The Retribution Chronicles

M i r i a m | t w e n t y - f o u r | p t . 2

"How did he take it?" Grace asked the moment Miriam fell into the seat opposite hers.

Miriam collected her braids in a high ponytail and shrugged. "How do you think he took it?"

"Did he cry?" Grace leaned forward, both hands gripping the edge of the table. "Please tell me he cried. God I just wish I was there."

"Grace," Miriam laughed.

"What?" she frowned, pushing off the edge of the table.

"Of course he didn't cry." Miriam was good, but she wasn't that good. In truth, she felt it was a miracle she'd been able to do it in under Lydia's ascribed month. "He was pissed," she allowed. "Very pissed, but there were no tears."

A slow, sinister smile unfurled on Grace's face. It looked misplaced, like a happy accident. "It's the least he deserves," she said with a dismissive sniff. "Do you know how many girls he's done this to?"

"Far too many," Miriam said.

"Exactly. Anyway, what do you want?"

"A caramel macchiato is just fine," Miriam laughed.

Grace clapped twice then jumped up and hurried to join the growing queue. The moment she left, Miriam fished her phone out of her bag.

Miriam:

You free later?

Lydia:

Is it done?

Yep

I'm free in an hour. Meet me at mine?

Flat 3 256 Hunter Street

Cool

She dropped her phone back into her bag the moment Grace returned, fixing a bright smile to her face. In true Grace fashion, she'd forgone their agreement and come baring a tray laden with enough pastries to feed a small nation. "These are your favourites, right?" she asked, placing a brownie in front of Miriam.

"Yes," she laughed, "but you didn't have to buy all this."

"It's the least I could do," Grace insisted. "Ade broke me. Without you he'd never get to taste his own medicine. Hell, without you he would've never apologised."

Miriam waved a hand.

"I'm serious," Grace said. "When I found him in the library he was so dismissive of the entire thing, told me I was being melodramatic and that we were nothing. But then you come along and all of a sudden he knows the word sorry. You're literally a miracle worker."

"I'm happy to have helped." Miriam shifted awkwardly in her seat then took a bite of her brownie. "So, have you decided our next book club pick?"

While Grace weighed up the two options currently acting as frontrunners, Miriam began to study her. She looked lighter, brighter, happier. Satisfied. In turn, Miriam felt an intense sense of relief. She knew what it felt like to be a Grace. To be betrayed, confused, abandoned. It caused an intense longing, both for the person who hurt you and their destruction. If Miriam could help with the latter, it was up to Grace to sort the former, but with Ade well and truly shattered, Miriam had no doubt Grace would manage it flawlessly.

"Thanks for this," Miriam eventually said, already halfway out of her seat, "but I have to get going. This dissertation isn't going to write itself."

Grace laughed and stood too, arms outstretched. "I can't thank you enough," she said while she and Miriam hugged.