Run, Girl (If You Can)

Lacy Knighton had not reacted well to Aaron's little speech in the parking garage. How dare he call her pathetic! How dare he think that he could abandon his place in the world! What could possibly be more important than ruling high society?

Graydon had been right. Aaron had absolutely no intention of remaining a part of their social circle. Why? Why had he changed his mind?

A simple person with simple needs? Ha! Alistair Hale would kill him if he heard such nonsense come out of his mouth. He could never be simple; he was a Hale.

Bethany Carlisle would not be pleased by her fiancé leaving high society. No society girl would. She would dump him in a heartbeat if she knew his true intentions.

Lacy had to admit, there would be absolutely no point in marrying Aaron Hale if he wasn't a part of high society. But she had come this far; she couldn't back down now! Once they were married she would force him into submission.

She would snare him the second Bethany dropped him. But what if she didn't do it soon enough? Aaron had clearly hidden his intentions from her thus far.

What reason could he possibly have for leaving? It was all he knew. He had grown up under the watchful eye of high society. Even if he didn't like his father, he wouldn't leave behind all he had ever known just for that.

This all started back in high school when that worthless girl Keeley Hall made an appearance in his life. If not for the fact that he appeared to be genuinely in love with his fiancée and that she was pregnant with someone else's baby, Lacy would suspect that she was behind his change of heart.

She had to get to the bottom of this. At the very least, she needed to know where Aaron lived so she could enact the next part of her plan.

He was a paranoid person who had been throwing off her usual cars sent to tail him in the past couple of weeks. She decided to go outside of her comfort zone and use a rideshare app rather than the private cars she was used to. He wouldn't suspect an average looking car he had never seen before.

Lacy instructed the driver to simply follow his car and that she would give him a hundred dollar tip for his trouble. The promise of such a large tip made him comply instantly. The driver managed to tail Aaron all the way to an upscale building in midtown Manhattan with tight security.

Try as she might, she couldn't even get the doorman to tell her which apartment Aaron Hale lived in. However, he did confirm that he lived there by the way he refused to answer her questions. She had done it!

Telling Alistair Hale would be pointless since she was angry at him for not honoring his promise. But it might be a good idea to inform Graydon of her success. She should give him a call.

===

Graydon was dismayed to discover that Lacy had found out where Aaron lived before he even could. If she staked the place out long enough, she would discover that Keeley was living there too and that he had lied about the baby not being Aaron's.

He didn't even want to imagine what that deranged woman would do to her. She hadn't told Alistair Hale, which was a relief, but there was no guarantee that she wouldn't at some point.

What could he do to warn them? They didn't trust him. He had both of their phone numbers that he had gotten through a bit of simple hacking but if they knew it was him they would hang up immediately.

Still, he had to try. Which one should he call first? Who among those two was least likely to hang up on him?

In the end he settled on Aaron. He took his wife's safety seriously. If he began the call by saying she was in danger he should listen.

"Aaron Hale," a cool voice answered on the fourth ring.

"Aaron, Keeley is in danger! Lacy knows where you live!" he blurted, unable to keep up his usual persona in his haste.

"What? Who is this?"

"Graydon Meyer but you have to listen to me! She followed you home today. She's probably going to stake out your place. Don't let Keeley leave the house for a while."

The phone line went silent for a moment before Aaron spoke up in a tone that could freeze lava. "How did you get this number?"

"Does that really matter right now? I'm trying to warn you about Lacy Knighton!"

"Why?"

"I told you before; I want to be your friend. I care about what happens to you and your family. If Lacy sees Keeley come out of your building she'll know that the child is yours," Graydon said urgently.

Aaron's voice was glacial. "I don't even want to know how you know about that but how does Lacy?"

"We both saw her outside that café a few weeks ago. I covered for you by saying I saw Keeley with a boyfriend and that the baby couldn't be yours but she'll know I was lying if she sees her in your building."

Aaron sighed wearily. "I don't know why you're helping us but I can't hide her forever. Her graduation ceremony is this week and she can't miss it."

Graydon was surprised that he was more concerned about his wife's feelings than her safety. He of all people should know that Lacy Knighton meant business. He must really love his wife to care that much about what she wanted.

He couldn't stop Lacy forever…but he might be able to show his sincerity by blocking her for an afternoon. If he kept her out of the way during the graduation maybe Aaron would trust that he was on his side.

"When is it? I can keep her away from your building if you tell me."

"And why would you do something like that?"

"I like you and want you to succeed in your goals," Graydon said bluntly. "Will you accept my help or not?"

Aaron sighed. "It's not like I have another choice. I won't thank you for it though. The ceremony is at 2 PM on Saturday. We'll need to leave the house around one o'clock and won't be back until after we have dinner to celebrate. Can you really keep her occupied from noon until about seven?"

Graydon nodded his head eagerly before remembering that Aaron couldn't see him. "Absolutely! I won't let you down. Once I do this…will you put your trust in me just a little?"

"We'll see," he replied frostily before hanging up the phone.

Well, it was a start. He would get Aaron to trust him if it was the last thing he ever did. He refused to let him slip through his fingers forever.