𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐑𝐞𝐦𝐞𝐝𝐲 | ✓

9 (𝘚𝘱𝘦𝘯𝘤𝘦𝘳'𝘴 𝘗𝘖𝘝)

I climb out of my car, not bothering to shut its door as one employee hurries toward me. I throw the keys to him and ascend the steps leading to the main building of Judy Corporations.

For four days, I've been busy pondering over how to present this complication to William.

Gracie must not marry Kristian under any circumstances. I'm sure I can persuade William to step back from this madness.

I shake my head as I enter the building. White blazing lights keep the entire area illuminated, sharply reflecting from the white marble tiles, causing my eyes to ache for a beat from the intensity.

As I make my way to the elevator, a number of William's employees greet me, and even though I reply to all of them, I notice none of them, my mind is fixated on this problem.

The bastard only told me the past weekend was just a family gathering. I didn't want to attend, but Julia wasn't buying it and so we went to his house.

When all of us, including Savannah, who never manages to be on time for some unexplainable reason, were sitting in the living room, William deemed it to be the perfect time to break it to us, 'We're going to sign a contract, but for this particular partnership, the entire family would be bound to it'. No shit, the bastard couldn't have put it lighter than that.

All sank in when Kathryn and Mason entered the house. At that moment, I knew the word partnership is going to be an understatement and I was right.

The elevator door slides open and thankfully it's empty. With one long stride, I step into it and press the button with the number twenty scripted on it.

As the door closes, I shove my hands into my pockets and lean to the cold metallic wall as the elevator ascends.

I try extra hard not to think about Gracie, to not allow her face to come to the front of my mind.

Five years.

For five fucking years I cut off everything and anything that reminded me of her. I was doing good. Out of sight, out-of-mind concept was working well for me. I had successfully moved on from the girl who screwed me over. And I knew as long as I stayed away from reminders, I'd do fine.

But no.

Fuck her for screwing everything up again.

I clench my jaw and rest the back of my head on the wall behind me, shutting my eyes for a moment.

At that instant, I greatly regretted giving William a second chance. He's no father, but for Saff's sake, I had to give the asshole a shot. On top of that, no human being possesses the power to ruin me as thoroughly as Gracie Stewart did.

Gracie... it still annoys me to think when I decided to give William a chance, a considerable part of my decision had to do with her words, 'maybe one day you'll regret never letting him try... and maybe then it'll be too late.'

She sure as hell knows how to play around with words, make everyone do whatever she wants them to do.

Plus there wasn't much on the line so I gave my sister the well-deserved break from the constant sneerings of William's she-devil wife.

I rub my face and straighten myself, pulling myself to my full height as the elevator slows down, reaching the twentieth floor. I step out and head to the other end of the floor, where William's office is located.

Once the gigantic double door, covered with black leather comes in sight, I slow down my pace, going over my end of the argument, hoping it'll be enough to convince William out of this contract.