Organized Crime: Unorganized

Chapter 22

Grace sat at the conference room table, her face in her hands as she tried to calm herself.
"Grace" Came James's voice soft and gentle as he re-entered the room, taking a seat opposite her.
"I'm sorry I didn't tell you" Grace apologized with a frown.
"I understand completely. It was hard for you to tell me about what happened to you when you were 8 let alone this" he assured her.
"I know but still. We're sleeping together, I should've told you" Grace shook her head in anger at herself.
"Hey, listen to me" James told her gently, taking hold of her arm "You have nothing to be sorry for. You were a child who made mistakes that you admit to know. You were lost and alone, what you needed was a friend and love and Nick gave that to you" James assured her.
"But it was my fault" Grace told him, finally meeting his eye as hers filled with tears. Grace got up and moved away from the table, pacing the floor as she spoke "He stayed in the room with me" Grace told him "They gave me a mild sedative to calm me and they gave me something for the pain... but it wasn't very effective. The doctors thought that we were bound for hell because we had got pregnant outside of marriage then chose to have an abortion" Grace explained taking a deep breath to calm herself "Nick held my hand as they... began to process. I just laid there and cried and wished that it could all be over. There was a sheet covering me but I think he saw... it. In the kidney dish. He loved me, and he watched me suffer which made him question everything about god-" Grace paused to take in a shaky breath "I can't do this" Grace admitted.
"If you need time away from this-"
"No. I can't be with you" She admitted, meeting his eyes "I can't keep sleeping with you. I only hurt the people that I... I can't drag you into this. I won't hurt you or Abi and that is me making the right choice for once" Grace told him. James stood up from his chair and walked towards her.
"There's a difference between making the right choice and being scared to make one that might get you hurt" James told her. James took her arm in his hand again "I can't kiss you right now and that is what you need. So, this is me kissing you and telling you that I don't want to lose you" James told her, watching her hand move to grip his arm in return.
"I want to find who killed Nick. I won't just go home and let his killer get away with it" Grace told him.
"If I let you do this, you could get yourself killed-"
"That doesn't matter. I'm a nobody. Nick deserves to have this, it's the least I owe him" Grace told him sternly, determination flashing in her eyes.
"Boss. We're ready" Sadie told him.
"Are you ready for this?" James asked Grace.
"As ready as I'll ever be" Grace nodded as James studied her face for a moment ensuring that she was 100% sure of her decision.
"Bring everyone up here" James ordered Sadie, sending her scurrying off.

"The compound has a small brick wall surrounding it-"
"So no real defences" Lorenzo nodded.
"It also had multiple buildings, a hospital, a church, houses. All of which are self sustainable" Sadie explained.
"Word is Hunter Croft is the leader of the group after he kicked William Moore out and took over, making the compound more cult like" Macro added.
"Do you have any layouts?" Grace asked.
"No. I can tell you what buildings they have but that's it. The area is buried within deep woods besides one main cleared path to the entrance" Sadie told her.
"Lorenzo and Lilly are going to go in there-"
"Let me go" Grace cut James off "I can practically recite the bible, send me and Lilly in there" Grace encouraged seeing the apprehensive looks on everyone's faces "If anything goes wrong I want Lorenzo on the outside watching my back. I can do this, just have faith in me" Grace suggested with a smirk at her own imbedded joke.
"Be careful. I don't like not having eyes on the inside" James told her.
"So what's our cover?" Grace smiled.
"Lilly will be a teenage runaway. Grace, you'll be a woman fleeing her abusive husband" Sadie told them.
"You'll drive up the compound and go from there" Marco told them.
"We'll give you a listening device which will have easy access to turn on" Sadie told her.
"Let's stop talking about it and get to it" Grace told them, leaving the room quickly she headed to the locker room.
"I want you to keep an eye on her" James ordered Lilly "But get the job done. If she is going to get herself killed you get a signal to us and we'll pull her out" James ordered earning a nod from Lilly before she headed off to the locker room.

Grace pulled on her tan cargo pants and managed to button them when a knock on the locker room door echoed throughout the room.
"I'm dressed" Grace called out to whoever was on the other side of the door. James rounded the corner, watching with his hands in his pockets as Grace pulled her hair up into a ponytail "I can hear you thinking" Grace told him.
"Are you sure you want to do this?" James asked again.
"Yes. And I'm not going to get myself killed either. I can handle this" Grace assured him again.
"I just want you to be safe" he assured her.
"I can take care of myself" Grace smiled shutting her locker loudly.
"But, you don't have to" James told her, crossing the room to take hold of her arm "Not anymore, not with me. You can fall down, cry, scream, break down, and I'll catch you" he assured her. Grace moved away from him, grabbing her bag off the bench she headed towards the exit.
"I was designed to be alone. I'll only break your heart. If I cry, and scream and break down completely, I don't think that I would survive it and you don't deserve that. None of you do" Grace told him before she left the locker room completely earning a deep sigh from James.