CHAPTER - 29 Grace seals the deal

"What about Tina?" Adrian asked Otis.

"As per the plan, we had leaked the information about your meeting with Grace. Nicholas had already sent a 'Thaumaturge' to bring her into his land." Otis informed him.

"Good to know. Now you may go and bring Grace here. Let us sign the deal." Adrian ordered.

Otis was about to turn back and leave but he hesitatingly looked at Adrian once.

"What?" Adrian raised his eyebrows and asked.

"Should we let Nicholas know that his father's death had nothing to do with us? And it was an accident?" Otis finally asked the question that he was struggling to hold in from last month.

Adrian laughed and said, "I thought you would never ask. You were able to control your curiosity for almost a month now.  If you ask me, it's better to let him think of me as the bad person rather than trying to act like everything is okay between us. If we tell him about Andrew now, then we may be unable to catch the malefactor who was responsible for that accident."

"But Seer... Do you really think Ms.Dina is the one who was responsible for that?" Otis asked one more question that made Adrian's eyes turn dark.

"How many times have I told you to not say that sorceress name in front of me?" Adrian shouted in rage.

The symbol near his chest started to glow and he felt a piercing pain in his heart. He held his chest and leaned back with closed eyes.

"I am sorry, Seer. I.. am a fool… Please punish me…" Otis kneeled on the floor and begged for mercy.

"Just leave, Otis. Let’s concentrate on sealing this deal for now. This is our priority right now. After my marriage, we have lots of time to talk about that woman." Adrian muttered under his breath.

Otis hurriedly ran outside the door. He did not open it immediately. Instead, he stood in front of Grace's room for more than twenty minutes. He gave her enough time to talk with Dr.William and her lawyer. Anyway, the pain Adrian was experiencing would take at least half an hour to disappear.

Exactly after twenty minutes, he knocked on the door and entered. Grace was still enjoying the dishes that were kept on the table. The minute he entered, she instantly stopped eating and wiped her hands and mouth with the wet towel. She couldn’t understand why she kept on eating so much as she had never seen food before.

‘It must be because these dishes were really tasty and I should check who made them. Maybe, I will ask Mason to hire this chef once I go back home,’ She decided and tried to console herself that nothing was out of the ordinary with the food.

She glared at Otis for disturbing her now but his eyes were down as usual. Even though he realized her intense stare, he didn’t mind.

“Ms. Grace, I hope you have made your decision. Let me know if I should take you to the room where my master is or should I help you out of the hotel?” Otis asked.

At that time, she realized the purpose of her visit here. As her full concentration was on the dishes, she even missed William’s phone call. 

“I need ten more minutes. It’s my daughter’s life and I can't make the decision hastily,” She uttered and searched for her phone on the table.

Otis walked forward and took the phone from under a serving plate. Grace felt more irritated and glared at him. She pulled the phone from his hand and said,

“You can leave. Once I make the decision, I will come out and inform you.” 

“Ok. Ms.Grace. Should I ask the kitchen to send some more dishes for you?” Otis asked with a knowing smile.

Grace at first wanted to tell him to bring more but later controlled her temptation. 

“No, just ask them to clear this table.” She uttered and dialed William’s number.

Grace spoke with William for a few minutes. Once his answers were to her satisfaction, she called her family lawyer. She took photos of the contract and sent him an email. She looked at the time and saw she still had forty minutes for the two hours to end. 

She leaned on the sofa and closed her eyes. She waited for her lawyer to get back to her. There were only ten minutes left when she got a call from her lawyer. 

“Everything looks fine. But…” Her lawyer hesitated.

“I want you to keep this a secret from Mason for now. I will go back home and inform him.” Grace said.

“Yes, Madam,” He gave her his affirmation.

Grace walked out of the room and directly went inside the room where Adrian is. She did not knock and neither did she care about Otis who was running behind her to open the door for her. Adrian looked up and raised his eyebrow. 

“Ms. Grace, so what is your decision?” Adrian asked with a smile that did not reach his eyes.

As if she was under some spell, Grace said, “I like the conditions in your contract. Let us sign the deal immediately.”

“There is a rule I would like to mention before we seal this deal. You must give me a guarantee that under no condition would you go against the contract or cancel this deal.” Adrian asked for assurance. 

Grace thought he was worrying for nothing. She can’t believe someone would actually not believe her and want a guarantee for her words. Even though she felt irritated, she didn’t show it on her face.

“I am not someone who goes back on my words. So, you don’t have to worry about canceling this deal. I give my word that my daughter will marry you in two weeks,” Grace stated.

“I know but I want an assurance from you, to make sure that this deal will never fall through under any condition.” Adrian looked directly into her eyes and demanded.

“So, what do you want from me? What would make you confident that I am not someone who would let this deal fall through? I am giving you my precious daughter, so you should be thankful for that. Moreover, I am not doubting you, so why should you?” She tried to convince him that she was the one who is at the lower hand on this deal.

Adrian smiled and said, “I am also not doubting you, Ms.Grace. This is how I do business deals. I need your word of honor that I won’t get cheated in the end. I want my bride to be there at the wedding hall without fail.”

“Fine. Let’s not waste our time arguing. Tell me what should I do to make you convinced? Should I call my daughter here and make her promise that she would marry you?” Grace asked.

“No. Let’s not make this complicated. All I want is for you to…” He looked at her and tried to read her face.

“Just spit it out. I don’t know why you are beating around the bush. I liked your straightforwardness earlier. So, just say it. Until it is within my limit and not anything illegal, I would agree to your conditions.” She said.

“Let us make a blood oath.” He finally announced and glanced at her.

Grace hesitated. She could not understand why he would ask for a blood oath? Her brain warned her that something is definitely wrong and she should back out immediately. 

But the spell that was cast on her reacted and made her say ‘Yes’.

“Ok. If that’s what will make you feel better, then let’s do a blood oath as you suggested.” Grace agreed immediately.

Once Adrian got the answer he wanted, he signaled Otis to bring the frame that contained the oath. Otis placed the golden frame in front of her and then tried to lift her hand. 

“What are you doing?” Grace enquired and pulled her hand back.

“We need to take your blood to make a blood oath, Ms. Grace. Please…” Otis extended his hand towards her.

Grace didn’t want to give her hand to him. But some force within her made her extend the hand to him.

“It may slightly sting, Ms.Grace. Please bear with the pain for a few seconds.” Otis warned her of the slight pain that may be caused by the cut he was going to make on her finger.

Grace wanted to pull her hand back immediately but she could not. One part of her brain warned her while the other part made her let him draw a straight line on her finger. She made a fist of her other hand and closed her eyes. When she opened her eyes, it was clear and she looked at Otis’s hesitation.

“That’s fine! I have seen many suffer while giving birth. So, this slight pain would not matter to me. Just go ahead!” Grace said and encouraged him.