No wonder she wasn’t answering his texts. “What is your parents’ address?”

Matt started to smile. He held up a hand. “She’s worried your project will come under scrutiny if you two make contact.”

“Grace worries too much.” Dameon held up three fingers. “Give me three minutes to change and I’ll follow you over.”

Matt nodded. “I’ll drive. Two people that work in the city office with her live on our parents’ street.”

“You’re serious.”

“Grace is—”

“Worried,” Dameon finished for him.

Three minutes later, Dameon sat in Matt’s truck as it rolled down the road.

“Grace would never take a bribe.”

“We all know that. But it sounds like the city is gearing up for a lawsuit. Which is why she’s been put on leave. She said you knew about the guy who is spearheading this. Something about a mobile home park.”

Dameon felt his blood starting to boil. “The guy who scared her the night she lost her phone?”

Matt glanced his way. “Yeah, that guy.”

“She told me he offered her money.”

“That’s what she keeps saying. She’s blaming herself for not officially reporting him.”

“Sounds like the guy is trying to get out of paving the driveway by pointing fingers at other people. The city has to see that.”

Matt turned into a neighborhood and started weaving through the streets. “I’m sure they will, but in the meantime, she has to play by their rules.”

Dameon shook his head. “It would be a lot quicker to just kick the guy’s ass.”

Matt chuckled. “Much as I agree, it would cause more problems than it would solve.”

A short time later, Dameon followed Grace’s brother up the walkway to the parents’ house.

All the lights were on inside and cars were parked in the driveway and on the street.

Matt walked in without knocking.

Dameon skipped over the faces of those he knew and those he didn’t while looking for Grace.

She wasn’t there.

Colin walked up to him, stuck out his hand. “She told Matt not to bring you here.”

Dameon shook his hand. “Where is she?”

“Lying down.”

Parker walked up and gave Dameon a hug. “She’s really upset.”

Colin turned around. “This is our dad, Emmitt, and mom, Nora.”

Dameon shook Emmitt’s hand. “Sir. A pleasure to meet you.”

Emmitt looked at Dameon’s hand speckled with dry paint. “Sorry,” Dameon added. “I was painting.”

For whatever reason, that made Emmitt smile. “Nice to meet you, son. Gracie is gonna be pissed you’re here.”

Yeah, he’d considered that.

Nora was all smiles. “Can I get you something to drink?”

“I’m fine.”

Matt then introduced the only other person in the room he didn’t know. “This is Erin.”

“A pleasure.”

“Dameon?”

He turned to the sound of Grace’s voice calling his name.

She stood in a hallway, her eyes swollen and bloodshot. An overly large sweatshirt swallowed her whole.

“What are you—”

He didn’t give her time to ask her question. He walked up to her and pulled her into his arms.

Her head fell on his chest and her arms wrapped around him. “I told him not to bring you.”

“I know. But I’m not good at following directions.”

That had her chuckling through her cries.

She squeezed harder.

“Shhh. It’s going to be okay.”

CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE

Grace sat on the sofa, Dameon at her side, while the others put together a late dinner for everyone. She explained exactly what had happened for the third time since she arrived at her parents’ house. She’d gone directly there after being told to leave the office. One by one, everyone in the family showed up.

“Richard just sat there shaking his head. It’s like he believed Sokolov and not me.”

Dameon squeezed her hand. “It sounds like everyone is protecting their own butts.”

“Which is how business runs,” Erin said from the kitchen.

“An audit will come up empty, and in the end, this will be his word against yours,” Dameon told her. “I bet if we look into this Sokolov guy, we’d find something dirty on him.”

“This is all such a joke,” Grace said. “I can’t believe one accusation and I’m out of a job.”

“Paid leave isn’t the same as being fired,” Matt told her.

“Might as well be. By this time tomorrow, everyone in the office will know what’s going on. Who knows how many people are going to believe it? It was mortifying walking out of there.”

“Well, you can’t quit. That makes you look guilty,” her dad said.

“He can’t prove what didn’t happen,” Grace said.

“He may not have to. If there is any doubt, at all, the city will settle before going to court. Which is something this guy probably knows,” Colin said. “It’s why he is saying the city is responsible, not you.”

“He’s going after the deeper pockets,” Dameon added.

“If you get hit by the city bus, you sue the city, not the driver.”

“I have done nothing wrong.” Grace started to feel some of the hurt going away and the anger set in.

“We know that, Gracie,” her dad told her.

“It wouldn’t be a bad idea to consult your own attorney.”

Grace turned to Dameon. “Why?”

“You said you felt like you were on the witness stand when they called you into the office. The city lawyers have to protect the city. A part of that is you, but you’re dispensable.”

Grace hated to hear her fears vocalized by someone else.

“He has a point,” Erin said. “If you have your own lawyer only fighting for you . . .”

“I don’t have that kind of money.”

Erin and Dameon both spoke at the same time. “I do.”

Grace looked between both of them. “I can’t ask that of either of you. And besides, how would it look if my client with the city pays for legal counsel on my behalf? Next thing you know they’ll be investigating you.”

“Eventually someone is going to realize that you two are a thing,” Parker said while she set the table.

“You’re going to have to explain the necklace,” Erin chimed in.

“And that’s going to look bad,” Grace said.

“Last time I looked, we’re both adults who can date whoever we want. And since there hasn’t been one permit signed or approval for anything, no one can claim special treatment,” Dameon told her.

“This whole thing is going to set you back.” And after spending time with him, she had come to realize how important the project was to his overall success.

“The last thing you need to do is worry about me. Construction always has delays. And on a project of this scale, they are months and years, not days and weeks.”

Her mom pulled the last dish out of the oven. “Okay, guys. Let’s eat.”