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Chapter 40
Last Updated:
2025-03-16 22:56:45
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Heart of Stone: Her Revenge Unleashed Chapter 41
[Addison]Livy walks around me, holding out her hand to the strange man greeting him like an old friend. The man bends down and greets her, apologizing for his tardiness.“Sorry, Young Miss,” the man bows over her little hand. “Mr. Grant sent us to assist just in case you needed help, but it looks like we were a little too late.” He frowns, looking at my son, who is still lying flat on the road. He is moaning and making a fuss, so I can tell he’s not too badly injured, despite the blood which seems to be everywhere. “Who are you?” I demand as I remain kneeled next to Jayson. “And how did you know we’d need help?” “My name is Mr. Carpenter, and I am the Head of Security at Grant Group,” he helps me stand, his warm calloused hand keeping me steady. “As for why we are here, Mr. Grant has all of his employees and members of his household tracked for emergencies such as this one.” He nods towards Livy. “He’d never put his most precious people at risk.” I take another look at my son and
Last Updated : 2025-03-17Heart of Stone: Her Revenge Unleashed Chapter 42
[Addison] I’m too tired in both body and spirit to deal with all of this nonsense. Now that Michael and Evelyn have arrived back home, Evelyn is screaming, Michael is demanding to know the truth, and I…well I just want to go home. Because this house isn’t my home anymore. While the Grant estate isn’t my home either, it is at least a safe place to rest. I’m making my own home now, one piece at a time. Evelyn’s hands are on her hips, her eyes burning with self-righteous fury as if I had somehow wronged her. Before I had realized the truth about how little Michael cares about me, I might have wasted my time and energy trying to explain myself. But what’s the point of any of that? He’s going to believe what he wants. Besides, I’m done trying with him. I just want him to let go. “Do you want to get the police involved,” I sigh wearily looking back at the car where Livy is thankfully resting under the watchful eye of one of the guards. “Because then I’d have to be honest about everyt
Last Updated : 2025-03-17Heart of Stone: Her Revenge Unleashed Chapter 43
[Addison]Hunter took us home. Seeing how shaken I was, he took the initiative, having the maids draw a bath while he made us all beef stroganoff and decanted a bottle of red wine. By the time I was clean and dry, Livy had already eaten, her messy plate sitting on the counter while Hunter stood in the kitchen washing dishes. “Don’t you have people to do that for you,” I made my best attempt at a joke, only for it to sound flat in the large empty room. “Taking care of others helps me settle my mind,” his deep voice rumbles as he looks up from the dishes and my gaze connects with his. His deep blue eyes, almost black in this light, crease with worry even as he makes his best effort to smile. “It’s been a very long day.”Pausing at his task, he rinses the soap from his hands and then sets about making me a plate of food. I offer to do that myself, but he shoos me from the kitchen, insisting I take a seat at the table. The lighting is dim, a glass of red wine resting next to a cup of
Last Updated : 2025-03-18Heart of Stone: Her Revenge Unleashed Chapter 45
[Addison]Michael doesn’t make idle threats. That’s all I could think of as the rest of the week blended into the weekend as I waited for the other shoe to drop and for all of his new promises to land in my lap like an unwanted present. I’ve known Michael for 7 years, and have been married to him for 5 of those, and in all that time I have seen him carry through on his threats without fail.Before it had been opponents across the courtroom. This time it’s me. Winning is his favorite thing to do—it always has been. Whether it's in school or in life, he isn’t satisfied until he is on top. “How did I never notice that,” I sigh as I put on my suit jacket. I’m going into Grant Group today, and I want to make sure I look up to standard. Giving myself one last look, I add a bit more foundation to hide the last of the bruising from the beating inflicted by my own son. I hadn’t realized how many times his little fists hit my face until I saw the evidence the next day. “Good Morning,” Hunt
Last Updated : 2025-03-20Heart of Stone: Her Revenge Unleashed Chapter 46
[Addison] Have you ever noticed those moments in your life where making a choice could change the path of your future forever? That day when I dashed forward to save Olivia had been one of them. Trusting my son as he led me into that alley had been another. And now, as the smooth, cold bar of the door handle on the tall glass door leading into Grant Group warms under my hand, I know this is another one. As I step inside, my feet clatter on the long expanse of modern slate tile, dark and bold, making the metallic fixtures and white walls gleam even brighter. The words, “Grant Group,” glow on the wall above a receptionist's desk, where a security guard stands near a metal detector and an elevator entrance requiring a key card. The security is tight, but this doesn’t surprise me knowing Hunter Grant. What surprises me, I guess, is the reception that I receive. As soon as the receptionist hears my approach, the young man comes forward from behind his desk. Bowing he holds out a b
Last Updated : 2025-03-21Heart of Stone: Her Revenge Unleashed Chapter 47
[Addison] The elderly man stood a bit straighter, scanning me with his critical eye in the way he does a law brief, meticulously and with the ability to see everything. As if he has been frozen in time these last 5 years, nothing about him has changed--not his tattered tweed suit or the way he looks down his nose at you, inspecting you like one might ponder a particularly nasty problem to be solved. When people think of the autistic savant, the person with no emotional tact but with a keen mind that can see what others cannot, they could be discussing Professor Magnus McCannon. My teacher, mentor, and the hardest professor I ever knew. I was considered smart. Very smart. It was the reason I was admitted into law school so young, after completing my undergrad studies. I entered Harvard Law with perfect grades and several letters of recommendation. But my mind is nothing compared to Professor McCannon’s. As a child he was deemed a super genius, his complex mind and his ability
Last Updated : 2025-03-22Heart of Stone: Her Revenge Unleashed Chapter 48
[Addison] I’m not sure that I heard her right, so I ask Charley to repeat herself. “Mr. Grant says he needs you to complete onboarding before you leave and to check in with payroll to make sure everything is in order,” Charley tries to smile, but it looks strained and unnatural, her cheeks trying too hard to make her lips stretch pleasantly across the mountainous peaks of her perfect cheekbones and chiseled jawline. She’s almost aggressively masculine in her beauty, and it is clear that she is used to making her way through life using her muscles and her wit more than her charm. “Fine,” I sigh, forgiving her for relaying his message. It’s not like Charley had any say in her orders. She’s just doing her job. At least he isn’t asking me to talk it out with the bully professor. I don’t know if my psyche could take another go around with him. I don’t know why that man hates me so much. It always felt personal, as if I were somehow slapping him across the face every time I did
Last Updated : 2025-03-23Heart of Stone: Her Revenge Unleashed Chapter 49
[Addison]The elevator closes and then descends, taking Charley with it. I receive a text immediately after from her, stating that she'll meet me at the reception desk tomorrow for the rest of our orientation. Fuming, I turn back towards my current situation. The professor is watching me patiently, waiting to see my next move. I know he's analyzing me even now, judging me in his intuitive way. My skin crawls under his scrutiny even as I turn away, looking up and down as if the solution to my situation were in the ceiling or floor. I thought Hunter and I were becoming friends. But friends don’t set other friends up for emotional abuse. Friends don’t hold each other hostage, denying them the chance to leave the building. Friends don’t do…whatever it is Hunter Grant is doing by bringing me to this apartment to be alone with my professor. He’s going to hear from me. This whole situation is absolutely infuriating. I didn't sign up to come in and be harrassed by my old professor. “M
Last Updated : 2025-03-23
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Heart of Stone: Her Revenge Unleashed Chapter 84
[Hunter][A little bit earlier]My crew waltzes through the main lobby, pausing long enough for the cameras to catch us. We want to make sure that every bit of footage shows we arrived together as well as when we arrived. "Say alibi," I laugh, waving at the camera. "Alibi!" They laugh along with me as a few other patrons walk around us, giving us a wide berth. In full gansta fashion, we prominade to the wide elevator where we easily fit, and press the button for the ballroom three floors down from where my shining angel waits for me to return. "What's got ya smilling, Boss," AJ smirks. "Thinking about something...or some one?"The doors open. "Nothin for you, to worry about," I frown. I need to be more careful. I'd hate to give something away that could put her in danger. And everything about tonight is exactly that, dangerous. I left Addison on the top floor, surrounded by people who love her. Charley is with her. Her friends are with her. She should be safe. She should be...My
Heart of Stone: Her Revenge Unleashed Chapter 83
What do I say? Mr. Jersey is going to be mad when he learns I didn't follow his orders. "A good apprentice always follows orders. Pulling up my pants, I hope I don't smell too much like poop as I step out of the trees towards his voice. "Um yeah," I lie, hoping he doesn't guess the truth. "I...um...wanted to help so I can learn to be a big strong guy like you.""Don't try to grow up too fast, Little Man," Mr. Jersey chuckles up at me from inside a deep hole. There are other black bags broken and twisted by his feet. I can't see what's inside. I asked Mr. Jersey once, and he told me that if he showed me, he'd have to leave me here in the woods.I'm pretty sure he was joking."Well since you wanna be useful, why don't you go on over to the car and pull out the second shovel," he pulls a handkerchief out of his pocket and wipes the sweat fromhis brow. "I sure could use a strong guy like you to help me cover this hole."A warm feeling
Heart of Stone: Her Revenge Unleashed Chapter 82
[Jayson][Much Earlier]Mama Evelyn is going to be mad at me. She hates it when I get in trouble at school and Headmistress Andrews calls her to pick me up. Daddy hates it even more, says I'm an "inconvenience."Two days ago, it was Jimmy Alexandrov. He thinks he's SOOOO special because his mom is some kind of fancy diplomat. He was bragging that was why he was able to get those special Ranger Robin super shoes I've been begging for. He called me an orphan idiot. So I smacked him and kicked him until he was covered with bruises. Today it was Melodie Michaels. She's such a snob. She said I was so terrible that my mama ran away leaving me with a "substitute mom." Mama Evelyn got a job as a substitute teacher last week, and so people have been calling her my "substitute mom." It's annoying and I hate it. I love Mama Evelyn, but I have a real mom too. I tried to explain that to the Headmistress, but she didn't understand. Her wrinkled face twisted as she listened to me speak. I alrea
Heart of Stone: Her Revenge Unleashed Chapter 81
[Michael]"Wait! Addison!" I call after her as the Debrassy's men flank me, their strong arms grabbing my shoulders. " I'm sorry I had to show you this, but it was for your own good. Please come back with me, Jayson needs you. I need you."Her beautiful, innocent face looks at me in shock and horror as she blinks between us--the man she once loved and the gangster who has stolen her heart. I expected her to run from him, to leap into my arms begging me to forgive her, to redeem her. I was ready for that. I wasn't ready for this. She turns her back from me, facing the thug like a flower turning to the sun, her hand reaching out towards him, seeing him underneath his disguise. "Let one of my brides take her," Hazardous, AKA Hunter Grant, requests of one of the most dangerous men in New York. "I want to make sure she doesn't cause any mischief." And Mr. DeBrassy agrees, nodding and smiling in Hunter's direction. Treating her like he would any mob wife--as something precious. Shaking
Heart of Stone: Her Revenge Unleashed Chapter 80
[Addison]He's lying. In the little time I've known Hunter, he's done nothing to make me question who he is and where his loyalties lie. He is an upstanding man, a good leader, and an excellent uncle. Can someone who gives to his world as much as Hunter Grant be a gangster too?"If what you are saying is true, Michael," I pull my arm of his grip as the elevator door shuts. "Why go through all this to show me? You could have called or written an email. This doesn't make sense." Michael laughs, "Why can't I come to my wife's party? It seems all my friends are there. All the best firms, except for our firm, Addy? Why's that?"His expression sours from manic joy to pouting toddler in a matter of seconds. Even for Michael, this feels off balanced. "Michael, what's really going on here? This isn't like you?"Michael gives me an incredious look, his face twisted as he turns his head to stare me down. "You're one to talk! I'm not the one who ran off with a mobster because my spouse brought h
Heart of Stone: Her Revenge Unleashed Chapter 80
[Hunter]In a suit and tie, my tattoos are invisible, allowing me to be the person the investors expect me to be while I run the day to day workings of a fortune 100 company. As far as the upstanding part of NYC business is aware, Hazardous and Hunter Grant are not the same person. I work hard to keep my two lives separate. Just like DeBrassy does with his identity, Mr. D., we both know who the other man is, but in the boardroom, we pretend not to be criminals, and in spaces like these, we are done pretending. Here, we get to be the beasts we truly are.In some ways, this criminal underworld is more real than reality. It's more visceral, sensual, and alive. Nothing is off limits. Everything is possible. For some, it can be paradise. For others, Hell. And as far as I'm concerned, it's the furthest place I ever want Addy or Livy to be. I never want them to know this side of me, to see the gutters I need to swim in to preserve their safe world.Because tonight I dance with the devil to
Heart of Stone: Her Revenge Unleashed Chapter 79
[Hunter]Addison shines like a gem tonight, an elegant professional speaking with other like-minded people passionate about the same type of work. She was born to this. She might not realize it yet, but this is where she was always meant to be. She's standing next to the professor, laughing at something another legal guru from one of the finest firms in NYC said, meeting his verbal jabs with equal skill. Seeing her like this makes my heart feel lighter. After everything she's been through to get to this point, she deserves to be the bright star of this evening. I wish I could spend it with her. But I need to take care of business--dark dealings with the type of sinister low-lifes I plan to keep her from ever encountering. I would never want this filth to tarnish her shine. Silently signaling my lieutenant, I pretend to take a work call and excuse myself, leaving Addison in Charley's careful care. "I might not be back," I apologize. "This is a big deal, we can...""We can check in la
Heart of Stone: Her Revenge Unleashed Chapter 78
[Michael]The grim armed woman takes a step forward, blocking me from Addison's view."It's time for you to go, Mr. Stone," she repeats. "Now." Standing my ground, I refuse to move. She won't shoot me, not in front of all these people, all these lawyers. She'd be thrown behind bars. "Grant Group has a restraining order placed against you, Mr. Stone, and if you do not leave the premises immediately, I am authorized to use force if necessary." The woman tilts her head, watching, waiting for an excuse to follow through on her promise. Hundreds of eyes are watching us, hearing everything as we spill our family secrets on the floor of this grand ballroom, our words flying to smash into one another.Addison is angrier than I've ever seen her, an avenging angel, glaring at me with eyes of burning steel. Next to her is a tall, dark-skinned woman who, unlike the rest of those gathered, wears a no-nonsense suit, her hand hovering over a gun.She means business. And her business, from her sta
Heart of Stone: Her Revenge Unleashed Chapter 77
[Addison]“Oh, it looks like I’m late,” my ex-husband laughs, his hands in his pockets as he surveys the scene. “And with so many of my friends here, too. Hi Steve,” Michael waves to a man standing by the bar. "How's Cheryl?" Swaggering into the room, my ex parts the crowd until he's standing only a few feet away. Looking above my head, he sees the sign saying "Happy Divorce Day," and he smirks, his eyes flashing with sarcastic mirth. "Really, Addy? Just come home already. This game is getting old." Reaching forward, Michael holds out his hand to take mine. Taking a step back, I glare as I look around the room. Hunter is gone, Carter is now missing, and Charley is doing her best to make it to my side without causing an even bigger scene. I'm alone. "Michael, this isn't a game," I try to keep my voice low, even though this has already drawn the attention of most of the people in the room. "And I have a restraining order. You shouldn't be here right now. Why are you here?"Michael
