Tommy Gabrini: The Grace Factor by Mallory Monroe Page A

She could feel every inch of him.
    “Is this the first time?” he asked
her.
    “Yes,” she said quickly.   But Tommy still looked doubtful.   “I promise you it’s the first time he ever
hit me.”   Tommy still looked doubtful.   “It was the first time he hit me,” she
clarified, “but it wasn’t the first time he threatened to hit me.   He threatened many times.”
    Tommy was searching her big, bright
eyes.   He could only imagine the pain
that jerk had put her through.   “You’ve
filed for divorce,” he said to her.
    Grace looked at him.   She wasn’t as wide eyed anymore.   How, she wondered, could he possibly know
that?   The court didn’t even have the
papers yet!   Ed hadn’t even been served
yet!   “Yes,” she said.   “And I know what you’re thinking.   I should have never married him.   And you’re right.   I put Destiny in a bad situation and I hate
that as much as you do.   He was trying to
have you killed?   Oh my God!   How could I allow this man to be in our
daughter’s life?   I know you won’t let
anybody stand in the way of Destiny’s happiness.   I know that.”
    But a frown appeared on Tommy’s
face.   “Nor yours, Grace,” he said.   “Do you know that too?   I’ll never let anybody stand in the way of
your happiness either.   That’s why I
agreed to the divorce in the first place.   It was what you wanted and I gave in.   For your happiness.   That’s why
you should have come to me the first time that asshole threatened you.”
    Grace was still reeling from news of
the assassination plot, and now from the kind words he had just spoken.   She was also reeling from the way his body
kept pushing closer against her.   But she
had to keep it together.   “I knew I could
handle him,” she said.   “And I did handle
him after he hit me.   I beat his ass,
Tommy.   That’s the kind of woman you
like, right?   The kind that would kick
ass when she was kicked?”
    But Tommy’s reaction was one of alarm
rather than pride.   “Is that what you
think, Grace?” he asked her.   “You think
I would want my woman wrestling with some man?   You think I would want my woman kicking
ass ?”   Tommy grabbed her by both of
her arms and turned her toward him.   “I
don’t want that,” he said.   “I don’t want
any such thing!   Yes, if you’re attacked
I want you to defend yourself.   You’d
better defend yourself.   But don’t you
understand?   I don’t want you getting
attacked.   I don’t want you in a position
where you have to defend yourself.   That’s my job.”
    Tears were reappearing in Grace’s
eyes, and a slight puffiness around her bruised eye was beginning to
manifest.   His heart broke.   The idea that she had to endure what she
endured.   The idea that she had been
living in a loveless marriage and enduring all of that shit alone, angered him
and frustrated him and made him feel guilty as sin.   Grace and Destiny were his family.   The only family of his own he’d ever managed
to pull together.   They were separated,
which didn’t bode well for his abilities, but they were still a unit.   They were still together.   But only to find out now that even in
separation they were falling apart, tore at Tommy’ heartstrings.   He pulled her into his arms.
    Grace closed her eyes tightly when
Tommy held her.   She fought back tears,
she fought the pain, she fought the agony of knowing that she was the one who
broke up their family, and brought Ed into their lives.   Guilt couldn’t describe how Grace felt.   She was burdened with it.
    When Tommy realized she wasn’t just
holding him now, but was clinging to him, he held her tighter.   But unlike Grace, he wasn’t thinking about
the past.   He wasn’t blaming her for what
went wrong with their relationship because he, in his own eyes, was even more
at fault.   Grace was a plant that had to
be watered and cared for.   But he just
planted it and