The Grand Pact (The Grand Men #1)(94)

Maxwell turns to me. “I need to stick around here for a bit. Will you be okay getting home?”

“Alec was just followed,” I tell him.

“You’re safe, Luce, it’s the morning, and you can call me if you need me.”

It is the morning and daylight outside. Which means Elliot will be up. I nod. “Okay.”

Pulling out my phone, I leave the hospital and text Polly.

Lucy: Polly call me

Lucy: I’m worried and need to know you’re okay I’m on my way back to the house when she replies, and I frown at my phone as I read the message.

Polly: I’m out at my mum’s place. I’m okay Why didn’t she tell me she was leaving?

Knowing she’s safe, I pull up Elliot’s number and try calling him again.





Elliot





My phone rings for the tenth time in a matter of hours. I’m climbing from my car having just arrived back from the airport, and I know I should check the messages piling up in my inbox.

The look on Lucy’s face as I left last night still guts me, but what’s worse is this anger I have raging inside of me. It makes me want to smash the phone to pieces so that I never have to look at the messages.

My suitcase feels heavier as I carry it into the house. I go straight to my bedroom and walk-in closet, where I pull on a pair of shorts and a white T-shirt. The last thing I want to do is lie around my house feeling like a cunt all weekend.

I should be in New York.

With her.

Leaving my phone on my bedside table, I pick up my keys and slip on my trainers and cap, and then I head back to my car.





L&M Fitness suite is a twenty-four-hour gym that stands as a powerhouse in the middle of London’s financial district. It was renovated around two years ago and has fast become the go-to spot for fitness fanatics.

For me, it’s close to my work, home and has the added benefit of Nina working on the third floor.

Usually.

Today, I could do without it, and being that it’s gone eight on a Sunday evening, I presumed I’d be safe from her.

“Elliot!”

Nina frowns as Ellis runs for me. She has Waverly rested on her hip as she approaches me, and I know she’s mentally trying to figure out what’s going on.

Despite my mood, I pick Ellis up under the arms and throw him high before I catch him again. “There’s my main man.”

“You went on an aeroplane.”

“I did. I went on our aeroplane,” I tell him.

“I want to go gain.”

I smile for the first time in twenty-four hours. Memories of travelling with the Lowells too sweet to ignore. “Yeah, we will soon.”

“What are you doing here?” Nina asks as she steps closer.

“Did you see Auntie Luce?” Ellis bulldozes right over her, and for the first time, I wish the little guy would keep his mouth shut.

“No, she was busy,” I say, keeping my eyes tuned in on Nina. She must take the hint and reaches for Ellis.

“Want to talk about it?” she questions, not meeting my eyes as she places her son down on his feet.

I shake my head, then nod towards the gym upstairs. “Lowell up there?”

“Sure is. Tell him we won’t wait. I’ll take a taxi to the hospital with the kids. Scar can drive us back, and Mase can drive home once you’re done.”

“I’d rather be alone, Nina. Lowell can leave with you.”

“Not how this works with us, and you know it.” She pushes up on her tiptoes and kisses my cheek. “You look sad, Ell. I’m sorry,” she mutters quietly so no one will hear.

I watch as she picks up the children’s bags and ushers them out the door, wondering what she sees to think I’m sad.

Because all I feel is fucking anger.





It’s been a week since I got back from New York, and the calls haven’t stopped. I was sure she’d be home by now. That’s what she said. I’ll come home.

As if that could fix this.

“Knock knock.”

Nina’s head pops around my office door, her face assessing and full of pity.

“What is it?”

“What do you think?” she asks, coming to sit in the chair opposite my desk.

I don’t stop working on my computer. “I don’t know. Checking up on me again?” I have no doubt she’s reporting everything back to Lucy.

I didn’t tell Nina about what happened, and I didn’t plan to tell Mason, but when I punched him in the face at the gym during our sparring session, adding a little too much behind it, he took me to the floor and told me to spit it out.

I told him pretty much everything.

“Are you okay? You haven’t been over, and Ellis is asking about you.”

“I don’t think I’m the best company for him right now.”

“Don’t talk such rubbish. Ellis would make you feel a million times better, and you know that’s the truth. You’re wallowing in this self-pity.” She holds up a hand to stop me. “And rightfully so. I don’t blame you. Luce isn’t returning my calls, and I have no idea what she is playing at.”

“She’s probably busy,” I mumble absentmindedly.