The Devil's Attention

Nails dug into my armpit as I was dragged roughly to my feet. I gazed into furious brown eyes and promptly shrunk from the anger in them. "Do you have any idea how epically you just fucked everything up?"

"St....stop." I stuttered out as my brain rattled from the force of his shaking.

Grayson stared at me in horror and pushed me away. I collapsed on the floor once more but this time, my shock at Grayson's rage paralysed me. I'd known Grayson majority of my life and not once have I seen him react so...... brutishly.

"How dare you lay your hands on my daughter?" Mum thundered.

"I don't know Mrs Braille, I thought if I shook her, she might regain some of her senses." He stated bitterly.

Anna ran over and helped me back to my feet. Why is he so....angry? No, that word didn't qualify. Grayson was livid, his rage barely contained and God help me, I couldn't begin to comprehend why.

"What I'm I doing here Josie?" Grayson asked in a more controlled tone, but only a fool would miss the anger burning in his eyes.

What the hell was going on?

"What do you mean?"

"You can handle everything, it seems, so why did you call and ask for my help?"

"That's....That's not true." I began helplessly. Grayson was beyond angry, he was hurt. My heart was a block of butter being cut through by a serrated knife at the thought of Grayson being hurt by my actions.

The question remained though, why? Why this blind rage at Vladimir's appearance? Wasn't that what we wanted?

"What isn't? You called me and asked that I help find your father and I asked for one thing Josie. One thing. Let me fucking do my job."

"I'm not interfering with your work...I just want to find my father."

"No you don't. You want to be the hero. To have all attention on you and be praised at your father's expense!"

Son of a b*tch! He just accused me of being an attention whore! "How dare you?!" I screamed into his face, my anger flaring to life.

"How dare me? You are the one with the inferiority complex! Stay the fuck out of this and let me do my job and you just had to go and stick your nose where it doesn't belong."

"Need I remind you it's MY father that has been kidnapped? Anyways if you find me such a chore to deal with, your help is no longer needed. I have an appointment with my father's kidnapper now and I'm certain we can come to a compromise." I asserted with a confidence I didn't feel.

How was I supposed to negotiate with an oligarch with strong mafia ties?

'Doesn't matter, I'll cross that bridge when I reach it.' I thought nonchalantly, dismissing the flicker of doubt I felt.

"You are not going."

Says who? I scowled at him with every fiber of my being. "Yes I am."

He returned my scowl with a skin singeing glare of his own. "No you're not. For the very last time, stay the fuck away from this."

"You have no right to tell me what to do Grayson Callahan. I'm not your daughter, neither I'm I your wife. I'm not your anything." I spat with all the remembered pain and hurt at his rejection. For years I'd told him in all but words what I felt for him and he kept ignoring me like I wasn't even there and now he wants to control my every move? Fuck that!

"Do you think you're being cute? This isn't a sitcom where you pull a stupid stunt and everything works out just fine."

"What are you going on about? Things worked as we want. Vladimir is here now."

"Wrong. You have Vladimir's attention now. And if you had a single common sense to understand that there is a bigger picture, you'd understand how truly terrible a thing that is."

"What's so wrong with having his attention?" It's not like you ever deemed me worthy of having yours.

"Do you want the devil's attention? Because make no mistake, Vladimir Sedof is the devil's incarnate and you Josie Braille are at the center of his radar." Grayson swiped angrily at his jacket before storming past me out of the house.

He slammed the door shut with all his might. The sound of the door banging loudly, cracking like a whip in the silent night.

I flinched from the sound. Mum and Anna's face reflected their shock at Grayson's outburst. Before I could say anything, Anna bolted out of the house, presumably going after Grayson.

Any other day, I'd go after her and create a buffer against any intimacy that can result from the two of them being alone, but tonight, I just didn't want to spend one more second under the disappointed glare of Grayson.