Fallen from Grace (27 page)

J
UDAS
HAD
JUST
READ
THE
same sentence for the seventh time. The look in Grace’s eyes when he first spotted her at the opera had him confused. It was almost as if she had been happy to see him. Her expression had been cold and distant, then instantly changed when her gaze met his. Even from a distance, he could see the color rise in her cheeks, and an indescribable emotion fill her eyes. The look haunted his thoughts.

Running away and hiding was for cowards. He’d let Jack control his life for years, and now he was letting Ellis do the same. Who had he become? This wasn’t the life he was supposed to be living.

He looked down at the book he was reading,
Aristotle
Politics
, then at the line he’d been reading for the past twenty minutes:
For no one would call a person blessedly happy who has no shred of courage, temperance, justice, or practical wisdom, but is afraid of the flies buzzing around him, stops at nothing to gratify his appetite for food or drink, betrays his dearest friends for a pittance, and has a mind as foolish and prone to error as a child’s or a madman’s.

He snapped the book shut and looked around his apartment. It was small—tiny actually—but had cost a small fortune. It was twenty-five hundred dollars a month, but he wouldn’t complain. No one could find him. No one could control him here.

Already wearing a pair of athletic shorts and a gray t-shirt, he laced up his sneakers and got on the treadmill. He plugged in his earbuds and ran like the devil was chasing him.

One mile
. Grace would never forgive him; she would marry Ellis. If there were anything he could have done, the time had come and gone.

Two miles
. He was eventually going to get caught for the things he’d done and end up behind bars for the rest of his life.

Three miles.
He was never going to be a writer. He was never going to travel the world. He was going to be stuck in a court room, arguing the same cases over and over.

Four miles.
He was going to be alone forever—no wife, no children, and no friends. The shady acquaintances he’d befriended over the years didn’t matter. They’d throw him under the bus for a leg up on the social ladder.

Five miles.
His mother was probably looking down from heaven, ashamed of him.

He pressed stop and stepped off the treadmill, then walked to his bedroom and collapsed onto his bed. He was hot and sweaty and his heart was beating out of control. Rolling onto his side, he pressed his hands to his chest.

Judas lacked the virtues Aristotle spoke of. He was a coward.

G
RACE
HAD
P
EARSON
TAKE
HER
to her apartment. She claimed she needed to pick up a few items for work, but what she really needed was more time to think of a plan. She had already emailed Leslie and informed her she wouldn’t be coming into the office today, and asked her to reschedule her appointments.

She had no idea how she was going to get rid of the six-foot, military shadow paid to watch her every move. Grace had always known he wasn’t here for her safety, but more to keep tabs on her. In a way, she didn’t blame Ellis; she had cheated on him, but it wasn’t normal for a man to hire a bodyguard to ensure one’s significant other didn’t repeat said offense. He should have trusted her.

“I’ll be just a minute,” she said, stepping out of the SUV as he stood next to the curb.

Trevor was standing out front. “Good morning, Dr. Winters.”

She tilted her head to the side. “How many times do I have to say it? Call me Grace?”

He laughed. “Maybe I just enjoy it when you correct me.” Grinning mischievously, he opened the door.

“You’re bad,” she said with a smile.

Walking into the building, she realized she hadn’t checked her mail in a few days. She went over to the mailboxes, retrieved the keys from her purse, and opened her box. A tenant came up beside her, and she looked over, giving them a courteous smile and saw Rebecca. She was wearing a sweater with the hood pulled up over her head.

“Don’t look at me,” she uttered in a hushed tone. “Just keep doing what you’re doing. If your bodyguard sees me, he’ll come inside.”

Grace looked forward and slowly turned her key in the box. “What’s wrong, Rebecca?”

“We need to talk.”

“What about?” An uneasy feeling stirred in Grace’s stomach. Had Rebecca found out about her relationship with Judas?

“Not here. Go to your apartment, and ditch your phone.” Grace was about to ask a question, but Rebecca interrupted her. “There’s no time to talk. If you care about Judas at all, you’ll listen to me. Leave your phone in your apartment, and meet me out back in the alley, but hurry.”

Rebecca turned and walked away. Grace took her mail out of the box and locked it, then stood frozen wondering how she was going to get rid of David Pearson. She looked down at the mail in her hands and had an idea. Walking over to Trevor, she gave him a tight smile. David was seconds away from entering the building.

“I need your help, Trevor. Is there any way you can stall
him?
” she asked, jerking her head toward the bodyguard outside.

“Is everything alright?”

“It will be with your help. I just need you to distract him for a few minutes.”

Trevor nodded. “I got this, Grace,” he said, straightening his posture and shooting her a cocky grin.

“Thank you, so much. I owe you one.” Grace headed to her apartment on the second floor. Inside, she took her phone out of her purse and left it on the counter. She knew it was a terrible idea to meet a patient in a back alley, but what choice did she have?

As she quietly closed her apartment door, she glanced down the stairs and could hear Trevor asking David what he would have to do to become a bodyguard.

She smiled as she hurried down the hallway, and took the back exit to the alley. A running cab was waiting with Rebecca inside. Grace climbed in and closed the door. The cab exited the alley and turned onto the street.

Rebecca was pale, and nervously twisting her fingers in her lap. “I’m sorry for showing up at your home like this.”

“It’s no problem. Just tell me what’s going on.”

“I know about you and Judas.”

Grace slouched in her seat. She felt like the worst doctor in the world.

“I also know you’re engaged to Congressman Randall, the man working with my father to build a case against Judas and
his
father.”

And it just kept getting worse.
Grace wanted to throw herself out of the moving taxi—the road rash would probably be less tragic than the guilt of failing her client.

“But I’m not mad.”

Grace’s melodramatic thoughts came to a halt as she looked at Rebecca. “You aren’t?”

“No, and the reason I’m not mad is because I love Judas. But it’s not the type of love you’re thinking of. It’s sort of like how a sister loves a brother...maybe that’s not a good explanation. Judas has been there for me at my darkest and lowliest of times. He’s made me see that I’m better than drugs and drinking and that I really do have a chance at a real life. I’ve been thinking about going back to college and finishing my degree.”

“That’s great, Rebecca.”

“Thank you.” She smiled and tucked a strand of her blond hair behind her ear. “I’m happy I met you, and I’m happy that Judas met you. He’s such an amazing person, Dr. Winters, and this life that he’s living isn’t true. He’s better than it. I feel it in my heart and soul. He belongs in a different world, far from this corrupt city and from under the bearings of his tyrant father, and I think you can help him get away.”

“I don’t know?”

“I’ve finally spoken with my father, and I was wrong about everything. I can’t tell you what’s going on but it involves you and Judas.”

“Do you know where Judas is?”

She shook her head. “I’ve been trying to get a hold of him, so I went by his apartment this morning, and he wasn’t there, but this one time he took me to his place in Brooklyn. I don’t think anyone else knows about it.”

The cab came to a stop, and Rebecca looked at Grace with concern. “The reason I told you not to bring your phone is because the Congressman is monitoring it. He has been for some time now.”

Grace’s heart rate spiked, and adrenaline rushed through her veins. She should have known he would take his possessiveness to the maximum level.

“You’re right to be concerned. Ellis is not good news. He’s working with my father, so that’s clue number one.” Rebecca handed the driver a fifty and gave him an address. They were parked outside a Starbucks. She looked at Grace. “If he’s not there, I don’t know where he is. Good luck, and be careful, Dr. Winters. You’re swimming in a pond filled with sharks.”

“Wait,” Grace said. “What about you?”

Rebecca shook her head and shrugged. “Don’t worry about me. My dad hates bad publicity, so he’ll do anything he has to do to keep my name clean. Judas is in apartment D.”

Rebecca stepped out of the cab and walked inside the coffee shop. The cab pulled behind traffic and headed to Brooklyn.

Twenty minutes later, Grace was parked outside a renovated brown brick building. The entire block had been upgraded with new windows and black banisters alongside the staircases. Every building looked exactly the same.

She glanced at the meter and the money Rebecca had handed the driver covered the cost and left a little extra for a tip. “Thank you,” Grace said, sliding out of the car.

As the cab pulled away, she looked up at building 326. Walking up the stairs, Grace was relieved when the door opened. She was worried it would require a key because she didn’t see a security system that would allow her to call up to his apartment. She had no phone in a city she’d never visited before, and she didn’t see any vacant taxis perusing the street for customers. Inside to the right, she saw a list of names but Apt D said
occupied.
She panicked, what if this wasn’t really his apartment?

Excitement shot through her belly as she climbed the stairs. Wasn’t she supposed to be angry? Just last night he had been osculating a blond bimbo while she was forced to grieve in a bathroom stall. And now she was here, by means of patient information, stalking him.

She suddenly found herself outside a door labeled
D
. Bringing her hand up in front of her, she took a deep breath, then knocked twice just below the gold letter.

No one answered.

She knocked twice more but still no one answered.
He’s not here.
Grace turned around and started to walk down the stairs when she heard the jiggle of a door handle, and then a man’s voice.
But not just any voice.

Judas’s deep, sexy drawl unleashed butterflies in her belly. “Grace,” he uttered, surprised. She turned around and glanced up at him. “How did you find me?”

Words failed her. She stared at his naked chest, and her eyes slowly dipped lower to his rippled torso and traced the V that disappeared beneath white athletic shorts.

“I...R-Rebecca told me you might be here.”

The confusion on his face intensified, and he took a step toward her. Grace’s heart rate spiked and like an idiot she tried to take a step down. Her foot missed the stair, and her body wobbled momentarily before she started to fall backwards.

Judas launched forward and wrapped a warm hand around her elbow. His arm snaked around her waist and he lifted her off the stairs, pulling her against his body. All the air left her lungs in a
whoosh,
and she was left staring into his beautiful brown eyes. Her gaze locked with his mouth, and the only thing wrong in the world was that his lips weren’t pressed against hers.

They hovered over hers for a moment, then he let her go. “What are you doing here, Grace?” Judas looked down the stairs and ran his fingers through his hair. “You shouldn’t be here.”

Well, that wasn’t the reaction I was expecting.
Her anger flared, and she threw her hands on her hips. “Why did you kiss that woman in front of me?”