Chapter 13: I am not one to be trifled with

It was 11:00pm, there were numerous drinks being consumed and Grace was feeling a bit tipsy.   Arlo happened to be there and sidled up to her with the help of one of his bodyguards.  “Hey beautiful, remember me?”, he asked loudly over the loud music. She looked at him with scorn and tried to move away from him, but as she was a bit tipsy, she tripped over. Grace knew, her head was about to hit the dance floor, and in that split second, she was caught securely around the waist by Sean. They then locked eyes.  ‘It’s him again, why is he always around’, she thought. Sean stared into her eyes and again there was a familiarity that he could not put his finger on, except that his heart was beating against his rib cage as he held her.  At that moment, Grace released herself from his hold.  She thanked him and then ran to the bathroom to get herself together.  Arlo kept a watch on her as he was intent on having her.  “No-one, I mean no-one gets away from Arlo”, he said to himself.  Sean could see the way Arlo was eyeing Grace and was intent on telling Arlo to keep away from Grace, but Luana beat him to it.  She marched up to him and told him “Listen Mr Arlo, I suggest that you stay away from Grace, she doesn’t like you or your kind of sleaziness.  We’re her friends, not you, so beat it”.  Arlo just scoffed, laughed and responded, “Listen honey, I don’t care what family you come from, no-one stops Arlo from getting what he wants” and he then walked away.

By the time Grace came back from the bathroom, she decided she had enough and needed to go home.  She checked on the rest of her employees that still remained and after making sure they all had cab vouchers that she had provided them earlier, she bade them farewell.  Tyra and Kiara were next to her, so she told them it was time she left as it had been a long few months and it had all finally caught up to her. Luana bounced in front of her and gave her a big hug that surprised Grace. “Thank you Grace for making my night and dancing with me, you are so much fun.  I can’t wait to do this again with you”, Luana squealed excitedly. Grace smiled and told her she was welcome anytime and then bade her farewell. Right next to Luana was Sean, so as their eyes met, her heart started pounding and her palms were sweaty from her nervousness. Grace just nodded at him and started making her way out of the club. “Uncle Sean, can you please take me home, it’s no fun now that Grace is leaving”, she said to Sean.  Sean was ready to go too as his recurring headaches that he had been experiencing since the accident had made an appearance. “Ok, Lou, let’s go, I’ll just call our driver to pick us up”.  

As Sean and Luana were greeting their group of friends goodbye, Grace was making her way towards the exit with Arlo and one of his bodyguards following her.  As she exited, Grace was grabbed by Arlo.  “Thought you could get away pretty girl, didn’t you.  Let me tell you one thing my pretty, I don’t give up.  If I want something I will take it and I will make it mine and nothing will stop me”.  She was being held down against the outside wall of the club by Arlo and the bodyguard.  By the time Sean and Luana walked out of the same exit 4 minutes later, both Arlo and his bodyguard were sprawled on the floor with Grace stepping over them saying, “Mr Arlo, I suggest you give up your pursuit of me.  I can assure you, not only am I not interested in you but as you can see, I am not one to be trifled with.  Rest assured, you have been given your last warning and will be dealt with”.  Arlo was finding it hard to get up but yelled at her, “we’ll see about that”. Luana had her mouth open in shock and said, “Uncle Sean, Grace is amazing, isn’t she?”  Sean ignored what she said but instead told her to call Sebastian and to ask him to bring security with him as he immediately made his way over to Grace.  “Are you ok, did they hurt you? “, he asked her as he looked her over to make sure she wasn’t hurt.  “Please let my driver take you to the hospital”.  In truth, even though she was a bit tipsy, she was able to defend herself but did get a little hurt.  “Mr Harper, as you can see I am fine, thank you for asking. I can take care of myself. I will take a cab back to my accommodation as I do not need to go to the hospital, so thank you for your concern” and with that she jumped in a cab that was outside the club.

At that point, Sebastian, Carter, Tyra and Kiara came out with a few security guards.  “Where’s Grace, is she ok?”, Sebastian asked.  “Did you do this Sean?”, Kiara asked Sean pointing at Arlo and his bodyguard that were both sprawled on the floor writhing in pain.  Sebastian then commanded his club security guards to get them out of there.  “No, Kiara, it wasn’t me, it was Grace that took care of them as Arlo must’ve tried to lay his hands on her.  We didn’t see it, but by the time Lou and I came out of the club this is what we saw and Grace was looking down on Arlo having strong words to him”.  Kiara was concerned and was looking around, “Where is Grace, she must be hurt, we need to get her some help”. Sean was worried and even though Grace told him she was fine, he didn’t believe her, given that there were two of them she fought against. “She seemed to be ok and assured me she was fine as she got into a cab to go home”.   They all agreed that Arlo Brady needed to be dealt with as he would not let Grace get away with being humiliated. Even if he spent the night in jail, his family had money and would get him out.

On Monday morning, Sebastian and Sean were in Carter’s office. They had just finished discussing their collaboration when the topic of Arlo came up.  “I see the Brady family is in damage control today. There are videos circulating around the internet of Arlo inappropriately man handling quite a number of females in the past few years. Some of these women were paid off for their silence and others suddenly left town.  It has impacted the Brady family company share price. There are news crews camped outside their mansion and now there are lots of girls coming out telling their story of what Arlo has done to them”, said Carter. 

(Flashback to Saturday night)

After Grace got back to her hotel after leaving the club, she had a shower, put on her pyjamas and then iced some of her bruises that she had sustained from Arlo and his bodyguard and then placed some of her home-made bruising cream taught to her by her grandmother ‘Nonna Aria’.  Shen then turned on her laptop and said to herself, “Mr Arlo Brady, I gave you one chance too many, now you will have to bare the consequences of your actions. Tomorrow, everyone will know what a scum bag you really are”.  Her top-notch hacking skills came in handy in situations such as this. Two hours later, Grace closed her laptop and smiled in a very satisfied way.

(Back to present time)

“Are either of you responsible for this?”, Carter asked them.  “I was planning on handling him yesterday”, but then heard the headlines very early yesterday morning.  It can’t be good for them.  There is lots of chatter that a few of their business partners have decided to end their partnership”, said Sean. “Well serves him right, that guy had it coming to him, but I really wonder who released all these videos.  Here, I downloaded the video from the Club’s external cameras and sent it to our ‘Boys Chat’.  It has it all in full view of Grace smashing Arlo and his bodyguard”, said Sebastian. The three boys then watched the video showcasing Grace using swift and powerful self-defence and attack techniques to deal with Arlo and his bodyguard on Saturday night.  “I tell you what, that girl really has a lot of capability.  Grace is not one to be messed with.  She’s full of surprises and yet not so approachable.  I’ve never really met anyone like her before”, said Sean.  He then looked at Carter and suggested, “as the video is in our chat and only Tyra has Grace’s mobile number, can you have Tyra send it to Grace so that she can decide whether the Police get involved”, Sean asked.  “Good idea, I’ll do it now”, responded Carter.  The truth was that Sean wanted to have Arlo in jail as soon as possible.  His heart hurt seeing Grace being attacked by Arlo and her having to deal with him on her own but he also knew that sending the video to the police without Grace’s consent would upset her, so it was best for her to make that decision.

As Sean and Sebastian were packing up to go back to their respective work places, Carter piped up and said, “By the way, Tyra came through with the goods when she met up with Grace.  Grace is definitely single. However, bad news, she has sworn off any romantic relationships forever. Something has obviously happened which even if Tyra knew, she would not spill.  You need to tread carefully with her. “Looks like Sean or I can try and change her mind”, Sebastian said with a cheeky grin on his face as they both walked out of Carter’s office.