Page 82 of Fallen to Thievery
“I’ve seen the way he looks at you.”Gods, he wasthere. During the two years that I’d dated Shaun, Grayson was there. In the shadows, watching me.
I shuddered.
“SoIwanted to take you. I’d been trying to find a way to end that man for years and couldn’t. Not without risking my mother’s diamond. So I’d decided that I would hurt him instead. By taking you. Or that’s what I was telling myself.
“For the following few days, I had abandoned my stakeout of the bank, and instead found myself on the beach every morning, watching you in the water. And at night you kept me awake as I plotted how I could use you to get to Anderson. At first, I only planned to take you from him. Have what he couldn’t and then make sure he never would have a chance with you.”
I winced at that.
“But with every sleepless night, my plan evolved to where I could finally see a way to get my diamond. And my revenge.”
“What was the plan?” I already knew. I was living it. But I needed to hear it from him. How he had every intention of breaking me from the very start. Maybe then I could hate him. Regret him.
“Anderson is a cunning bastard. He’s very careful of the people around him. I’ve tried to get someone on the inside, but he killed her. One wrong word and he shot her through the eye.” Grayson’s eyes flashed to mine. “But you? You were alreadythere. It wouldn’t be years of gaining his trust. And he liked you. Maybe even respected you. More than his own fucking son.” He shifted uncomfortably, looking like he was sceptical of telling me more. “Taking you was the easy part. We were already set to rob the bank. I only had to break into your house, make a sandwich, and leave it on the counter. Then you, the dutiful friend, would show up exactly where I needed you. That way it looked like a robbery gone bad. Two flies with one stone. The next part I knew would be trickier, but not impossible. I’d done it a few times before.” He chuckled nervously. “I had to get you to fall in love with me.”
“Then why not just take me to dinner like a normal fucking person?” I grumbled. It was a stupid plan.
Grayson rubbed a hand over his face. “Ihadthought about that. But I would’ve been too exposed for my liking. Anderson checks in on you, you know? It was too risky. Too close to home. Plus, I had an opportunity to make him feel loss. Even if it was temporary. I couldn’t pass that up. So I opted for the hard way. And fuck, was ithard.” He looked up at the sky, seemingly reliving it.
“That first few weeks, Ava, I could barely control myself. You were the only woman Anderson had laid eyes on that had walked away unscathed. I despised you for it. What made you better than my mother and sister? I wanted to break you for it. But instead, there I was, calling youmyprincess in my head. Just as bewitched as Anderson. I was the one falling in love, and I hated you for it. You had me enthralled. Like a stupid fucking moth, I was drawn to you. To that perfect light of yours. A light, I’m ashamed to say, I tried to extinguish to save myself.”
He hung his head low. “I’m sorry for all I did to you, Ava. How I treated you. I was out of control. God, I had these fucked-up dreams of you each time I closed my eyes. I was fucking you while they were killing my mother and Abby. They were screaming for me, but I wouldn’t stop to help them. I was too wrapped up in you. It fucked me up, Princess. I could feel it all slipping away every time your green eyes pierced mine so fiercely. You had the power to stop all of it. All I had been working towards for so many years. And I couldn’t come to terms with that. AndJesus, I was falling for Anderson’s fucking woman. I didn’t want that comparison. Not for one second.”
He laughed bitterly, the sound maiming me. “Do you see the irony of it, Princess? He’s better than me. He was a better man to you than I am. He had the good sense to leave you growing in your garden, admiring you from afar. I plucked you. I brought you into my home for my own selfish reasons and watched you wilt.”
Tears were flowing hot over my cheeks. Graysonhadhurt me. He had taken me, abused me, then showed me love like I had never experienced.All for it to be ripped away again. Iwaswilting. No, it was beyond that. I was already dying inside.
His fingers brushed my cheek, wiping away the tears, but I pulled away. His touch only ripped at my wounds.
“How did you expect me to get your diamond from Charles?” I found my voice.
He sighed and brushed a hand through his hair. “I only needed you to find out from him where it was. If I know where to get the diamond, the rest would be child’s play.”
“But I’m supposed to be kidnapped,” I questioned.
“You would have escaped. Miraculously survived.”
“And when I got what you wanted? You would have thrown me away like yesterday’s trash.” I looked to him. “Or would I have disappeared? For good this time?”
He held my gaze, looking frayed. “I never leave loose ends.”
My chest caved, and I lowered my head between my knees. What a stupid, naïve woman I’d been. Look where it got me. But what I wouldn’t give to go back in time to this morning. To wake with such happiness in my heart once more. So blissfully ignorant and blind to the truth.
“I guess I’m still a loose end, huh?” I asked bitterly.
“I would much rather rip out my own heart than kill you,” Grayson said mutedly, not looking at me. “I would rip it out with my bare hands right now, if it would make you feel any better.”
I stayed quiet. But a malicious part of me I never knew existed, wanted to tell him that itwouldmake me feel better, just to watch him attempt it.
Grayson turned his body to me. “I love you, Ava.” He pressed a fist to his chest. “You made this cold, dead, fucking heart beat again. You’ve made me feel worthy of the air I’m breathing. Because ifyou,my perfect angel, could want me, only for a second, then I must be worth something.”
He pulled me towards him so I would face him. A rock fell on his head. It was my crow. Grayson sighed up at the bird, rubbing his head. “Yeah, I deserved that.” He lowered his gaze to me again. “And I know I would never deserveyou, little witch. But I would doanythingto make this go away. I would do anything for you to smile again.” He gently took my face in his hands, his eyes going misty. “Even if it means letting you go, never seeing you again. If that’s what you want, Ava, if it’s what you need, I’ll take you home. If that’s what it takes, I can do it. I can do it,” he said again, as if trying to convince himself.
He smoothed a finger over my trembling chin, trying to make it stop. I didn’t know what to think, what to feel. I was thinking and feeling too much. And all of those thoughts and feelings were just different kinds of agony, different kinds of burning. But I was burning, all the same.
“Those nights in the tent, in the woods. Was it real? Or was it a ruse so I would fall in love with you? The waterfall. Was it part of the plan?” A broken sob escaped me. “The road trip home. The diner, the Inn. Had you bet on me choosing you? Choosing to stay? ‘Cause that was needed for your plan to work, wasn’t it? For me to believe I had a choice.” Something broke in me. “Was any of it fucking real?” I screamed at him.
“All of it!” he screamed back, dropping his hands from my face. “Every single word, every single touch, every moment. All of it was real, Ava.”
