Home / Playing Broke at My Reunion / Chapter 1 - Chapter 10

All Chapters of Playing Broke at My Reunion: Chapter 1 - Chapter 10

10 Chapters

Chapter 1

When I got home, I dug an old high school yearbook out of storage. A decade of dust came off the cover.I flipped to the class photo and found her in the back row. Heavy bangs. Black-framed glasses.Grace Quinn.The memories came back all at once.On graduation day she'd stopped me outside school with a pink envelope clutched in both hands, her face bright red. Half our classmates were standing nearby, laughing and cheering her on.I was eighteen, arrogant and full of myself."I'm not interested in you."I said it in front of everyone, and then I walked away.Ten years later, she hadn't held it against me. The moment she thought I was ruined, she sent me everything she had.Guilt hit me hard enough to make my chest ache.I picked up my phone and called my executive assistant."Miles.""Yes, Mr. Hawthorne?""Look someone up for me. Grace Quinn. We went to high school together."Miles was efficient. Ten minutes later a file landed in my inbox.Grace Quinn. Twenty-eight. Ca

Chapter 2

Every afternoon at 5:30 I left work and went straight to Metro General.Grace and I would sit side by side on a bench outside the hospital, each of us holding a warm container. The food cost almost nothing. I'd eaten at restaurants where a single course ran more than her monthly salary, and none of it had ever tasted this good."Eat more." Grace nudged the container of ribs toward me. "You've lost weight."I took a bite and mumbled an answer.Then her eyes brightened."Something good happened today. Our department's been waiting three months on approval for a set of cardiac supplies. The system office finally signed off this morning."I lowered my head so she wouldn't see me smile. I'd called the head of Hawthorne Medical myself the night before."Really?" I kept my voice casual. "That's good."Grace smiled. She suspected nothing."How's the new job?""Fine."The question caught me off guard, and years of executive instinct took over before I could stop it."The procurement

Chapter 3

My expression went cold."Ignore him," Grace said immediately, her brows pulling together. "Daniel's trying to humiliate you. We don't have to go."I locked my phone. Then I looked at the worry in her eyes, and the anger drained out of me almost instantly.I was about to answer when another message came in. Daniel again."Oh, and Ryan, I hear you've got a girlfriend now. Bring her. Let everyone meet her."Sophia Cole, the girl every guy in our class had wanted, replied right underneath him."Definitely bring her. I want to see what kind of woman is brave enough to sign up for seven million dollars of debt."The mockery practically dripped off the screen.I was about to put the phone away when Grace caught my wrist."I'll go with you."I turned toward her. She looked completely serious."They're obviously planning to make a joke out of you. If you go alone they'll gang up on you. At least if I'm there, somebody's on your side."The night wind lifted a few loose strands of he

Chapter 4

Before Grace could answer, the door swung open from the outside.Victor Ellis, the hotel's general manager, came in carrying a bottle of vintage Bordeaux, smiling at the room."Good evening, everyone. I'm—"He stopped mid-sentence. His eyes had gone past the crowd and landed on my face.His whole body went rigid.I gave him one cold look.He'd spent enough years around wealthy clients to understand instantly. Sweat broke across his forehead."I... came to send over a bottle of wine." He set it down. "Please, enjoy your dinner."Then he left so fast he nearly tripped in the doorway.Everyone stared after him, baffled.Grace slowly put down her fork and stood up."Sophia. I know exactly what I'm looking at."Ryan works for every dollar he has. Honestly, and on his own."Which is more than anyone in this room can say for a man who lives off his parents and struts around like he built an empire. Your husband is a parasite."The room went dead silent.Sophia went red, then wh

Chapter 5

Around us, visitors and staff screamed."Grace!"I lunged forward and pulled her hard against me. At the same time I threw my right arm up into the path of the chair.The impact exploded through my forearm and a deep cut opened across the skin. Blood ran down my hand immediately."Ryan!"Grace's voice cracked behind me.I pushed her back until she was well out of reach.Then I stopped pretending. I looked at the drunk with no expression at all, and whatever he saw made his arms freeze in the air.Ignoring the blood, I pulled out my phone and called Miles."Metro General. Third-floor surgical nurses' station. Bring security and legal. Now."I hung up.The corridor had gone dead quiet. The drunk hefted the chair again, trying to talk himself back into courage."You— you can quit the act. Making a phone call, are you? Tonight I'm going to—""Move again." My voice was almost calm. "Try it."He met my eyes, and didn't take another step.Less than five minutes later, footsteps

Chapter 6

Once security had dragged the man out, the corridor went quiet again. The air still smelled of disinfectant, and the tension hadn't left it.I turned around and looked at her.Grace was leaning against the triage desk, her face paper-white, her chest still rising too fast. When that chair came down, she hadn't even tried to move.Looking at her — thin, stubborn, still shaking — something invisible closed around my heart and squeezed until breathing hurt.I couldn't keep lying. She already knew who I was, and if I kept pretending, I was terrified I'd lose her for good.I crossed the hall in a few strides, caught her wrist, and pulled her past her own startled protest into the empty stairwell at the end of the corridor.The heavy fire door banged shut behind us, cutting off every sound and every pair of watching eyes."Ryan, what is wrong with you? Let go of me."She yanked against my grip and glared up at me.The motion-activated light clicked on, throwing a weak yellow glow ac

Chapter 7

Through the gap in the blinds I could see her crouched under a desk, arms wrapped around her knees, face buried in the crook of her elbow. Her shoulders were heaving.The smothered sound of her crying came through in pieces, and every piece went through me like a dull blade.I lifted my hand to knock. It stopped in the air, and I couldn't make it fall.I pressed the up button instead and went to the inpatient floor. Eleanor Quinn was up there.Grace didn't know that I'd quietly settled the rest of her grandmother's treatment costs weeks ago, under Miles's name.I'd hurt her. Words weren't going to fix it. I'd have to warm her back, one day at a time.The next morning, Hawthorne Group put out an announcement.In the company's name I donated ten million dollars to Metro General and established a nursing-care fund, with one hard condition written into the agreement: every dollar had to go to frontline nurses — night-shift pay, meals, transportation, basic welfare. Not executive off

Chapter 8

Something hit me in the chest, hard, and the ache of it spread all the way through."Soon." I set the fruit knife down and took her thin hand in both of mine. My voice was quiet but certain. "The day she'll have me is the day I marry her. And I'll be good to her for the rest of my life."The words were barely out when the door opened.Grace stood in the doorway holding a bag of fruit, gone completely stiff. She'd heard all of it.Her gaze went past the bed, straight to me, and then down to my hands wrapped around her grandmother's.The room went silent. I was so nervous I kept my breathing shallow, and cold sweat came up across my back.I knew how much she still hated me for the lie. And I knew that if she ordered me out now, or told Eleanor exactly who I was, every bit of ground I'd gained would be gone.She stood there and looked at me, and those three seconds stretched out like three lifetimes.Right when I was sure she was about to throw the fruit in my face and tell me to

Chapter 9

I thought she was sending me away again, and I grabbed for her hand in a panic. "Grace, I—""I'll give you a trial run."She looked up suddenly and cut me off. Those red eyes held mine, and there was something stubborn behind them."But you listen to me, Ryan. If you lie to me one more time, I am done with you. For good."Something went off in my head like a blast. I stood there frozen. It took three full seconds before what she'd said reached me.Then the joy came in like a tidal wave and swallowed me whole. I forgot to breathe. All I could do was stare at her, grinning like an idiot who'd just been handed the world."I swear. Never again."I wanted to hug her, then remembered I was soaked through with cold rain, made myself stop, and ended up turning two useless circles in place instead.Before I could figure out what to say next, Grace's phone buzzed in her pocket, jarring in the quiet of the rain.She pulled it out, frowned at the screen, and answered.We were standing cl

Chapter 10

Under the stunned eyes of everyone in the driveway, Ellis pulled up in front of me and greeted me with a deference nobody there could mistake."Mr. Hawthorne. If you'd told us you were coming, we would have been ready at the door. The penthouse dining room is prepared for you and your guest."The whole crowd drew breath at once.Sophia's husband, Brett Vaughn, finally got a clear look at my face, and his knees nearly went out from under him. He half stumbled, half scrambled over, both hands out in front of him."Mr.— Mr. Hawthorne. I'm nobody. I didn't know who I was looking at."Sophia still wasn't ready to let it go and grabbed at his arm."What are you doing? He's a broke security guard—"Brett turned and slapped her across the face."Shut your mouth. That's Ryan Hawthorne. He runs Hawthorne Group. Are you trying to destroy me?"Sophia dropped straight to the pavement, holding her cheek, shaking too hard to get a word out.Daniel had gone ashen and shrunk to the back of th

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