I hang up and slam my phone down on my desk.

For a beat, I see red.

Rage burns brighter and brighter with each passing second. I shove aside my chair and storm out of my office, breathing heavily while my body shakes from the inside.

My hands clench and unclench as I march down the hallway fuming, my heels clicking loudly, and echoing in the vacant corridor. The lights are all out, save for one casting a gloomy glow. I flounce to the elevator and punch the ground floor button.

Impatiently, I wait for the damn elevator to descend. The pounding in my ear increases with every thundering heartbeat. My vision is clouded and as I step out of the elevator, I faintly hear Spencer's voice as he speaks to someone.

His voice is enough to make me livid. I head towards the direction his voice is coming from.

"Make sure you get all of it done tomorrow first thing in the morning," he says.

"Sure, sir," a feminine voice replies. The receptionist maybe.

I ball my hands, my nails dig into my skin but the pain is nice.

"Thank you for staying until now," Spencer speaks again, and a part of me just wishes I could tear through walls and strangle him right then and there.

"No problem, sir. Good night," she squeaks and I hear her heels shuffling and moving away. Finally, I reach the main hall and glimpse the receptionist striding out of the building. Spencer's back is facing me while he reads something, the papers placed on the reception desk.

My strides cause enough sound in the now-empty building it makes him turn around with surprise.

"You're sti-" he halts, his gaze latches on my face and his brows furrow instantly. "Still here," he finishes hesitantly, sounding uncertain.

"I am," I snarl. "I'm still fucking here." It takes everything in me not to blow up right then and there.

He approaches me with deliberate strides and stops a few paces away from me.

Fuming, I jab a finger at him. "You fucking manipulative bastard. Who the hell do you think you are!"

Taken aback, he gapes at me. "What?"

The urge to break something, smack him, or do anything for letting out the anger brewing inside me itches my palms. "How dare you!" I rasp.

He has the audacity to look confused!

"All this time, you've been preaching honesty, making me feel like shit, while you turned out to be worse than me. At least when I'm not on someone's side, I fucking tell them," I seethe. "But you!" I wave my index finger at him, as adrenaline pumps in my veins alongside my anger.

"Me?" He points at himself with surprise. "What have I done?"

Incredulous, I bark a harsh laugh and storm past him. "I'll tell you what you've done," I growl and grab the nearest object on the reception desk, the papers he was reading, I spin and throw them to him. "Becoming the CEO, pretending like you're on my side, for how long were you planning on keeping up with this act, huh? What do you think of me? That because of our past and my feelings for you, I won't find out the shit you're doing behind me back!"

His gaze drops to the papers scattered around him before he looks up. "Can I at least know the hell you're talking about?"

"Of course! Because, Spencer Wright, the man who never lies, has no fucking clue of the shit he has done and now needs me to tell him so he can easily deny it, right?" I scream, waving my hands arm.

He blankly stares at me. "Deny what?" he irritably asks.

"I don't know!" I shrug, shaking from anger, my eyes wide and bulging as I spin and grab a mug from the desk. Twisting, I hurl the mug at him as I shriek, "That you're a fucking backstabbing, manipulative bastard!"

He barely dodges the mug and it loudly crashes to the floor. "Holy shit, Gracie!" He glances at the shattered mug and faces me. "Are you fucking mad!" he yells throwing his arms up.

"I am," I bluster with a manic grin and prowl to him. "And I would have gladly run over you with a goddamn truck right now if I could," I growl.

"You're insane." He pushes his glasses up and stares at me with wide eyes. "You've lost your mind."

"Have I?" I flounce to him and stop a pace away, holding his eyes with a glare. "Why?" I demand.

He curses and thrusts his hand through his hair. "Why what?"

Fuming, I scream, "Why did you do this to me?" I retreat a step away from him. "It must have been fucking hilarious for you listening to all the things I was telling you on the yacht, right? How much did you enjoy making a fool out of me, huh? Don't be shy, go on, tell me."

His mouth stays agape, as confusion clouds his eyes.

"You really didn't expect I'll find out." My lips flatten into a cynical smile as I nod to myself. "You hate me. Your problem is with me." My voice quivers as I tap my trembling hand to my chest. "Why drag my family into this?"

"Gracie-" he starts slowly.

"You want to ruin me, then fucking destroy me, but don't you dare drag my family into this."

"I still don't know what you're talking about."

I purse my mouth and nod. "Yeah, how could you? After all, you think you're a fucking genius, using anonymity to hide in plain sight. I gotta say, it was a good plan. Well played," my voice wavers from anger and hurt as I stare him down.

"If you wanted your money back, all you had to do was fucking say. If you wanted your share of my company because of that goddamn million dollars, all you had to do was ask!" I scream the last part.

His brows furrow for a beat, and realization clicks in and his features change with exasperation. He shuts his eyes and presses his mouth to a line before inhaling sharply. Spencer pulls himself to his full height and sternly holds my gaze.

"I would have found a way to return your money, along with the profit. But no, you go ahead and buy thirty percent of my shares. So whenever you feel like it, you can simply take over my company." I stride to him and crane my neck to hold his eyes. "How could you?"

My lips curl back in hatred. "I worked my ass off in these five years to reach this point, to give back the life it was taken away from my mom and Mason. You think you can come in like this and take away everything from us, just because I wronged you!"

I stumble back a step and clutch my dress over my chest. "I apologized; I was upfront with you. I fucking trusted you. And all you do is, make me feel like shit, and go behind my back and buy company's shares to overthrow me. This is what you wanted to do when you told me you'll get rid of me? Fine! I get it, you despise me, you can't stand me, but why are you destroying my Mom and brother's lives? What have they done to you?"

"Gracie, you're getting it all wrong," he calmly claims.

I huff and roll my eyes. "Am I? First, you try to cancel the contract, then you convince me, our goals are partially aligned, we both want to stay the hell away from each other and want this deal to be over. You gain my trust by convincing William to change a clause in the contract. Then you torture me with rubbing your relationship with that loser of a fiancée of yours to my face and now you buy my shares behind my back! I won't let you take away all of my hard work from me and my family. I will not let you succeed."

"I bought the shares to help you," he counters, his voice raising the slightest.

I scoff, "Of course."

"I stayed anonymous because I knew you wouldn't believe me; I was planning on giving it to your mom."

I bite my bottom lip, raise my eyebrows, and nod cynically. "How convenient."

"You don't believe me," he accuses.

I laugh. "Are you fucking serious!" I shout. "I know you hate my guts. I know you wanted to get back at me. You saw the opening and took up the opportunity. Did you really expect me to believe your flimsy excuse?" I roll my eyes and shake my head.

"How petty are you, to just to get rid of me, you were willing to destroy my family's life too." I throw my arms up and retreat another step. "Well done, Spencer Wright. You won. I'm destroyed. Now we're even. Go on, celebrate. You father and son destroyed my life. Congratulations." I spin on my heels, ready to walk away, but Spencer's voice halts me.

"Unbelievable! Not everyone is a liar like you. Just because you're a horrible person with unreliable intentions and a backstabbing nature, it doesn't mean everyone around you is the same," he snarls.

I face him and gawk. What the fuck!

"Do not blame this on me!" I shriek. "You fucking two-faced hypocrite!" I charge towards him.

"You're just as cruel as your dad. But you know what? William is way better than you, because he was clear with his intentions from the beginning. We were enemies then, and we are enemies now. But you!" I wave my hand at him. "You act all innocent, but in reality, you're planning on crushing me."

"Watch it," he warns with a growl. His nostrils flare as he fixes his cold protruding eyes on me.

"I won't let you get away with this. I won't let you throw me and my family back from where I started five years ago. I won't." my voice quivers as I hold my ground.

"You did wrong with doing this. You think I'm fucking dumb? You father and son have joined together behind my back to bring me down! First him today, and now you! Wow!" I clap mockingly and retreat a step. "I would've expected this type of deceiving from anyone but you."

"You have set your mind to make me the bad guy because you're too weak and miserable to accept your own mistakes. You think with doing this, you can justify your actions?" he fumes. 

I shove my hand through my hair and glower at him. "The truth is clear as a day. You and your dad have been working together from the very beginning. He probably knows you already could've owned over half of my company. You bought thirty percent more and now you can easily kick me, my mom, and Mason out. You both will get what you've always wanted."

"You have such a pitiful life that you can't even see when someone's trying to help you because you expect everyone to be as awful as yourself," he spits.

I clench my jaw and hold his glacial glare. "You hate me. We both know you can't stand to see me, and whatever I do or say, won't ever make you forgive me for the mistakes I made five years ago. You wanted to get back at me. Believe me, if I had the power to wipe myself out of your life, I would've. But I don't."

I stumble back a step, my bottom lip trembling. His face goes blank, as anger vacates his eyes.

"For a man who claims he once cared for me, maybe even loved me, your actions are surely in contradiction with your words. I'm sorry for what I did to you, and I'm sorry a sorry won't fix it. But you had no right to destroy my family's life too." My confident voice wavers as my anger turns to anguish.

I draw in a shaky breath, and continue in a quavering pitching voice, "In fact, I'm convinced you're incapable of caring for anyone, because caring comes with forgiving, and you never even tried, not even once considered, forgiving me. I'm an awful person, but I never would've done this to you. No one can tear down and destroy someone they cared for the way you did. You never cared for me, let alone love me, because if you had, you wouldn't have been able to be so petty and torture me day and night."

Tears gather and burn my eyes, but I hold my head up. Spencer's features twist with anger. A muscle flicker on his cheek.

"You know what!" he rasps, breathing heavily. "You're right! I never loved you, I never even gave a damn about you! Because in reality, you never deserved my love or care. You don't deserve anyone's love and care," he thunders.

Ground slips from underneath me. An eerie silence engulfs us as I stumble back a step and stare at him with disbelieving eyes.

Raw agony shreds me to pieces, tears apart my heart, sets my lungs on fire.

His voice echoes and reverberates in my head.

You never deserved my love or care. You don't deserve anyone's love and care.

I gulp and nod, retreating another step. He stares at me with wide eyes, his face losing his rage's flushed color as he opens his mouth but no words come out.

My gaze falls away from him. "I guess you're right," I mumble dejectedly, the lump in my throat growing painfully. "I'm sorry for everything," I manage to utter, but my voice breaks anyway.

I blink away my tears and spin on my heels, rushing towards the entrance door. The second I'm out, I'm greeted with freezing pouring rain. I pick up my pace and my driver opens the backdoor for me as he spots me hurrying down the steps.

But I march to him and shut the door.

"Gracie wait!" Spencer shouts from far behind me, but I don't bother to even turn around.

"Move away," I mutter as I push my driver aside, slamming the door shut and opening the driver's door and climb up.

"But ma'am-" he protests but doesn't get to complete it as I slam the door shut and ignite the ignition.

Tears blear my vision. From the rear-view mirror, I glimpse Spencer bolting down the stairs, and sprinting to my car.

I don't even let him get near as I slam my foot down on the gas pedal jolting the car into motion and speeding out of Judy Corp's ground and onto the main street.

My hands tremble, my body quivers. This is the first time I'm sitting behind the wheels after the accident that paralyzed Mason. Though my mind is incapable of registering the fear, or anything beyond the gut-wrenching agony from Spencer's words playing inside my head like a goddamn broken tape.

A sob frees itself from my throat and my body convulses as I cry harder and zoom down the street. Seeing the forming traffic ahead, I change lanes and zip down into a somewhat empty road, belting past every car on my path.

I wipe away the streaming tears from my cheeks with the back of my hand, while clutching the steering wheel with the other.

Maybe he's right. Maybe I really don't deserve anyone's love.

Dad left me too.

After all, I've never been good to anyone. My breaths wheeze in and out of me as I cry uncontrollably, pushing down the gas pedal harder. Maybe I deserve every awful thing that's happening to me. And now Mom and Mason have to pay the price of my mistakes and cruelties.

The pouring rain makes it harder to see the dark street ahead of me, my tears are not helping either. But I can't stop. As if driving faster will distance me from my raging thoughts.

I snivel and weep, recalling the way Spencer and I used to be. Remembering the days my troubles were trivial and insignificant.

I press my head to the headrest and drive faster, swiveling left and right, avoiding every car. But my thoughts are spiraling out of control, and the voices in my head grow louder and louder. Shrieking every fault and mistake at me, forcing me to acknowledge how terrible I've been for the majority of my life.

I only know how to screw things up and ruin lives.

I bawl, pressing the heel of my palm to my forehead, shaking and crying violently.

Blazing sharp headlights cut through dark night. My eyes widen with horror, my limbs seize up with shock, as a truck speeds down directly at me.

Images of my accident five years ago flash before my vision.

Before I can gather my bearings an ear-splitting crash rocks my car.

A body-wrenching pain tears through me.

Everything goes dark. 

❦ ♥︎ ❦

Hi =) How are you holding up?  On a scale of 1-10, how pissed at me are you, my dear readers? =))))

Did you expect this outcome?

Hmm... are you guys mad at Spencer, was he too harsh, or was it expected for him to lash out? On a scale of 1-10, how mad at him are you guys? Do you guys hate him? (I hope not, lol)

Did Gracie deserve whatever happened to her in this chapter?

After seeing Gracie & Spencer's numerous ups and downs, do you guys still think they should end up together or not?

So, I haven't told you how many chapters are left, hehehe, the only thing you know is, the next chapter is in Spencer's POV. It's an awful car accident, the outcome can literally be anything, right? So, based on this, how many chapters do you guys think are left? [Clue: It's defo more than 1 lmoa]

Well, thank you for reading this chapter. I really enjoyed writing it, I hope you enjoyed reading it =) Do vote if you did and comment your thoughts!

The next chapter will be up in about 8 hours from now (optimistically, because I just finished writing this and I haven't started the next one yet and this brain needs a break xD)

Stay safe, lots of love, happy reading ♡