If I have to name my first in the long list of clauses I hate with every fiber in my body from that contract, is the clause dictating I cannot decline anything that strengthens or takes forth the contract.

This single clause might single-handedly fuck up the following five years. As usual, I can't do anything but go along with it. I've come too far to give up now. I owe it to Dad to take down Benjamin Stewart. To make that man pay for what he did to us and my father. I'll be the damn karma for him. I'll make him suffer.

But looks like, first this karma is going to suffer before acting out her role.

Anger, jealousy, and feeling all these sorts of nonsense emotions are quite draining, but focusing on my goal, on my revenge, is not.

I will my mind to only concentrate on my goal, doing whatever needs to be done to destroy Ben Stewart. I overlook the flash of fear that crossed Spencer's features at that stupid Saturday lunch.

Albeit difficult, I ignore how even now, thinking about it stings. I wish he possessed the same amount of fear of losing me five years ago...

I'm not denying I fucked up pretty bad, nor am I saying I'm technically worthy of a second chance... okay, that's a lie... well kind of. I'm not worthy of a second chance, but I wish he would've given me anyway.

I knew he wouldn't give me a second chance that's why I chickened out of telling him the truth.

Yes, with every single cell in my body I wanted him to forgive me, or at least tell me how I can gain back his trust and fix whatever I broke.

I apologized and I begged him, on more than one occasion, which is a huge deal for someone like me who never bows to anyone. I was willing to do anything to keep him in my life... yet, in his eyes, my mistake was big enough that no amount of apologizing, or anything else I might have come with, could've made him pause for a moment and consider forgiving me.

My lie, or series of lies, was no small thing, I get that. I bruised his ego, hurt him, and broke his trust. If our places were swapped, I- I think... well, I don't know what I would have done. Spencer is not the type of person to work behind your back and betray you. I guess that's what he assumed I was like, perhaps that's the reason why it hurt him so much.

From yesterday's lunch, until I left the house with Kristian thirty minutes ago, I've been busy convincing myself what I did was bad enough that no amount of apologizing could have fixed it. He did what anyone would have done. I did not deserve a second chance. I must respect his choice.

No, I'm not forcing myself to believe these things for his sake, I'm doing it for mine.

Yesterday I realized, I won't be able to put off his wedding with Julia longer than I already have. There will come a day where I have to stand in an alter and watch Spencer and Julia together as they say their oaths.

I'm preparing myself for that day.

As dreadfully agonizing as the thought itself is, it's the reality, it will happen. The sooner I make peace with it, the better it'll be for both of us.

During these five years, I respected his choice for not wanting to have any sort of contact with me.

I'm certain I can manage to hold myself up to his wishes for five more years. He deserves peace. I have no right to snatch it away from him again.

What we had was like a dream. A dream I shattered way before it had the chance to bloom into reality.

These conclusions and decisions twist and churn my stomach, break my aching heart again and again until breathing becomes too difficult, but I know it's for the best. I have to pull myself together and stay out of his way for our sake.

I just hope he stays out of mine too, because at any point, if he becomes a serious problem, I have to eliminate him. With no care for the cost he'll be paying.

I shake my head and shove these thoughts aside as Kristian leads me into the nightclub. The music is loud and pounding, rolling off every surface. We head straight to the VIP section, not paying any heed to the mass of dancing bodies.

A bouncer opens the door for us and we enter a dimly lit room, the music is fainter, the place is buzzing with faint chatter.

Kristian, with his hand planted on the small of my back, goes to the booth in the farthest corner. Three men are already seated around it. Once they spot us, they stand up to greet Kristian and barely acknowledge me.

I bite back a sigh. Tonight is going to be a painfully long night.

We sit around the booth, Kristian keeps me pressed to himself as two of his friends sit across from us and the third guy sits on my right, all dressed up in overpriced brands, screaming money.

"You know, we never thought you two would end up together," the guy across from me says. His dark hooded eyes meet me and from the shape of his nose and face, I can't help but wonder if he's the son of one of William's prominent investors.

"Time changes people," I reply, tightly smiling at him.

Kristian on my left chuckles. Puffing out his chest, he places one hand on the table. "More like desperation."

The other three guys burst into laughter. I shift on my seat, fisting my hands as I turn and glare at him. What the fuck!

"So the great Gracie Stewart who always mocked the gold-diggers has turned into one too," the guy on my right scornfully says.

"Being broke definitely changed you," the third one sitting across Kristian comments, before sipping his drink.

I clench my teeth to trap the insults dancing on the tip of my tongue. A sour realization settles in. This bastard has brought me here to insult me and make fun of me. And if I say or do anything that'll piss him off, he has the power to instantly call off the contract and I'll have to pay a shit ton of money to him.

I swallow the scream of rage building up in me.

"Well, I can't say much since I don't know how you guys were back then." I lift a shoulder in a dismissive shrug, barely keeping my anger at bay.

I'm no longer that insane Gracie picking up fights at every given chance. I know which fights to pick, and this one tonight, definitely won't be to my advantage. Although, I have to keep my temper in check and get the fuck out of here before I lose my shit.

"Yeah, you were always too poor for our social circle, never in our level," the guy on my right, with the first three buttons of his shirt undone says, downing his drink.

The waiter comes by, and the guys order three rounds of shots. I make a note to myself to not get drunk.

Just as the guy leaves, Kristian's mouth arches into a wicked smile as he leans to look at the guy on my right. "Dude, don't talk about her like that, she's my fiancée now. Money or not, she's mine and she regrets the bullshit she said about me all those years ago, right babe?"

I breathe deeply and slowly through my nose, glaring at him with all the force I can muster. My nails dig into my palm, but the pain is a good distraction from the anger. With effort, I unclench my jaw and will myself to mutter the words he's after. "Yeah, I regret saying them." I should've said worse stuff about you.

The waiter returns and places the shots in front of everyone.

Kristian picks up his and mine, and holds one in front of me. I shake my head. "I have a meeting tomorrow."

The guy across from me snorts and downs his drink. "Looks like you've lost your wild side too, a shame I didn't get to see it."

Kristian throws back his head first drinking his shot then downing mine. He slams the glasses on the table. "Gracie? Lost her wild side? Nah, dude." He throws his arm around my shoulder and pulls me to himself.

I purse my mouth to stop myself from cursing him, as my muscles strain to not push him off.

"Give them a piece of yourself, show them your wild side. Go on, don't be shy, I won't mind if you give Colton a good lap dance back in that room, it'll be good practice for you too. What do you say, babe?"

I gape at him. Is this fucker serious? "Why? Is he too broke to pay for a lap dancer or a prostitute to do all these things for him?" I snap before I can stop myself.

Kristian's smile falters, his face twists with anger.

I don't waste time surveying the other guys' reactions and despite myself, make an attempt at amending my harsh tone and comment. "Do you really think a guy like him deserves to spend even thirty seconds with me, your fiancée, the Wright family's soon-to-be bride?"

He forces a smile to his face and reaches for me. It takes my entire willpower not to cringe, or grimace when his hand touches my face.

"Babe, of course, I don't mind." We stare at each other; I glare at him as he silently dares me to say something to piss him off and give him the opening to tell William I broke my side of the deal.

My insides shake from my contained fury.

"I thought you'd enjoy our little game," he speaks again, leaning to the backrest. "You see, we're a part of a club, I thought you'd definitely like it."

I frown with confusion. "Club?"

"Every week the club members gather and write their names on pieces of paper. Then we draw those names at random, partnering them up in groups of two." Colton, the guy across from me, explains.

"Yeah, and those two can do whatever they want till the next morning. Neither of them can refuse the other one's wishes." Kristian winks. "They have the entire night," he adds in a lower tone, next to my ear.

"And you thought I'd agree to it?" I ask through gritted teeth.

"Yeah, babe. Why not? Aren't you my partner? We're supposed to do everything together."

I shift on my seat and lean to him, letting my lips brush his ear as I murmur. "Don't tempt me to call off this shitshow and sue you for sexual assault. I'm sure William won't like the outcome. And neither would you." I back away to meet his widened dark eyes. I quirk an eyebrow in a silent challenge.

"Why are you giving Kris a hard time, it's not like you're a virgin or anything," the guy across Kristian snickers.

"A shame we weren't around when all the guys were having a round with her, looks like that phase has passed," The one on my right says, shaking his head before downing the rest of his drink he still had from before our arrival.

"And it seems we won't be seeing you in that club anymore either, right Kris?" Colton's mouth arches into a smug smile.

Kristian clenches his jaw, shooting a glare at me. He opens his mouth to reply but Colton is quicker to add, "I was excited to see you Gracie, but it looks like you've lost the things you were good at."

"Don't be so quick to judge," I snarl. "Wanna know what I'm still good at?" I raise an eyebrow and lean to the table. "Chopping off dicks and shoving them down their owners' throats. I can do it on you since you're the most curious one." I plaster a fake sweet smile as I hold his gaze with a hard stare.

Kristian on my side chokes and coughs as the other guy splutters his drink.

I wait for a beat longer before saying, "I thought so." Without another word, I raise to my feet. "Now if you'd excuse me, I have a meeting tomorrow morning." Carefully I step over Kristian's feet and walk away from the booth.

Kristian hurries after me and before I get to the door, he catches up. He grabs my elbow and spins me around. I meet his glowering face with a scowl.

"Where do you think you're going?" he growls under his breath.

"Home." I roughly pull my arm out of his grasp.

"You're not going anywhere," he hisses, moving to grab me again but I jump a step back.

"Watch me."

"If you set foot out of this place, the deal is off."

I cross my arms in front of my chest and feign surprise. "Oh my goodness!" I roll my eyes and shake my head. "Fine. Call it off." I lean to him, locking my glare with his eyes. "In fact I dare you. Because then, I'll be free to tell the entire world you not only harassed me but take part in such a sick game. I'd like to see how William would try to clean that up."

"Bitch," he spits.

I retreat a step and shrug. "I told you to pick someone your own size. Don't think what you did is not going to be answered ten times worse, Kristian Wright." Without another word, or a glance at him, I spin on my heels and saunter out of the VIP section.

I wring my trembling fingers as I make my way out of the nightclub. The further I go, the more my disoriented state comes to my notice. How my heart's pounding, my body's trembling, the cold sweat gathered behind my neck.

The worst part is, I know this is just the beginning.

And the following five years...

I sigh and shake my head as I step out into the night, handing a little cash to the bouncer to haul a cab for me.

Hugging myself, while standing next to the building as I wait, I can't help but wonder how I'm going to survive these coming five years.

It'll be a constant battle, one that winning and losing in it are both equivalent to losing.

For the first time, in these five years that I've managed to build myself, doubt creeps into my mind.

Am I truly prepared for whatever awaits me?

A faint voice in the back of my head answers in a definite no.

❦ ♥︎ ❦

I'm soooo sorry :') this godforsaken chapter, I just could not write it. Kristian felt too dull and cardboard and I kinda wanted to make sure you guys hate him, so that was the purpose of this chapter, but I just could not find the right elements for it.

In other words, I was struggling with the infamous writer's block, and thank god it's over! I literally did anything imaginable to avoid writing this chapter. I binged watch Squid Game(!!), Marvel's What if, and then The Office's season 1:') Then I did the most dreadful thing I could've done, I started looking for pics for my 2 new stories for their covers. As you can see, I literally did everything just to put off writing this chapter :') So from the bottom of my heart, I hope you don't hate this chap as much as I do.

Please vote and comment your thoughts if you don't despise this chapter, pretty please with a cherry on top xD

Question: Do you guys think, by what you've seen so far from Gracie, if it ever came down to saving/reaching her goal, and Spencer, which one would she choose?  Do you think she would actually ruin Spencer's life to get him out of her way, or not? (I'd love to hear your thoughts on this =) )

I have published both story ideas I mentioned in the previous chap's author's note (because I have no self-control and I'm indecisive af):

The one about a college girl having a steamy make-out sesh with a typical, hot bad boy only to find out he's her roommate's boyfriend, check out Tell It To the Heart. A steamy, forbidden-ish romance =)

And if you want to read the forbidden love story of a demon and angel falling in love, check out Divine Illicit Enamorment (don't look at me like that, forbidden love sounded too cliche so I had to get creative lol). It's (again) enemies to lovers, steamy romance =) 

Add them to our library to be notified about their updates, I'm actually quite excited about both of them, and I probably would've written the first 2-3 chaps if it wasn't for this stupid chapter. 

Thankfully, The Remedy's following chapters are going to have a fine amount of (my type of) drama, so I'm excited for those.

Our next update is going to be a double update. So make sure that you don't miss out on either chapter 32 or 33, because they'll be uploaded at the same time... in about 10-12 hrs.

You guys are the best, thanks for sticking around and reading my messy imaginations lol.

Stay safe, lots of love, happy reading ♡