FALLEN (NOW PUBLISHED ON AMAZON)

59.

"After everything he's done, Grace..." He says calmly, silently, only for us three to hear, but his voice is haunted. He looks at me a second, then back at Paul and he suddenly boils in anger. "I want to kill him."

Blood freezes in my veins and I look at Paul. The smirk is evident on his face and it leads me to believe that it's all a set up. We were getting under his skin, but now, he is successfully getting under Mace's.

"Go ahead, kill me." Paul smirks harder, somehow feeling in charge of this fight even though Marcel is owning him physically right now. It fuels him to choke him instead of holding him by the collar. He is putting strength into this, I see his knuckles becoming white. He is going to kill him? What is happening?!

I look from Paul to Mace, panic getting to me.

"Marcel, this isn't the way. He is playing you right now. You need to go."

"I can't. He's ruined my entire life."

"But not your future." I reach for his cheek, and force his head to look at me. He fights it a little, but he sighs and succumbs to me. I look him right and the eyes and try to be as delicate as possible to make him understand that he needs to stop. "You've got me, Mace. He won't ruin us. I'm here for you, always."

"What?" Paul exclaims in confusion to my act of love towards Marcel.

The elevator doors open and Marcel takes this chance to push Paul inside the cabin with all of his strength before he lets him go. I can hear the people inside the lift react in surprise of this sudden violent behaviour as Mace takes my hand and hurries me the opposite way from which the security guards are coming. We run outside of the hotel, with the two old security guards running breathlessly behind us. Marcel runs quicker than me, but he tugs on my hand to help me follow his pace.

We get outside the building, being terribly surprised by the pouring rain falling. Marcel doesn't let himself be distracted by the weather and brings me to the parking. The security guards have stopped following us since we left the hotel, so we're free to run at a slower pace. We ultimately stop once we're passed maybe a dozen cars to find his.

"Come on!" Marcel hurries me as he unlocks his doors with the sound of his horn.

I take a small instant to consider following him, but decide categorically not to for very obvious reasons. The first being that he doesn't seem to realise the gravity of what he's just done inside that hall.

"Are you crazy, Marcel? Are you not going to acknowledge that you were going to kill Paul just now?" I let out, staying on the other side of the car, not caring a moment about the rain soaking me completely wet.

He closes the door he had opened. He looks at me with a strange expression I can't quite read. But it's new. I've never seen him looking at me like that.

"He was hurting you!" He tries to plead himself, but the problem is beyond that.

"He was, but I was handling myself. You almost killed a man." I tell him loudly to cover the sound of the rain falling loudly on the car.

Marcel's face falls instantly and he joins me on the passenger side of the car. Once he gets close enough, I hold my hand out to stop him from coming to close. But when he doesn't, I take a step back. He freezes in front of me and I read the pain on his face. He didn't expect me to pull away from him. And I didn't either, but I feel like I need some distance. I can't think clearly when I'm around him.

"Grace, you know me. I'd do anything for you, and to keep you safe." He pleads again, a new vulnerability showing through his eyes barely able to keep open with the rain blinding us.