My Name Is Grace

By Banele Lukhele

Graces life was simple; as the boss of a prestigious company and with the perfect boyfriend all that Grace wanted in her life was the ring, some children and a happily ever after.
Then her life was shaken up by a dream; A few months later she finds herself in a whirlpool of truth and lies with a thin blurry line in between.

With uncertainty in her life, she begins to fall apart and the results are not what she expected.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris UK
• Release date: Dec 21, 2010
• ISBN: 9781456814557

Book preview

Prologue

Clutching her hand Jake took his last breath and said,

You promised. With that he let go of her and lay his head down to rest. She closed his eyes as to disconnect the stare that bound them. She lay in his blood not even flinching, staring at the sky that she thought held her future. All she saw was a vague light hidden by clouds.

What just happened? I thought the plan would never fall through. I mean, I checked everything twice. What am I going to tell Alexia? That I was having an affair with her boyfriend and I kind of got him shot in an illegal deal that went wrong? The only thing I can do is run, but where will I go? I don’t have family anywhere else. I have to call the boss.

Susan, send me through to his office! she said with a sense of panic in her voice.

Are you ok love? You sound a little . . .

Just send me through damn-it! Tell him it’s an emergency.

Okay, just hold on a second.

What is it now? a rough voice came through with a hint of irritation, Don’t tell me you don’t know where Jake is again.

No, I know where Jake is. He’s dead!

What happened over there? You were meant to watch each other’s back. You screwed up bad this time, didn’t you?

"I knew it! You are pathetic! You can never face things. I don’t even know why I called. I’m officially off this mission. Goodbye, you’re on your own.

Chapter 1

Grace rose out of bed, she felt like she had partied all night.

Grace, let’s try forget the fact that you have a killer headache? Okay what’s the schedule for today? Meeting at 6am with Scott, then I’m off till 12pm, lunch with the girls, presentation at 2pm and a dinner party for . . .

The phone interrupted Grace’s trail of thought. At first she just let it ring while she was trying to decide whether to answer it or not. She waited for the machine to answer it but the person didn’t leave a message. Eventually, they called again.

Hello, Ms Shane speaking. How may I help you?

Lisa. Please may I speak to Lisa? I was told she’s staying here for the time being.

Sorry, I think you have the wrong number.

She suddenly hung up the phone without waiting for a response.

Lisa? When was the last time I heard that name? Like ten years ago, back in Cape Town. Who would be looking for her now? They surely know that she died last year. Well anyway I have a busy day ahead of me; I can’t be bothering about her.

Grace jumped in the shower, grabbed her laptop and went downstairs for some breakfast.

Morning Grace; How did you sleep? Justin asked half inquiring and half stating the obvious.

Not too well; I had that dream again

Swallowing a good helping of the cold mango juice, he studied Grace with concern before mumbling, The one about the person following you?

Yes, but this time I was able to turn around and touch him but when I pulled him into the light I couldn’t see his face. It was blurred. It was a man that I know for sure: He was staunch, looked like a rugby player and walked with a wooden stick.

Anything specific you could make out that would link him to someone like hair colour or voice texture.

No, I don’t think so. She paused for a while, Wait his stick had an eagle carved into it with the letters tB.

tB? What’s that supposed to mean?

I don’t know and the strange part of it is that it was a lower case t and an upper case b.

I think you just being paranoid. Just forget about it. Here’s some bacon and eggs. Don’t leave too late you’ll be late for your meeting, again. Bye

Bye Justin. Love you.

How can I not let it bother me? This is the third time I have had this dream. Maybe it means something; but what could it possibly mean? Maybe Justin’s right I shouldn’t let it bother me. I should be focusing on my presentation.

Grace finished her breakfast off, grabbed her keys and rushed to the office to prepare for her meeting. She knew it was going to be a long day, so as soon as she got to the office she asked one of the interns to get her an extremely strong cup of coffee. She rushed to the boardroom to check if everything was in order. So far, and for the first time, everything was in place.

Thank goodness, they finally did it without me. Okay so all I have to do is copy everything to the flash for the overhead, calm myself down and make sure those stupid interns refilled the coffee booth.

Grace’s coffee finally arrived but, just as she expected, it wasn’t strong. Anyway, there was no time to demand an improvement in the services. She needed caffeine and she needed it at that very moment.

Sorry to bother you Ms Shane but everybody’s waiting for you in the boardroom. said an intern in the mundane black pencil skirt with a pinstriped shirt.

Okay thank you, I’ll be right there.

Okay, just take a deep breath. Calm down Grace you’re stressing unnecessarily.

Grace entered the room almost as masculine as the men that surrounded her.

Morning gentlemen, don’t get up on my account, she stated sarcastically, Now this meeting is the third meeting of the year and it seems like we are wasting time. What does the finance department have for me?

Well Grace, the planning for the fundraiser is going well. We are hoping to make over R5 million.

Great, what are we going to do with the money?

Well we haven’t really . . .

Nothing new finance, jack it up. I can’t wait around for you guys. Okay, publicity what do you have for me?

We’re still settling the deal with the television company and we were hoping to contact . . .

When is your next meeting to close the deal?

We are still arranging it.

Pathetic! Guys we are moving at a snail’s pace, is there even a point to this meeting continuing? Grace paused to hear a response, I didn’t think so! You can all return to your corner offices and maybe this time you can put something together that is worth my time. The next meeting will be next month.

Grace left the room full of awe-filled men. She always had a way of showing the guys who was the boss, but this time something told her she might have gone