Page 140 of The Tower

“Good point.”

We share a grin. It’s nice to have her at my side again. And now that she’s officially the Vice-President in Charge of Marketing, she’s no longer part of the Reed Tower staff.

“I talked to Vanessa Grady,” I tell her, referring to a former board member who, I learned, was once my mother’s best friend. “She told me all sorts of stories about me. Apparently, she was Lydia’s best friend. She said I called her Auntie Van.”

Ruby leans back in her chair. “Do you remember her?”

“I didn’t before, but once she told me that, I started to. I thought maybe it was a fake memory—you know, wishful thinking. Me and my mom and Auntie Van at a park, the two of them taking turns pushing me on a swing, and a picnic with a watermelon. And the three of us having a contest to see who could spit the seeds the farthest.”

“Who won?”

“Me,” I say. “But I think they let me cheat.” I smile, savoring the memory. “I called her when it came back—it was still fuzzy—and she said it was true. Every moment.” I grin. “But she wouldn’t confirm tossing the contest so I could win.”

Ruby reaches for my hand and squeezes it. “The fucker tried to take that from you.”

“And I’m going to make sure he rots in prison, spending every day left in his miserable life thinking about the harm he did to Lydia, to me, to god knows who else. Honestly, I don’t think I’ve looked forward to anything more than testifying against him in court. Hopefully sooner rather than later. Seriously. Just thinking about it is better than ice cream.”

“Liam and Leo will find him,” she says. “And I’ll be right there beside you when they lock the prison gate behind him.”

I trace my fingertip over one of the pictures. “He took something important from the world when he killed her. Auntie Van said she was revolutionary for her time. She believed beauty products should enhance confidence, not prop up insecurity.”

“I love that,” Ruby says.

“Me, too.”

It’s a concept I’m determined to reclaim and get out into the market, and each day, Ruby and I work to tweak my mother’s stillborn campaign in a way that makes it both hers and mine. It’s melancholy work, but I love every minute, because each new idea brings me closer to the mother I never had the chance to know.

Nights bring a different kind of intimacy—a new tenderness between me and Liam that wasn’t possible when secrets still lingered between us.

“I never asked,” he says one night as we lie tangled together in the darkness, “but what made you decide to forgive me? To give us another chance?”

The question catches me off guard, though I’ve asked myself the same thing many times. “Ruby, partly,” I admit. “She reminded me that you owned your mistakes. That you didn’t make excuses.”

His arm tightens around me. “Remind me to thank her.”

“Mostly, it was you. Showing up every day. Owning what you did and understanding that it wasn’t just the deception of sliding into Killiam, but that you stole something vital from me.” I smile at him. “But you get it now.”

“I do,” he says. He’s silent for a long moment, his fingers tracing idle patterns on my skin. “I love you, Princess,” he whispers.

“I love you, too, Grimm.”

We’re asleep when the call comes at 3:42 a.m.—Liam’s phone vibrating on the nightstand, casting eerie blue light across the ceiling. He answers immediately, fully alert despite the hour.

“When?” he asks after a moment of listening, his body going rigid beside me. “Are you sure? Keep monitoring. I’m on my way.”

“What is it?” I ask, sitting up in bed as he pulls on clothes.

“We’ve got eyes on Victor.” His voice is tight. Urgent. “And he’s not alone. Bane’s with him, along with what looks like a private security detail.”

My heart pounds against my ribs. “Where are they going?”

“That’s what I need to find out.” He straps on a shoulder holster, checking a gun before sliding it into place—a stark reminder of the dangerous man beneath the lover I’ve come to know.

“I’m coming with you,” I say, already reaching for clothes.

“No.” His voice is firm, brooking no argument. “You stay here, where it’s safe. Enhanced security is already on the way up. No one gets in or out without clearance.”

“Liam—”