Granted Wishes (The Granted Series Book 1) (11 page)

THE SMELL
OF FOOD
wakes Gracelynn up. It smells so good her stomach growls. She hops out of the bed, leaves the bedroom and walks into the spacious, antique kitchen, shocked to find Anne washing dishes at the sink.

“Hi, Gracelynn. I hope you slept well my dear. It’s eleven am. You girls did quite the number on yourselves, didn’t you?”

Gracelynn is speechless. She didn’t realize that Anne is Kat’s grandmother. But…that means Anne is Gio’s grandmother too.

“Hi, Anne,” she says, recovering from her initial shock. “Good morning. Kat and I had a wonderful night. We had some drinks, watched a few movies and hung out with Holly.” The memory of the evening brings a smile on her face.

“Have some breakfast. I could use some company since Kat is still in bed.” Anne holds a plate for Gracelynn so she can help herself to some eggs, pancakes and bacon.

“Thanks.” Gracelynn grabs some food, and then turns back toward Anne, nerves fluttering in her stomach. “Can I ask you a question?”

“Why sure, my dear, what can I do for you?”

“I was wondering, are you Giovanni’s grandmother too?” She forks her pancakes in her mouth before she asks anymore crazy questions.

Anne laughs. “Why yes, I am. He didn’t tell you?”

“No, and neither did Kat. I told them I met you the other day but they didn’t mention you were their Grandmother. Don’t you find that odd?”

Anne shrugs. “My dear, I’m sure they had their reasons to keep it to themselves.”

Kat stumbles into the kitchen, her hair a complete mess. She looks at Anne and Gracelynn in shock, her eyes darting between them.

“I’m sorry,” she says eventually, turning to Gracelynn. ”I should’ve told you Anne was my grandmother. I don’t know why I didn’t. I just wanted you to find out in your own way, I guess. Forgive me?”

Gracelynn smiles at her. “I forgive you. I would’ve liked to know the other day though, considering how happy I was telling you about Anne and the items I found in her store. It’s water under the bridge now, but why didn’t Gio tell me either? What else are you hiding? You’re not vampires, are you?” She smirks, amused at her own jokes.

“Well, as a matter of fact, we’re vampires,” Anne says in a dark tone, trying to impersonate a vampire. “You’re not our type though. You’re too cheerful, thankful and graceful. We only go for the mean, hateful bunch.”

They enjoy the rest of the day together until it’s two thirty, and Gracelynn remembers she’s to meet Gio at five thirty at the motel. She informs Kat and her new friend helps her with the rest of the laundry. She even offers to dress Gracelynn up for the night and to do her makeup again.

By four fortyish, Gracelynn and Holly leave, thanking Kat and Anne for their hospitality. Gracelynn gets in her car and drives over to the motel, since Gio stated that would be where they would meet.

She reaches into her purse and realizes she’s forgotten her lavender oil inside the motel. She grunts, but that oil is something that helps calm her. So she decides she’ll have to go back inside the motel and grab it before Gio arrives.

As she enters the motel, Xavier is working at the desk again. He rakes her with his eyes as if she’s a delicious meal. She tries to tell him she needs inside for just a moment, that’s she’s left something of hers behind by mistake yesterday. Xavier gives her the key but won’t leave her alone. She walks away from the lobby towards the back stairs, but Xavier runs toward her. Holly barks loudly, obviously not keen on the man either. As he approaches, Holly growls and snarls, but it doesn’t back him off. “Do you need help with searching for your lost item?” he asks.

“No, thank you,” she snaps.

His eyes narrow, and it’s obvious he didn’t expect, nor does he accept ‘no’ for an answer. He tries to grab her purse making Holly bark, and Xavier turns trying to slap the dog.

Gracelynn tries to grab Xavier’s arm before he can hurt the dog. But he swings his hand and hits her in the face instead. She flies backwards, hitting her head off the wall near the steps.

Gracelynn passes out for a few seconds, but when she wakes up; Xavier is beating and kicking Holly. The poor dog barks and moans, obviously in pain. Gracelynn remembers her phone and a can of pepper spray Angelo told her to always carry in her coat pocket. She reaches for the phone and dials Gio as fast as she can, then puts the phone in her pocket again and grabs for the pepper spray.

Gracelynn sneaks up behind Xavier as he’s yelling profanities at Holly, who is now lying still. “Help me!” she yells. “Help me! Please, leave us alone!”

Xavier turns around and she sprays him in the face. She misses his eyes though, and he immediately charges after her.

He grabs her arm and drags her and the dog to her room. He starts hitting her as well now, bruising her face, her arms, everything. Gracelynn whimpers, tears appearing in her eyes, not just from pain, but from fear as well.

Once they reach her room, Xavier uses the key and pushes her inside. He slaps her across the face, so hard she can taste blood in her mouth.

“You know you want me, bitch. I was told you would be easy. You know you want this as badly as I do.”

Gracelynn struggles trying to understand who would tell him such a thing and how he could even come to those conclusions.

“I never wanted anything to do with you sexually, Xavier. Never. You seem like a nice guy, but I have a boyfriend. One who should be coming by here soon….” She tries to reason with him, but that answer only leads to her getting another smack in the face and blood dripping from her mouth.

“Liar. You don’t have a boyfriend. You’re new to this town, on vacation and I have on good authority, you don’t have one. So stop the lies. Get undressed now. If you don’t do what I say, exactly how I say it, you will be dead. Do you understand me?”

She watches as he pulls a knife from his pocket, showing her he means business.

He comes towards her pulling her flush up against his body. She trembles against him. “I will slit your throat. Do you want that? Do you want Holly to die instead? I can kill her and watch you suffer! Yes. That would be a great idea.” He leaves her trembling body and goes towards Holly.

“Stop. I will do what you say. Leave Holly alone.” She trembles, hoping to God that she will not die and someone will come and rescue them.

He turns around nods his head, but not without kicking Holly once again to show that he’s the boss of this sick show.

Taking her jacket off slowly, she tries to gain confidence and hopes this won’t turn out badly.

“I thought I told you to take your clothes off,” he says. “Do it faster. I don’t like waiting on something I want. Do it faster, now.” His tone is darker now, as if he’s about to lose his cool.

She stands still to remove the jacket when he knocks her to the floor with a severe slap to the face. She grunts in pain.

“Your jeans. They need to come off,” he whispers in her ear. Before she can even try to do it herself, he tries to do so himself. However, Gracelynn is able to kick him in the crotch. She watches as he stumbles backwards in pain. She tries to scramble away from him but she’s not fast enough.

She’s made him angry and he grabs her by the throat, pinning her to the floor.

“You think you’re real brave, do you? You think kicking me in the crotch would deter me from getting what I want from you?” He glares at her, his eyes wide with menace and hatred.

“You will lie here, be a good girl and do exactly what I say. I need photos to show that we’ve been together. After the photos are taken, we will get to the other fun stuff,” he states, pointing her gaze to his crotch.

Xavier reaches for his phone, his face a mask of evil and cruelty.

Gracelynn feels broken, lonely and scared. She wishes for someone—anyone—to come help her.

* * *

After his night out with his friends and colleagues—and then the awkward run in with Mallory, which he doesn’t want to think about—Gio wakes up feeling elated. He stretches and smiles from ear to ear. He can’t wait to get home and see Gracelynn. But first, he needs to get a few more things done with the staff here at the hotel.

By one pm he finished going over the building and speaking to the staff. He feels quite good about what he’s accomplished over that last two days.

His stomach starts to grumble, reminding him that he hasn’t eaten yet today. He decides to eat in the small restaurant in the building. The restaurant is one of his favorite rooms, elaborate with rich ivory pillars, gold in-laid borders, sculptures, fine china and a brilliant chandelier dangling from the ceiling.

He asks Christa, the host, for some tea and the special of the day which is a chicken sandwich and fries. While he waits for his food, he realizes he’s happier than he’s been in a long time. For the first time in forever, he’s happy with his job and his employees. However, it doesn’t give him the true satisfaction and enjoyment that it should. He contemplates another career, just as Christa brings him his food. He thanks her as she leaves and then starts eating, enjoying the food prepared by his staff.

Once he’s finished with his meal, he heads back up to his office and sits at his sleek, metallic desk. The desk is empty, without any pictures of himself, his ex or anyone else. He never thought about it before, but now it’s quite disturbing. He would love to be able to look at something other than paperwork on his desk all the time. A picture of Gracelynn on his desk would certainly bring a smile on his face. He leans back, relaxed, wondering how the desk would look like with Gracelynn’s picture on it, when a voice interrupts his thoughts.

“You need to go now! You need to leave now and save Gracelynn. She’s in danger. Go! Now!”

He looks around, baffled and confused, wondering where this voice came from.

“Leave NOW! Gracelynn is in trouble. IT’S LIFE OR DEATH! GO NOW!!!!!”

Giovanni is speechless and scared – not just because of the voice, but because of their warning that Gracelynn is in trouble. He hastily grabs all his paperwork and throws it in his briefcase. He immediately calls his driver to park a car in front of the hotel and to have the plane ready to leave in fifteen minutes.

His driver gets him to his small runway to enter his charter plane. He urges the driver and the pilot to hurry up, more scared than ever before. He’s not sure what the voice was talking about, but he’s confident it was telling the truth, and that Gracelynn is in danger. He feels it in his soul. He closes his eyes while he leans back on the leather seat of the plane, praying he’ll make it to her in time.

The plane lands and another driver waits for him at the airport. He ushers the driver to get to the motel as fast as he can. As his heart races in his chest, hoping to God he can save her from whatever is or about to happen, his phone dings showing he missed a call, but the caller left a voicemail. He dials his voicemail and hears Gracelynn shouting: “Help me! Please, leave us alone!”

His blood boils in his veins. He wants to hurt everyone and everything. Thankfully, the car pulls onto the motel parking lot at that moment. “Call 911,” he tells his driver, and then he rushes out of the car, hoping he’s not too late.

He runs into the motel, his emotions a mix of anger and fear. What will he find when he gets to Gracelynn’s room?
Oh God, what if she’s dead?
He runs to her room as fast as his legs can carry him. The door stands ajar, which makes his heart beat as fast as a speeding train. He pushes the door open, and nearly chokes up. A man lingers on top of Gracelynn, who is lying lifelessly on the floor, like a broken doll. Holly is near the bed, unmoving. The dog looks hurt pretty badly too. “Yes, I’ve got the pics,” the man says through his phone. “They look real good. No one will believe I was able to pull this off.”

“Get off of her!” Gio hollers.

Startled, Xavier slams down the phone and lunges at Giovanni with a knife. Gio pulls his hand back and then punches Xavier out cold just as officers and EMS personnel come barging into the room.

Gio quickly explains what he thinks happens, and points at Gracelynn and Holly.

Xavier moans from on the floor, holding his head in pain. “What the…”

The officers handcuff him and yank his arm so he stands up straight. Xavier glares at Gio, his eyes filled with burning hatred. He starts cursing that he’ll get him for this, while the officers take him away.

Gio stands there feeling absolutely powerless while the EMS personnel start to examine Gracelynn. She’s been severely beaten, she doesn’t respond to anything, and her clothes are torn. Gio’s heart breaks as he watches her. The paramedics insert an IV and pull a breathing mask over Gracelynn’s face. One of them also checks on Holly, and then turns toward Gio. “Do you know these ladies?”

Gio nods and the man continues. “She needs to be taken to an animal hospital right away,” the paramedic says. “I’m not an expert on animals, but she’s in bad shape and should be seen immediately.”

Gio nods. But he can’t think straight. He calls Kat and tells her to get to the ER, where they’ll take Gracelynn.

* * *

After going to the vet hospital, where they assured him Holly will be all right – she suffered two cracked ribs, but will make a full recovery – and leaving his beloved dog in the hands of the staff, Gio rushes to the hospital. When he arrives, he finds Kat pacing back and forth in the waiting room. ”Don’t worry,” she says as soon as he burst in, although the worry is etched on her own face as well. “She’s doing okay. A nurse came out a few minutes ago to tell us a doctor will be out soon to speak with us.”

Gio hugs Kat, trembling from fear, afraid of losing another person in his life.

As they sit on the sterile white chairs, waiting for the Dr. Gio, closes his eyes and prays for the first time in years. He prays that Gracelynn will survive. He couldn’t bear the thought of her passing away.

Footsteps startle him out of his prayer, and a doctor comes into the waiting room. He’s young, looks fresh out of completing his residency. “She’ll make a full recovery,” he stresses. “Her face is bruised, she has four cracked ribs and a slight concussion, but there won’t be any permanent damage.”