Love's Cunning Ruse novel Chapter 326

Kyle was cruising down the familiar stretch of highway back to the hospital when his phone buzzed. Grace's name flashed across the screen, and without a second thought, he picked up.

"Hey, darling, guess where I am?" Grace's voice, smooth as silk and just as enticing, teased from the other end.

Kyle didn't bother playing her guessing game. "Sorry Grace, planting trackers on folks isn't really my thing."

She chuckled, a sound as light as the ocean breeze. "Tahiti, baby. Looks like a mermaid's paradise straight out of a Hans Christian Andersen tale from up here. I adore the beaches, and so did your dad." There was a brief pause, in which Kyle could almost hear the distant lap of waves.

Grace was indeed lounging on the sands of Tahiti, rocking a sizzling bikini as she lay back on a sun lounger, her long, tanned legs crossed at the ankles. Gazing at Joseph taking a dive, she spoke to Kyle with a frosty edge to her voice, "So, if it's not too much trouble, let's keep it drama-free, shall we?"

"I'll do my best," Kyle replied.

Clearly, Grace expected more. "Stefan, you pushed me to the brink with your marriage antics, you know your dad preferred you with Emma. My dear son, I've got tabs on you like you wouldn't believe. So don't make me drag you back for some daddy-pleasing stunts."

Emma was the girl Jessica had married off, the one Joseph whimsically wanted to throw Kyle's way. For Joseph, affection was fleeting and superficial, much like his love for Grace.

Kyle actually laughed, a frank sound. "You know, even if I married Emma, Dad wouldn't be pleased. So why don't we just drop it?"

Grace knew all too well Joseph's favoritism for his son, Rowan.

What Kyle didn't know was that today, Rowan hadn't called Grace, and she knew his every move just as she had claimed. She thought Kyle would have learned his lesson after his last impulsive confrontation with Rowan, but clearly, she had underestimated how important that woman, Sansa, was to her son. He was willing to butt heads with Rowan for her sake all over again.

That's why Grace had made this call.

"Stefan, you grew up in a different world than Simon. Scheming? You're no match for him. Brawn? You're a lawyer, not a boxer. Birthright? Rowan's got the family's golden ticket. He's got everything that comes with being Joseph's eldest and Margaret's sole offspring. If we don't secure our place in this family, you'll never beat him." Grace's cutting words held no warmth.

Her seductive tone had turned icy, "I don't care what foolish thing you want to do for that girl, but Stefan, if you mess up my plan, I..."

"Will act like I was never born." Kyle finished her sentence with a furrowed brow and a hint of disappointment. "The Fitzgerald fortune, the social standing, is it all really that important to you?"

Grace snorted from the other end, "Important? Of course it is! I, Grace, will stand on top of Margaret!"

The call ended abruptly.

Kyle exhaled deeply, tossing his phone aside, his expression settling into calm. Such was his mother, consistent as ever.

***

Noblewood Retreat.

Kieran stood before the expansive windows, phone in hand.

The freshly showered Julie sneaked up behind him, wrapping her arms around his waist and resting her face against his back. "Is everything set for the professor's funeral?" she whispered.

He nodded, turning to encircle her in his arms and bury his nose in her hair. "Changed your shampoo?"

"Nope."

"Smells amazing..."

Was all the buildup just for that sweet word? Thinking, Julie wore a soft smile, but her mind was elsewhere.

"We won't give up," he said, as if reading her thoughts, pressing his head gently onto hers.

"I know," Julie murmured back.