I've Been There Before (Grace and Caden) novel Chapter 85

The door of the elevator opened again. Grace simply stepped out of the elevator while ignoring Payne, but she was stopped by her brother, “No, Grace, you can’t go. Just hide yourself.”

“Mr. James, could you please let go of me. I have something else to deal with.”

“No, Grace, you will be spotted by them if you go out. Walter and his friends are having a party together in the club.” Payne pulled Grace back into the elevator, “Grace, you don’t want to appear in front of your old friends in such an embarrassing situation, right?”

Grace seemed to be out of breath. What Payne said directly pierced her heart. He was right. Grace dared not to meet her old friends in such an abject situation.

She reached out her head to press the key to close the door nervously.

“Well, Payne, it seemed that you have found your girl tonight. And you can’t wait that you even start to enjoy her in the elevator?” As Walter teased playfully, he reached his hand to stop the door from closing. Thus they door opened again.

Payne immediately hugged Grace tight and put her head into his arms, “Come on, Walter, stop making fun of me.” Then he slapped away Walter’s hand, who was about to touch Grace’s body, “Stop it, this girl is quite shy. You guys just go upstairs. I have already arranged a private box for all of you.”

While speaking, Payne still kept Grace’s face toward his arms and walked out of the elevator.

“Hey Payne, why not come with us?”

“I got some private issue to deal with. You guys just go to the box first. I will be right back. And today’s bill is on me. Have fun, guys.”

Ambiguous whistles in row could be heard from the elevator, “Guys, Payne said he got something private to deal with. Perhaps he gotta deal with the girl in his arms! Hahaha…It seems that Payne is getting more and more sophisticate in dealing with girls.”

Cayne could even hear their laughter when the door closed.

Payne led Grace to a corner, “Grace, get off work today.”

Grace’s heart twitched as she did not have the courage to face her old friends. But when her brother said such words in front of her, Grace could only hold back her urge to shout at Payne with her fingering pinching her thigh hard.

‘Grace, you are a prisoner. You were abandoned by your family three years ago. Don’t be sad, Grace. You have run out of all your tears during those three years.’ Grace kept comforting herself in her mind by repeating those words for dozens of times.

She raised her head and slapped away Payne’s hand, “Even if I get off work today, what about tomorrow and the day after tomorrow? As long as the Royal Club exists, they would come to have fun from time to time. Perhaps I might still bump into them one day.”

She stared at Payne blankly, waiting for his answer.

“Grace, quit the job. You should go to somewhere else to earn yourself a living.”

“Quit the job? Are you going to introduce me a new one?” Grace sneered.

Grace was waiting, meanwhile, she was also eager to hear something unexpected from Payne. If her brother made an unusual choice for her, she would be willing to dissolve all her hatred and feud with her family, regardless of the suffering she had experience in that hellish prison.

Payne paused for a while, then he sighed, “I am so sorry, Grace. I can’t risk the future of the family to offend Caden Shaw.”

Grace’s hoped was snubbed. As expected, Payne still failed to receive that unexpected choice offered by Payne.

“Sorry to tell you, I can’t quit my current job.”

Grace refused.

Payne turned a bit angry, “Grace, stop acting willfully, why can’t you change your job? Why do you still keep such a dirty job here?”

“Payne, you have to be aware that I was once a prisoner. No one would hire a criminal.”

“Grace, you are not the only prisoner in the world. Since others could start a new life on their own, why can’t you? Why do you serve as a prostitute here? Grace, you deprave yourself.”

Grace trembled all over, but she managed to suppress her anger to slap Payne’s face by pinching her own thigh hard again.

She suddenly realized she was not the only one who had changed, but also Payne, the one who used to protect her, care her, show concern with her as her brother.

Payne still failed to understand why his tender, proud and dignified sister turned to be such a shameless bitch who only wanted to court mem for money.

“Grace, you have changed.”

Payne stared at her with disappointment, “Grace, you are no more who you were. If dad and mom see you, they would be rather disappointed. I have provided you with suggestion. But it is up to you to decide whether to live with the dignity as a human or crawl weirdly like a maggot.”

While speaking, Payne walked towards the gate of the Royal Club. Then he held his phone to call Walter, “Hey, I need to deal with something urgent. Sorry to be absent today. The bill is on mine, okay?”

Grace stood still at the corner of the hall, freezing like a statue.

However, Grace started to tremble all over while clenching her own fists hard. She lowered her head to gulp back the urge to shout out. But she could only whimper.

‘Payne, even there are also millions of prisoners, but they got family, dignity and those who care them. But what have I got? What have I got!’

She got nothing when she finished her prison terms. When she stepped out of the prison gate, she got nothing left but tens of dollars, her ID card and ragged clothes to wear.

She got no family, no home, no friend and no even a shelter. She was deprived of everything because she was a prisoner.

Grace still sobbed because of her emotional storm lingering her heart. Then she took out her phone and checked the time. It was only 40 minutes left. She raised her head and headed to the elevator again.

She would never give up. Of course she felt heartbroken, but she had something more important to finish.

Though Payne’s words had seriously stabbed her heart, Grace managed to muster courage again. She looked at herself in the mirror, patting her own face and cheered herself up, “Come on, you need to gain fifty hundred thousand dollars to pay off.”