Grace's POV
Grace was in the middle of responding to emails when she heard the car pull up.
She knew that sound. That was Priya's car. Priya who was supposed to arrive at noon. Priya who was the only person on earth who knew the full truth about Grace's six-month plan. Priya who'd told her she was crazy and then helped her do it anyway.
Grace stood up from her desk just as the front door burst open.
"Okay, I brought champagne because your proposal was brilliant and I'm assuming you're either celebrating or drowning your sorrows, and either way we're going to need bubbles," Priya announced, walking through the mansion like she'd been invited into it a thousand times instead of just this once.
Then she stopped dead.
She saw James in the hallway.
James, who was coming from the study. James, who looked like he hadn't slept in about thirty-six hours. James, who was very much still here even though Grace had told Priya to give him time to process before she came visit.
"Oh my God," Priya said slowly. "He's here."
It wasn't a question.
Grace came out of her office and tried to look casual about the fact that her best friend and her ex-husband were now staring at each other in the middle of the hallway.
"He arrived last night," Grace said quietly. "His flight got in earlier than expected."
Priya looked between them like she was watching a very complicated chess game where she didn't know the rules. Her eyes went from Grace to James and back again. She was calculating. Measuring. Trying to figure out if this was a disaster or an opportunity.
"This is either the best decision you ever made or the worst," Priya finally said. "I honestly can't tell which."
Grace didn't answer because she didn't know which it was either.
James had the decency to look uncomfortable. He nodded at Priya like they were acquaintances at a party instead of people connected by the wreckage of a marriage.
"Priya," he said. "Good to see you."
"Is it though?" Priya replied, but she wasn't being mean. She was just being Priya, which meant she said things out loud that other people kept quiet. "Because last I checked, you divorced my best friend and ignored her for five years. So the good-to-see-you thing might be a stretch."
Grace wanted to disappear into the floor.
"Priya, can we..." Grace started, but Priya was already waving her hand.
"I'm just saying what we're all thinking," Priya said. But then her face softened. She crossed the hallway and pulled Grace into a hug. A real one. The kind of hug that said she understood. That she was here. That she had Grace's back no matter what happened next.
James excused himself quietly and went back into the study.
Grace watched him close the door and felt something like relief and something like disappointment fighting inside her chest.
"Okay," Priya said, pulling Grace toward the kitchen. "We need to talk about several things. But first, I have news. Good news. Your Mercer contract proposal was accepted."
Grace's entire body went still.
"What?" she whispered.
"They loved it, Grace. Like, actually loved it. They want to meet with you next week to discuss timeline and budget. They're talking about breaking ground in nine months. This is real. This is happening."
For exactly three seconds, Grace let herself feel it. Let herself experience the full weight of that victory. Mercer Solutions. One of the biggest real estate companies in New York. They'd chosen her design. They'd chosen her vision. They'd chosen her.
She'd won something real. Something that had nothing to do with James or this mansion or any of this insanity.
Grace started to smile and then Priya's expression changed.
"But we have a problem," Priya continued quietly.
Grace's smile froze.
"What kind of problem?" she asked, though she could already feel the answer in her bones. Could already sense that something bad was coming.
Priya pulled her all the way into the kitchen and made sure the door was closed behind them. She glanced toward the study where James was pretending to work but was probably listening to every word.
"Marcus is making noise," Priya said. "Big noise. He's telling people that you two were partners in embezzling. That you were in on it together. That you're just as guilty as he is."
The kitchen tilted.
Grace had to sit down.
Marcus. Her former business partner. The man she'd trusted completely. The man she'd built her company with from nothing. The man who'd systematically stolen millions from their projects and their clients over three years while she was working double shifts trying to make the company successful.
"That's not true," Grace said, but her voice sounded small.
"I know it's not true," Priya said, sitting across from her. "But that doesn't matter right now. What matters is that he's weaponizing it. He's telling clients that you were partners in the theft. He's telling people that you're the one who set up the embezzlement scheme and he's just the fall guy."
"But we have documentation. We have emails. We have proof that I discovered it and that I turned him in," Grace said, thinking through the evidence they had. The night she'd found the discrepancies in the accounts. The way she'd traced the money. The way she'd gone directly to the authorities before even confronting him.
"You do," Priya agreed. "But those emails take time to verify. In the meantime, his story is spreading. He's already reached out to three of your biggest potential clients and suggested they work with someone whose reputation isn't currently under question."
Grace felt panic rising in her chest.
She'd been so focused on James. So focused on this mansion. So focused on the trap she'd set that she hadn't been monitoring what Marcus was doing. Hadn't been watching for this particular move.
And now her business, her beautiful hard-won business, was about to be attacked from a direction she wasn't prepared for.
"What do we do?" Grace asked.
Priya reached across the table and took her hand. "We fight back. We get ahead of it. We release your own statement before his version becomes the truth people believe. We show the evidence. We prove that you're not just innocent but that you're actually the victim here."
Grace nodded, trying to think through what that would look like. A press release. Maybe an interview. Maybe she'd have to go public about everything she'd kept private.
She was so focused on planning that she almost missed the sound of James emerging from the study.
He appeared in the kitchen doorway like a ghost materializing.
"I heard," he said simply. "Part of it, at least. The Marcus situation."
Grace felt her entire body go tense.
"James, I don't need—" she started, but he was already shaking his head.
"I know you don't need anything from me. But I'm going to help anyway," he said. "Because that's what people do when they care about someone. They help. They show up. Even when they're not asked."
He was looking directly at Grace when he said it.
Like he was telling her something that went beyond Marcus and embezzlement and business problems.
Like he was telling her something that mattered more than anything else.
Priya looked between them with her eyes wide.
"Okay," Priya said slowly. "That's either incredibly romantic or incredibly complicated. I'm still not sure which."
Grace's phone buzzed on the table.
She looked down at the notification and her blood went cold.
It was a news alert. From one of the major business publications. The headline read: Former Business Partner Makes Serious Accusations Against Montgomery Design Firm.
And underneath that, in smaller text: Sources suggest James Sullivan may be involved in covering up embezzlement scheme.
Grace looked up at James.
His face had gone completely white.
"That's not what I..." he started, but Grace was already understanding what had happened.
Somehow, Marcus had gotten wind of James helping her. Somehow, he'd twisted it. Somehow, he'd created a narrative where James's help looked like they were both guilty. Where his protection of her looked like conspiracy.
"We need to call your lawyer," Priya said urgently, scrolling through her phone. "This is bigger than I thought. This is—"
But Grace wasn't listening anymore.
She was looking at James and realizing that helping her was about to destroy him.
That his company was about to be questioned.
That his reputation was about to be attacked.
That she'd trapped him in this mansion and now her past was going to drag him down with her.
And the worst part was that she could see it in his eyes.
He was going to let it happen.
He was going to protect her even if it cost him everything.
And she had no idea how to stop him.