"What?" John blinks like a startled owl, a sudden, all-encompassing sense of desolation and dread settling over him. And then it hits him as he sees her struggling with her wedding band and he goes completely cold, even to the tips of his toes. "*No*!" He cries out his anguish. "No, you can't!"
"I can." Grace throws the weight of her hatred for him behind her glare. "And I *am*."
She flings the wedding band at him and it barely misses his head, clattering to a rest somewhere across the room. "I don't want to talk to you anymore, I don't want to *see* your pathetic face any more. I don't want *anything* to do with you. Do you understand me?"
"But-" John is still trying to get his head around the fact that she is throwing him out and he can't find the words to form a cohesive argument.
"No. No buts. No *nothing*!"
Grace is furious, and not just at John. It bothers her immensely that she is so angry at him, that she has let him affect her so much. She doesn't know why his infidelity should bother her so, she cares *nothing* for him and she is more than happy for this excuse to pitch him out of Marlena's life. So why does the woman scorned act that she's slipping into, and the accompanying anger feel so real?
She shakes her head and moves across the office to the closed door. It doesn't matter. Once she gets him out of the penthouse, that issue is over and she won't have to see his irritating face again.
She opens the door. "I have things to do." Her arms cross in front of her and she taps her foot impatiently.
"Marlena..." John shakes his head, tears softly falling as they echo his breaking heart. "*Please* don't do this. Please... I'm begging you."
"You can leave your key with the super when you go." Grace looks down at the gold watch on her slim wrist.
"Doc-"
"Don't you know when to *shut* up?" she snaps, exasperation getting the better of her. She glares at him for a moment and then marches across the room and snatches up her purse and keys. "Right then. If you're going to sit here all night, *I'll* leave."
She doesn't give him another chance to even say a word as she exits the office with dramatic flair. He watches her go, too numb to be distraught at the anger in her tone. He knows she's hurting. She might be trying to hide it, might even be in denial about it, but he had never expected this.
Or had he?
He had done everything possible to avoid telling her the truth. He had avoided it, he had skirted it, and when he had run out of options, he had downright lied to her. And why? She had a valid question. If he hadn't been willing, if he hadn't felt guilty and responsible for what had happened, if he didn't think his infidelity was going to tear his family apart, then why had he lied?
He drops his head into his hands again. How on earth can he ever hope to win her back, to make up for what he has done to her? To their marriage? Does he even have the right to try?
It only strikes him a few minutes later that he has totally neglected the reason he came to see her in the first place.
Roman is missing. No-one has seen him for days and Abraham is in the midst of organizing a full scale APB.
John groans. Everything was fine last week. And then DiMera had played his royal flush and everything had gone all to hell. Marlena is barely talking to him. No-one has the first clue where Roman is. Shawn and Caroline, although stoic on the surface, are noticeably on edge. And Bo is angry, although John isn't quite sure if that anger is directed *at* Roman or at the general cosmos for the possibilities that Roman's disappearance suggest.
He only knows that they have to find Roman, and soon, before it tears the Brady's apart. The loss of Roman will destroy them, and John doesn't even want to consider what it will do to Marlena, especially as alone as she must feel right now.
He looks up, suddenly decided. If he can't do anything else, he will do everything he can to help Abe locate Roman and bring him home to his family. Safely.
~
Stefano opens his door to find an irate Grace staring brutally at him.
"Grace, I thought we agreed that during-"
"Oh to *hell* with what we agreed." Grace elbows him aside and storms into the mansion. "Our agreement is *off*. I want *out* of this. *Now*." Two bright pink spots burn high on her well-defined cheekbones as she took her anger out on him. "I won't do it Stefano. I will not stay in this tedious town with these tiresome, *ridiculous* people a moment longer."
"Grace, Grace..." Stefano approaches her carefully. Her volatility has allowed him to feel the stinging whip of her palm across his cheek more than once. "What has happened? What has you *so* upset, that you, my redoubtable Grace, wants to go running from Salem?"
"Upset?" She turns murderous eyes on him. "I'm not upset, I'm *furious*. First of all, I discover that you sent Lamont back to be Marlena's husband, in *my* bed, you *bastard*. And now I have to endure John Black, Neanderthal extraordinaire, thinking he can tell me how to run my life. And I am *not* running from *anything*, you *asshole*."
"John is not trying to run *your* life my dear." Stefano bites the inside of his cheek in order to hide his amusement. When Grace loses her temper, she sometimes reminds him of a petulant child throwing a temper tantrum. But a dangerous one at that. "Marlena. He thinks he is trying to control Marlena. He does not understand how pointless his efforts are."
"And *she* stands for that?" Grace shakes her head in disbelief. Her estimation of the woman sinks daily. "I'm telling you Stefano. I won't have it. I want to leave. *Now*."
"Grace..." His pause is saturated with significance. "I told you, I cannot leave Salem. Not yet."
"I don't *care," she argues furiously. "I don't give a fuck what you *say* you cannot do. *I* want to leave and *I'm* going to."
She turns and starts for the door, but Stefano dares to catch her arm, his voice strong and sure. "No Grace. You will not leave." It is a definite order and it implies that defiance will be very foolish.
Swinging around, Grace slaps him so hard that she leaves the imprint of her fingers on his cheek. "What the hell *is* it with this town and people thinking they can tell me what to do?" Her golden eyes narrow as she faces off with Stefano. "I will do whatever the *hell* I chose to do."
"Grace," Stefano's voice is low and menacing. "Don't cross me. I made you and I can break you *just* as easily."
"Oh, you think so, do you?" Grace is not intimidated by Stefano's bluster and she allows herself the luxury of laughter. "My darling, it would almost be worth getting you angry enough to see you *try*."
"But you won't, will you Grace?" He allows the muscles in his face to relax slightly.
She is right of course. The likelihood of *anyone* being able to break Grace is slim to say the least. Even if he wanted to, which he doesn't, he is not sure he could. But she is too delightful as she is, even if she is a little wild and unpredictable. It is those very qualities that make her so entrancing.
Grace looks torn for a moment as she considers her options.
"Grace, Grace.." The 'r's' roll off Stefano's tongue with practiced smoothness. He reaches out to her and this time she doesn't pull away when he draws his fingers over the silky skin of her forearm. "My darling, you *must* stay. Now that I have you back, what would I do if you were to leave me?"
"I'm sure you would figure something out," Grace's reply is grudging.
"I'd rather *not*," he moves closer to her, his expression revealing his admiration, tinged with the lust that devours his every waking thought of her. And most of his dreams too.
"Grace, I promise you that this will be over soon enough." His stout fingers slide reverently up her arm, and Grace shivers, despite herself. "And we will *destroy* those who have dared to stand in our way." He calculates that she will get a thrill at the idea of demolishing John Black and he wins his gamble as he feels her tremble under his hand. She hates John and Stefano knows that she is only just beginning to remember just how much she hates him...
When Marlena had come into his possession, battered and weary from the ordeal she had suffered, she'd been traumatized and scared. And she'd had no memory of who she was and how she had come to be with him. She had only been grateful for his immense kindness as he and his people had nursed her back to health.
By the time she'd begun to question her identity, he had been only too happy to furnish her with the truth. Or at least, his version of it. A family that had abandoned her. A husband that had already taken another woman to his bed, without the slightest thought for the wife that had disappeared. And so Grace was born from the ashes of Marlena's damage and despair. A golden phoenix, rising from the flames of anger and revenge, every bit the shining Queen to his own fiery King.
And how fascinating, and how just that she should arise again in the hour of Marlena's ultimate betrayal by the man she loves so. Yes, Grace has plenty of reasons to want to see John Black broken.
"And then?" Grace raises a perfect eyebrow, bronze irises constricting around inky pupils.
"Then, my Queen," he lifts her hand and kisses the back of it, almost regally. "Your wish is my command."
Grace says nothing for a moment, just watches him, as though to verify the legitimacy of his statement. Her composure has been perfectly resurrected and she is cool and serene, even while being ravishingly sexual.
Finally, she smiles guardedly. "All right. We'll do it your way. For now," she adds pointedly and Stefano knows he has been served a warning. Grace doesn't make threats idly and he will have to up the stakes in order to keep her interest.
"Lamont?" he asks, carefully hiding his thoughts.
"It's under control," Grace lets a sliver of pleasure trickle into her voice and Stefano smiles viciously. Lamont is her reward and he knows that she will play with him like a cat with a mouse. Until she is bored. But he wonders how long she can resist the temptation to unsheathe her claws and inflict some permanent damage. Given the mood she is in, he suspects not long.
"Well, don't let me keep you my dear." His baritone is rich and full. "Why don't you go and let off some steam. Enjoy yourself."
Grace's lips curl upwards into a chilling smile as she considers his innuendo. "I think I might just do that."