our office in Auckland, and he knows me well enough to expect a bit of micromanaging post-launch.

“Fuck,” I mutter when my phone buzzes with another call, my body tingling with a combination of endorphins from my workout and adrenaline from the launch.

“Stop drilling random swear words into my brain, boss,” Derek quips in my headphones, “or I’ll listen to my mummy and go back to uni.”

I grin at my reflection in the big wall mirror.

“It’s my other line, Dare. I’ll call you back in a few minutes. Remember—”

“Don’t fuck it up,” he finishes for me. “Got it. Now fuck off, boss.”