I step out of the elevator on my office's floor. Today will probably be the last day I'll be working here a full day. From tomorrow I have to suffer through seeing Kristian every single fucking day for five years, even at work.

I wring my free hand's fingers, trying to shake off the disgusting feeling of his hands on me. I resist the urge to wipe my mouth for the hundredth time since I left Judy Corp's building.

Just as my office's door comes into view, Erika anxiously hurries to me, her heels clicking loudly on the marble floor.

I bite back a groan and slow down my pace, arching an eyebrow at her.

"Ma'am, Mr. Johnson is waiting for you in the room and he does not look like he's in a good mood."

I halt, my eyes widening as she stops in front of me.

"Junior or Senior?"

She offers a timid smile. "Your friend ma'am. Junior."

Just what I needed to complete my shitty day. Fan-fucking-tastic.

I grip my clutch handle tighter and curtly nod at her. "It's alright, thank you for informing me." I walk around her and trot to my room.

For a moment, my hand hovers over the door handle as I draw deep breaths and clear my head.

Plastering a smile, I straighten myself and push my shoulders back. Without wasting another beat, I open the door to face the second complication of the day.

"Nathan," I greet him with fake enthusiasm.

He's pacing up and down the room like an angry lion ready to hunt. I pay his glowering mood no heed and saunter to my desk.

"What a pleasant surprise to see you here," I add once he says nothing.

I place my bag on the desk and meet his fuming form.

Well, not so much pleasant. "To what do I owe this pleasure?" I cross my arms in front of my chest.

Nathan loosens his tie from around his collar, setting his steely blue eyes on me. His mouth is pressed into a thin line as he scowls, "As if you already don't know."

"I gotta admit, mind reading as much as fun and badass it sounds, it's not in the long list of things I'm able to do. Now it might come off as a shocker, but hey, what can I say? Not every cool thing is cool because I'm able to do it." I smile at him, raising a shoulder.

"This is all fun for you?" he booms. Pointing his finger at the floor, he rages on, "You're playing games with us?"

"Us, as in?" I tilt my head and arch an eyebrow.

He slams his palm on my desk and I roll my eyes, shifting my weight from one foot to another, ignoring how the heels feel like they're piercing through my feet.

His neck flushes red as he leans over the desk. "Why the fuck are you doing this?" he bellows, his neck turning corded. "How can you go around and officially announce you're going to get engaged to that asshole?"

"I did no such thing," I calmly reply, holding his glare.

"Oh, yeah?" He stumbles a step backward and waves his hand at the door. "Then who the fuck is going around and spreading this rumor?"

I shrug. "Don't know, don't care."

"How can you?" He pounds his hand on his chest. "How can you throw away these four years?"

"I haven't thrown away anything."

"But you've agreed to marry that bastard!" he yells.

I scratch my forehead and push my hair behind my shoulder before steepling my hands. "Listen, Nathan," I start, but don't get the chance to continue as his gaze drops to my left hand. Exactly where the gigantic ring is on my finger.

His gaze flickers between my face and the ring. With each passing second, his breathing grows heavier and his face turns red. A vein stands out on his forehead.

Oops. I should've kept my hands crossed.

"You fucking bitch!" he roars.

I cringe at the earsplitting sound and frown at him.

"You haven't announced, you've jumped straight to the fucking action."

Too late to hide the ring now, I decide to change tactics and try to defuse the situation. "You know, it all happened so fast-"

"No shit, Gracie," he snaps.

I purse my mouth with annoyance.

"You used me," he accused in a lower tone.

I sigh and lay my palms on my desk and hold his glare, even though the bright sky visible through the glass wall behind him hurts my eyes. "No one used anyone, you knew everything from the start-"

"You fucking threw me away, you gold-digger! You fucking bitch!" He marches forward, and slams his hands on my desk, glowering at me. "For over four years we were together, and you threw me aside the second William offered you a partnership. You-"

"I told you everything from the start," I cut him off and glare at him. "I don't understand why you're getting so worked up. Sure, we had a great time, but from the first day, I told you I don't want anything serious. And when William came to me with the offer, I told you everything the same night. You have no excuse to come here like fucking maniac and shout your balls off."

"You used me for time pass and distraction, and cast me aside. Now you have the audacity to say you don't know why I'm acting up?" he roars.

"Well, you have to admit you're being a bit too dramatic."

Guttural roar tears through his mouth as he throws all my planners, contracts, pens, papers, and my Chanel bag placed on my desk to the floor.

Still not finding it enough, he turns and kicks the small coffee table placed in front of my desk, separating the two armchairs.

"You won't get away with this!" He pushes the armchair to the floor and it hits with a loud thud.

I hope it didn't break the tile.

Regardless, I blankly stare at him.

"Have the fucking decency to wait a month before jumping into someone else's bed!" He repeatedly kicks the armchair, cursing everyone and everything.

I sigh and shuffle my feet, planting my palms on my hips. "You have to pay for these," I say once he stops kicking the chair.

Panting, he whirls to me, opening his arms. "See? Money is all you care about."

I shrug. "Oh please. Don't act like you're any different."

He jabs his index finger at me. The hem of his blue button-up shirt has slipped from under his pants and his hair is ruffled, he almost looks like he has just come out of a bedroom with a girl. "I never would have done this to you."

"That's because you don't have anyone named Benjamin Stewart actively working against you in your life."

He grits his teeth and snatches his coat from the other armchair.

"Nathan, I'm trying to understand you, but you're making it really hard. I set the boundaries the second we got intimate. I also told you William has offered me to marry his son, so the news was no surprise for you when it came out... for our years of friendship's sake, stop acting like a kid who has his candy snatched away from him and act like a fucking adult."

"I'm acting like a kid?" he echoes with disbelief. "So, you're saying, you're the good one this mess?"

"Precisely. I called you over and laid the truth out for you. I could have simply ghosted on you and tossed you aside. You would have found out eventually, and it would have saved so much time and energy for me. But for our years of friendship, and the few years of beneficial friendship, I chose the hard route."

He barks a vicious laugh. "Now you expect to roll on the floor and kiss the ground under your feet for being so fucking generous?"

I release a long breath. "You're not in your right mind, you just want to throw a tantrum, you don't wanna talk, so I'm not going to waste my breath."

"You knew how I felt about you, you promised me to make things official. You promised a fucking future with me." He stalks back to me and stands across from me, his thighs pressing to the edge of the desk.

"I did, but life happened and the plan changed. I'm sorry for making you hopeful for no reason, but it is what it is."

"You're a fucking psychopath," he spits and moves a step away, never breaking away his glacial gaze from me. "But you're going to pay for it. You fucking played with me and you will pay the price." He waves his index finger at me and marches to the door.

"I will make you fucking pay, Gracie Stewart. Playing me will be your biggest mistake," he growls and leaves the room, slamming the door shut.

For a long moment, I stare at the closed door, before inhaling sharply and plopping down on my seat. I pinch the bridge of my nose, squeezing my eyes shut.

I did not need this dose of drama for today.

With a huff, I move to grab the phone and call Erika to send someone to clean up this mess. Before I get the chance to do that, the door opens and my head snaps its way.

Mason stands in the middle of the doorway and gapes at the scene.

"What?" I snap and he chuckles shutting the door as he enters the room.

"You know, in most cases, the boy in the family is a playboy and his sister gets to see different girls throwing his stuff around, shrieking and breaking things." He smugly smiles at me as he carefully treads past the contracts laying on the floor. "But I have to admit, I like this version better." He shakes his head and chuckles.

"Shut up," I grumble.

"What happened?" he drums his fingers on my desk as he surveys the rest of the damage.

"Nathan's not happy about the engagement... said he's going to make me pay for it."

Mason makes a weird face, silently ooing at me, and I roll my eyes.

"What do you think he's going to do?" he asks.

I sigh and gaze out of the glass wall across from me. "Knowing him, he's going to try to hit me where he believes will hurt the most... meaning the company."

Mason presses his mouth into a thin line, his blue eyes flicker to the building visible from the glass wall. "How much share does he have?"

"Eighteen percent."

"Shit," he mutters under his breath.

"Yeah," I mumble and plant my elbow on the armrest of my chair, resting my chin on my palm.

"He better not go off and sell it to our beloved uncle."

I nibble my bottom lip and anxiously gaze up at him. As we look at each other, without exchanging a single word, we both know that's exactly what he's going to do.

"Tell me something good," he says as he rubs his face.

I huff a laugh. "You won't get to see another broken-hearted guy's tantrum. William forced me to agree to move to Judy Corp's main building."

Mason gawks at me and I lift my shoulder.

"Fuck," he breathes out.

And I can't agree more.

❦ ♥︎ ❦

Wow! You're here! Well, thanks buddy, 'cause I definitely don't deserve you, my loyal reader :")

I'm really sorry, for not updating. It's just, I really didn't have the energy. And I also want to personally apologise to the person who DMed me and asked when I'll upload a new chapter and I said it'll be up in less than 12hrs... yeah, girl I've been feeling guilty from the second the clock crossed 12 hrs, I'm so sorry.

So logically speaking, I can't give you guys double updates, nor can I give you daily updates, but I can try to make the updates as frequent as possible. Frankly, I had forgotten how easy it is for me to slip into Gracie's head and write.

Regardless, I have once more changed my updating schedule (for all of my books). For the time being, please bear with me, I'll try to update as much as I can until 30th December, then this book will go on hold until 24th Jan (because of my finals). After that, this book will become my first priority to finish (yes, that means daily updates, and maybe even double updates, but that's all for after 24th Jan and not before).

So if you didn't get an update tomorrow, expect a double update on the day after that (Tuesday).

Phew, this was a long A/Ns xD

Tell me your thoughts on Nathan, was his behaviour a bit too much? Or not? Hit that star button if you think Nathan is going to be a huge problem for Gracie xD

Thank you so much for reading this chapter and showing Gracie's story so much love and support.

Stay safe, lots of love, happy reading ♡