Love's Cunning Ruse novel Chapter 326

Kyle was cruising down the familiar stretch of highway back to the hospital when his phone buzzed. Grace's name flashed across the screen, and without a second thought, he picked up.

"Hey, darling, guess where I am?" Grace's voice, smooth as silk and just as enticing, teased from the other end.

Kyle didn't bother playing her guessing game. "Sorry Grace, planting trackers on folks isn't really my thing."

She chuckled, a sound as light as the ocean breeze. "Tahiti, baby. Looks like a mermaid's paradise straight out of a Hans Christian Andersen tale from up here. I adore the beaches, and so did your dad." There was a brief pause, in which Kyle could almost hear the distant lap of waves.

Grace was indeed lounging on the sands of Tahiti, rocking a sizzling bikini as she lay back on a sun lounger, her long, tanned legs crossed at the ankles. Gazing at Joseph taking a dive, she spoke to Kyle with a frosty edge to her voice, "So, if it's not too much trouble, let's keep it drama-free, shall we?"

"I'll do my best," Kyle replied.

Clearly, Grace expected more. "Stefan, you pushed me to the brink with your marriage antics, you know your dad preferred you with Emma. My dear son, I've got tabs on you like you wouldn't believe. So don't make me drag you back for some daddy-pleasing stunts."

Emma was the girl Jessica had married off, the one Joseph whimsically wanted to throw Kyle's way. For Joseph, affection was fleeting and superficial, much like his love for Grace.

Kyle actually laughed, a frank sound. "You know, even if I married Emma, Dad wouldn't be pleased. So why don't we just drop it?"

Grace knew all too well Joseph's favoritism for his son, Rowan.

What Kyle didn't know was that today, Rowan hadn't called Grace, and she knew his every move just as she had claimed. She thought Kyle would have learned his lesson after his last impulsive confrontation with Rowan, but clearly, she had underestimated how important that woman, Sansa, was to her son. He was willing to butt heads with Rowan for her sake all over again.

That's why Grace had made this call.

"Stefan, you grew up in a different world than Simon. Scheming? You're no match for him. Brawn? You're a lawyer, not a boxer. Birthright? Rowan's got the family's golden ticket. He's got everything that comes with being Joseph's eldest and Margaret's sole offspring. If we don't secure our place in this family, you'll never beat him." Grace's cutting words held no warmth.

Her seductive tone had turned icy, "I don't care what foolish thing you want to do for that girl, but Stefan, if you mess up my plan, I..."

"Will act like I was never born." Kyle finished her sentence with a furrowed brow and a hint of disappointment. "The Fitzgerald fortune, the social standing, is it all really that important to you?"

Grace snorted from the other end, "Important? Of course it is! I, Grace, will stand on top of Margaret!"

The call ended abruptly.

Kyle exhaled deeply, tossing his phone aside, his expression settling into calm. Such was his mother, consistent as ever.

***

Noblewood Retreat.

Kieran stood before the expansive windows, phone in hand.

The freshly showered Julie sneaked up behind him, wrapping her arms around his waist and resting her face against his back. "Is everything set for the professor's funeral?" she whispered.

He nodded, turning to encircle her in his arms and bury his nose in her hair. "Changed your shampoo?"

"Nope."

"Smells amazing..."

Was all the buildup just for that sweet word? Thinking, Julie wore a soft smile, but her mind was elsewhere.

"We won't give up," he said, as if reading her thoughts, pressing his head gently onto hers.

"I know," Julie murmured back.

The reason? Robert's attention to Grace exceeded that which he paid to his wife. At fifteen, Grace, with her striking qualities, entered the world of fashion and swiftly rose to fame. By sixteen, she had sex with fifty-three-year-old Robert, though such affairs were never publicized officially. Julie was clueless about how Julien unearthed such details.

After Robert's death, Grace inherited the entirety of his fortune, sidelining his three biological daughters and a son. Grace then established her own modeling agency and had a sensational romance with the fashion icon Elott, though it fizzled out without fanfare...

The official news only covered the love affair and the amicable split between Elott and Grace. However, Julien's sources alleged that Grace used Elott to seduce Naylor, Joseph's brother and the rightful heir to the Fitzgerald fortune.

Tragically, Naylor perished in an avalanche during a mountain expedition. Somehow, Grace managed to charm Joseph and became pregnant with Kyle.

With Naylor gone, Joseph was the next in line. Someone of his stature couldn't possibly wed a woman like Grace, and she knew it all too well.

Just as Joseph was poised to marry Margaret for the sake of family interests, Grace gracefully bowed out of their relationship and cut off all contact. Margaret, a formidable woman, ensured Joseph could no longer reach out to Grace.

What she didn't anticipate was that Grace's retreat wasn't out of genuine desire to sever ties with Joseph. Rather, she had known before their impending marriage that she was carrying his child—Kyle.

Grace was all too aware that Margaret would stop at nothing to end her pregnancy. Retreating was her only move forward.

Thinking Grace was merely a lovestruck non-threat, Margaret lowered her guard. And it was this miscalculation that allowed Grace to secretly carry Kyle to term.

After giving birth, Grace didn't rush to claim her child's heritage. Instead, she played the long game, raising Kyle on her own. She groomed him into the person he became.

Despite her lower-class upbringing, Kyle pursued law and became a distinguished international lawyer. It was clear that Grace wasn't the type to smother her child with maternal affection.

Kyle met and even got engaged to Sansa around the time he became a lawyer. Reading this, Julie suddenly recalled Kyle's previous confession...

She turned, her delicate brows furrowed, "Julien got something wrong, didn't she? Kyle's confession that day... not all of it was true?"