Finding Grace

Love Hurts

Moments later, Grant came walking in through the front door, smelling of booze and his secretary's perfume.

Amara tried to pretend that she didn't notice the lipstick stain that he desperately tried to wash off before coming inside.

Only making the red stain worse and more obvious.

The maid was just about to clean up when he arrived. He shooed her away as he sat down at the table to the left of Amara.

Always seated at the head.

"How was your day, dear?" She asked him as she poured herself another glass of Château Montrose.

Gesturing to pour him a glass, but he declined.

"It was long." He said, obviously uninterested.

"Whiskey and Coke." He told the maid who was still close by. Returning with it moments later.

"Your mother wanted me to remind you about her party next weekend." She told him cautiously while she sipped her wine.

"My mother called you?" He asked. The annoyance in his facial features was growing.

"She stopped by for a visit with Gracie and I." She told him quietly, looking into her glass of wine.

She couldn't help the fear she always felt when she was around him.

"And what did you two talk about?" His dark stare scared Amara.

She has seen it too many times before.

"We talked about the upcoming events and about Grace." She began swirling the wine in her glass.

She refused to meet his gaze. Which now felt like it was burning into her.

"What about Grace?" He asked her sternly. He finished his drink off like it was nothing.

"About her attending school this fall. She wants to take Grace with her to go shopping for new clothes."

"Because you can't be bothered to do it?" He sneered at her.

"Because she wants to spend time with her granddaughter." She told him, unamused by his words.

Her fear would never leave. Knowing what this man was capable of, but her annoyance and anger grew with each passing day.

"My mother is a busy and important woman, she doesn't need to take care of your responsibilities just because you want to be lazy and mooch off all of our money. We've done so much for you. How dare you?!" He spat at her with such hate and venom in his words.

"Taking you away from that degenerate family of yours and actually giving you a life and all you do is bite the hands that feed you, and now you make my mother do all of your chores? How pathetic!"

She was too taken aback to speak.

Too stunned.

The more time that passed in their life, the crueler and crueler he became.

"I don't know how you expect me to eat this disgusting cold bull shit." He grumbled, pushing it away from himself.

"Well dear, if you would have been on time, it wouldn't have been cold." She said in the sweetest tone she could muster. Finally, meeting eyes.

"I had it ready at six sharp, on your plate and ready as you've always requested."

"Would you like me to heat it up for you sir?" Their maid asked, trying to cut the growing tension between them.

"No, I think you should retire for the night, Mrs Reynolds. Let the rest of the staff know that they can leave now." He told her while staring daggers at Amara.

"Are you sure?" The maid asked, looking towards Amara with worry.

Amara was so worried too. The times he sent the staff home from work never worked in her favor. But she dared not show it. She kept her face emotionless.

"Yes, my wife can re-cook my food for me." Grant told the maid.

"Excuse me sir?" The maid asked, confused.

Finally, he tore his eyes away from Amara to look at the maid. Annoyance was written all over his face.

"I thought I told you to get the f**k out!" He told her as he banged his fist on the table.

He pushes his plate further towards his wife.

"Make. Me. Dinner." He demanded.

"Yes sir." Amara mocked him as she got up and took his plate to the kitchen.

The staff gave her an apologetic look before leaving.

Soon, apart from Grace and Roberta upstairs, she was now all alone with Grant.

She could hear him come towards the kitchen, and she couldn't help but stiffen as he approached her.

"I'm sorry babe, it's been a long day today. " He explained to her apologetically.

She could hear him trying to use his milky voice to soothe her. Even using his fingertips to gently brush her satin cami strap down. Letting it fall.

He began kissing her shoulder and neck. Something that, in the past, would have made her go gooey in his hands, but now, it just made her sick.

He hadn't tried it in over a year.

They hadn't even slept in the same bed for about that long.

"I'll be in there in a moment with your dinner." She told him as she moved away from him.

For a moment, anger flashed through his eyes, but just as quickly, he looked calm again.

"Come here." He asked as he motioned for her to come closer.

He didn't look menacing at that moment, but it didn't change the fear she was feeling.

"Come on baby." He tried to coax her to him again.

She hesitantly began walking closer to him. When she is close enough, he grabs her and wraps her up in his arms. One arm was around her waist while the other held a handful of her hair.

She couldn't help it when she turned away when he tried to kiss her.

He pulled her back using the grip he had on her hair.

His eyes flashed with intense anger now.

"I'm sorry." She muttered.

"Sorry?" He laughed.

"You're sorry?" He continued on, still holding her in place.

"Well you're definitely a sorry excuse for a wife, that's for sure." He mocked her "and you know, I'm sorry too. I'm sorry you're too stupid to be a good wife and do right by your husband who takes care of you and every little whim you have." He yelled at her.

"Maybe next time you'll do better!" He yelled, letting go of her hair and pushing her onto the countertop.

"Maybe next time you will choose to be with your family instead of being late because you're too busy screwing your sleazy secretary." Amara told her as she slammed her fists on the counter.

Tears streamed uncontrollably down her face.

She knew she shouldn't have said it.

'Why did she say it?' She panicked to herself.

Soon after, he swung her around to face him. Finally feeling the stinging to her left eye.

Proving how grave her mistake was.

Her hand getting burned on the stove top as she mistakenly tried to use it to keep her balance.

"How dare you speak to me like that!" He yelled at her as he grabbed a fist full of her hair and dragged her up to him.

"I gave you this life, you're nothing without me!"

He had her straining on her tiptoes as he held her by the hair before forcefully throwing her back to the ground.

All she could do was sit there stunned as he stormed off. She could hear as he started up his car and sped away.

She knew where he was going and knew he wouldn't be back for a few days if not weeks.

At this point, she and the rest of them, staff included, preferred it that way.

It was different when it was just Amara and Grace.

The staff wasn't staff to them. They were a family and when Grant wasn't there they were always having dinners together and enjoying each other's company.

It's how she became so close to the staff and why none of them could stand the way she was treated.

She laid there for a long time just crying. Until the housekeeper, Roberta, came in to help her.

She was an elderly woman who had been employed by the Williamsons for decades.

She had become Amara's most trusted confidant.

"Why do you stay, Mrs Amara?" Roberta asked her as she helped put ice on her busted lip. Having already iced and bandaged her hand.

"Because I don't have anywhere else to go." Amara confessed.

Tears were streaming down her face. They still hadn't stopped yet.

Roberta knew all too well what Amara had meant.

It was no lie that Amara's family hated Grant and when she chose to marry him, her family was extremely against it.

Making her choose them or him.

When she chose the father of her child, it had caused a huge rift in their family.

She didn't have anyone she knew who would help her.

They couldn't help her.

Not against someone as powerful as Grant or his family.