What The End Looks Like | ✓

16: lacey

 "Ruth, what am I doing. This is ridiculous." I say looking at the dress I'm wearing. It's the only really nice piece of clothing I brought with me to New York on the off chance I found myself needing it. I've lost weight since the last time I wore it, that it gaps awkwardly on my hips.

It used to be a skin tight dress that highlighted the curves I had. I think the only time I've worn it was for Ruth's twenty-first. It's a pretty pink that makes my cheeks look rosy.

However, I don't think there's enough makeup in the world that can hide how tired I look right now. It wasn't even that long of a day. But I did have to tell Grayson about Tessa's parents company. That wasn't an easy conversation to have.

"Can I talk to you for a second?" I ask, stepping into Grayson's office hesitantly, clutching the files to my chest.

Dean and Maddox had flagged every discrepancy and the accounting errors added up to millions of dollars missing opening the company up to criminal investigations from what I understood.

Grayson stops writing on a piece of paper and places it in the folder belonging to the case he's working on. "Sure, what's going on."

My stomach feels like it's about to twist itself into knots. I shouldn't be so nervous to tell him this, but I am. This isn't business for him. This is personal.

"I was double checking files on Monday when I noticed a few discrepancies in one of the accounts. I didn't know what I was looking at, so I took it to Dean."

He looks confused, not quite sure where I'm going with this. "Which account?"

"Dean suggested looking further into the history before bringing it to you and then Monday night he and Maddox combed through everything. There's a lot of money unaccounted for," I say passing over the files.

"Monday? You've known about this since Monday and you're just now bringing it to me? It's Friday Lacey." He sounds frustrated and I don't blame him. I've been dragging my feet about this all week, but it didn't help that I had another doctors appointment. That's been consuming my thoughts leaving little room for me to think about the fraud surrounding the Kaplan Insurance Group. Grayson stands up, taking the file from me before I can even try to justify me waiting four days to tell him.

He falls quiet facing away from me as he flips through the papers. I feel like all the oxygen is being sucked out of the room. "Who all knows?"

I fiddle with the button at the end of my blouse, "Just me, Dean, and Maddox."

"Fuck," He says flinging the file at the wall. "You should have brought it to me sooner."

"I know. I'm sorry."

Grayson pulls his tie off and I don't know what I'm supposed to do now. Do I leave? Do I stay? What is the criteria for this?

He shakes a head, "I need to get out of here."

"You're just nervous Lace. It's understandable though. It's your first date since-"

I cut her off quickly because I don't want to talk about Sam. I really don't want to talk about him tonight. "No, I'm nervous because I don't want to lead anyone on. Chase is... he's so nice. It's just one date."

"I think you'll have fun," Ruth says now playing the role of the supportive best friend because that's exactly what I need right now. I need to be reminded that this can be fun. "What does Dean think about this?"