Forbidden

14| Decision

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Decision

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Chapter 14: Decision (Ronan's POV)

"Bye," Grace smiled, sending her friend a last wave. 

"Bye, take care, okay? And call me if something happens." 

Grace nodded, grinning while throwing her hair over her shoulders. 

We began walking to the car when Nina stopped her. "Wait a second." 

I stood beside Grace, taking a look around. 

"What happened?" Nina frowned in confusion. 

"What happened? What do you mean?" Grace frowned in confusion. 

"Here." Nina pointed to Grace's neck. 

I looked over at Grace, who took a breath before clearing her throat and throwing me a glance. "I um, pricked... myself?" 

"What?" 

"Yeah," Grace nodded more confidently this time. "I was wearing a dress and I needed a safety pin. I wasn't paying attention and then I pricked myself." 

"Why wasn't Ms. Bella helping you?" 

Grace chuckled awkwardly, looking at me, so I took the hint. 

"We should go," I said, interrupting them. "You shouldn't be out for too long after what happened." 

"Right." She nodded quickly. "I'll call you, okay?" 

Nina nodded, still seeming confused. 

We left after that. I shut the door as Grace sat in the car and I could feel her glaring at me as I rounded the car and climbed in, starting the engine. "I should have just told her the truth," Grace sighed. 

"You should have but you didn't." I shifted gears to reverse, putting one arm behind Grace's seat before turning to look back and getting out of the parking spot. 

"I'm genuinely curious, I don't mean this in an offensive way." She turned her body to face me. "Are you crazy?" 

"I told you last night. Partially." I pulled over on the side of the road and she blinked in confusion, looking around. 

"Why are we stopping?" 

"Because you're not wearing your seatbelt." I leaned forward, grabbing it and pulling it across her body, securing it with a click. I heard her breath get caught in her throat while she stared at me, blinking in surprise. "What is it?" I asked, not putting any distance between us. 

"Nothing," she squeaked. "I could have done that myself." 

"Really? I did it because you weren't doing it yourself though." 

She frowned and I pulled away, resuming the drive. We were quiet most of the time until she asked me, "Are you working to figure out who's trying to kill me? Or is that someone else's job?" 

"It's someone else's job," I answered honestly. "But your parents didn't hire an investigator to look into it. They didn't even call authorities to check the place out after what happened to Finn. They had palace security handle everything, and we both know how fantastic palace security is, don't we?" 

"Why would they handle an investigator?" She laughed dryly. "I think everybody wants me dead. And I don't even know why," she sighed, kicking her heels off and putting her feet up on the dashboard. "Let's discuss."