She suffered a fractured eye socket, a broken jaw, two broken teeth and two broken ribs, as well as some internal bleeding. She was in hospital for three weeks.

Jake was at her side permanently for the first few days until she sent him packing back off to uni. She told him she was fine, and she really was. They talked a lot during those days though and it transpired that Grace hadn’t protected him quite as well as she’d thought when he was little, and he’d witnessed a lot more than she’d realized. He knew Nathan was a violent bully, but he had genuinely thought, or at least hoped, that prison had changed him. He was a lot more mature than Grace had given him credit for.

The whole thing could be put to bed seeing as the inquest into the fire had finally been concluded and the insurance company had paid out in full. When Ben’s post-mortem uncovered he’d been hit over the head, an investigation into his death started. It ended pretty quickly when Grace told the police that Nathan had just discovered she and Ben had recently started a relationship. That, and the fact that Nathan’s car was left outside the pub, tied that up nicely. The logical conclusion was that he’d decided to finish Grace off the next day. She never found out who rescued Nathan and killed Ben but she supposed whoever it was didn’t want to be implicated in Ben’s murder so they kept their mouth shut.

She thought about Ben a lot and wondered whether he would have liked her new place. She felt as responsible for his death as she did Nathan’s, but it was a guilt she could live with. She’d done so many things over the years that she wasn’t proud of, she’d become adept at convincing herself she had no choice but to do the things she did.

Grace left Michael in charge of her former criminal empire. Now that Nathan was gone, she no longer felt the need to be a part of that world. Selling her share of the restaurants to Steph, Patrick and Sean, she had cut all ties with her former life. Patrick had eventually forgiven her for lying about Tommy’s murder, and she made her peace with all of the Carter family. But after everything that had happened, the Carters were a reminder of a life she wanted to leave behind.

Grace had spent half of her adult life in fear, and the other half making decisions for other people. She was tired. At the grand old age of forty, she figured she deserved a rest.

Looking down at her swollen belly, she rubbed her growing bump as a tiny foot lodged itself under her ribcage. Now was the perfect time for a fresh start.

Grace Sumner was truly happy.

Grace Sumner was free at last.

Acknowledgements