Free Tommy Gabrini: The Grace Factor by Mallory Monroe Page B

nobody was going to punch her as if she was some dude and she
pretend it was okay.   It was never going
to be okay.   She saw that hatred in his
eyes when he punched her.   He regretted
it.   She saw that too.   But his regret didn’t mean shit to her.
    As the pain began to throb again, she
pushed herself from the door and headed toward the powder room.   But the house intercom began to buzz.   She walked further into the living room, to
the outer reach of the foyer, and pressed the button on the wall.   “I’m okay, Will,” she said.   It was her front gate security guard.
    “I just saw Dr. Jefferson speed out
of here so fast he nearly hit the guard booth.   I wanted to make sure.”
    “Thank you.   I’m fine.   But if Dr. Jefferson returns, do not let him through.   He is no longer welcomed on this property.”
    The guard’s voice changed.   He understood the gravity now.   “Yes, ma’am,” he responded.  

 
 

CHAPTER SIX

 
    Grace arrived at Trammel Trucking
through the garage entrance, and took the elevator to the top floor.   Her chief accountant, Barry Nagarta, was in
the outer office waiting for her.   He
stood from his chair when she walked in.
      “Waiting long?” Her secretary handed her a
pile of messages, and she headed for her office.
    “Not at all,” Barry responded as he
grabbed a file he had sitting on a side table and followed her into her office.   “I’d wait forevermore for you, Grace.”
    Grace glanced back at Barry as she
made her way behind her desk.   He was an
average height, bulky man of Nigerian descent who had such an arresting
personality that he always put everybody at ease.   She smiled.   She admired him.
    And as he followed her into her
office, he admired her too.   Especially
her superfine body.   Grace was the girl
next door to him.   She might not have
been the most beautiful shell on the beach, she didn’t have that drop dead
gorgeous exotic look he preferred in a woman, but she was the shell any man
would be proud to bring home to mama.   She wore a soft blue pencil skirt with a thick gold-trimmed belt that
highlighted her narrow waist, a matching V-neck blouse that highlighted her
sizeable breasts, and black heels highlighting a hint of gold through the
center of the shoe.   Her long hair
dropped along her back in a bouncy wave of thickness that framed her face with
elegance and youth, and the earrings she wore were brilliant Tiffany diamonds
that looped just below her lobe.
    She also wore, for the second day in
a row, an oddity even Barry could no longer ignore.   “You look scrumptious by the by,” he said, as
she made her way behind her desk.   “But
sunglasses again?   If I was the kind of
guy who didn’t know how to mind his own business, I would say madam is trying
to hide something.   But since I know how
to mind my own business, I’m not saying a word.”
    Good , Grace
thought, as she sat her briefcase and purse on her desk.   Barry was a sweetheart, the best accountant
she’d ever had, but he was Tommy’s inside man and she knew it.   Tommy recommended him for hire, knowing that
he had such superior credentials that she would have been a fool not to hire
him.   And she hired him.   But she was nobody’s fool.   Tommy had pulled that trick before.   Even when they were married he would always
have one of his guys in place at Trammel to make sure she was okay.   When she confronted Barry about it, he
admitted he knew Tommy, and that Tommy wanted him in place to look out for her.
    But in typical Barry fashion, he went
further.   “Tommy recommended me because I
am an excellent accountant,” he said.   “That much is true.   But what is
also true is that he wanted an expert such as myself to keep an eye on the
books, just to make sure these wonderful folks here at Trammel treat you right
and do not exercise any record-finagling.   I must be honest with you, I have never met a man who thought so highly
of