21. Chapter 21
”Gabe, she”s your wife,” my executive assistant for a decade, Kate French said as she scrambled to defend herself.
”Ex-wife,” I corrected her. ”Sharing my calendar with her, especially my personal calendar...Kate, I can”t understand why you”d do that.”
Kate was in her mid-thirties and had always been efficient and good at her job. She was not part of Savannah high society but was fascinated by it. I could guess that Iris had seduced her with a few tears, high teas, and cocktails to get her to reveal things that she shouldn”t have.
”It was just once in a while, Gabe,” she stuttered, ”just…she”d ask where you were and things like that.”
”And you”d tell her?”
She licked her lips. ”Ah…yes. She”s your wife.”
”Ex-wife,” I tried again. ”And you didn”t think to ask me if that was okay?”
I looked at her, the Savannah bridge behind her, through the large windows of my office, where three walls were glass. Corner office on speed!
She looked nervous. ”It won”t happen again.”
”No, it won”t,” I assured her. ”You”re being transferred to the temp pool of assistants.”
This pool of assistants was utilized by director and senior director-level executives at Rhodes Hotels, and they didn”t work with one specific leader. Kate was transitioning from being the CEO”s executive assistant to a role she was overqualified for—merely an assistant. However, I had no choice; trusting my executive assistant was paramount.
”Gabe, I said I”m sorry,” she said nervously. ”I was only trying to help bring your family together.”
”By telling Iris whenever I had an appointment with Aurora?”
”I…she just wanted to know when you were seeing her. I didn”t see anything wrong with that,” she said defensively.
”Every time you told her I was seeing Aurora, she manipulated Sophia to call me with a crisis,” I revealed softly.
Kate gasped.
”Are you surprised?”
Kate licked her lips and shook her head.
”You knew Iris would do anything to break up any relationship I was in, didn”t you?”
Tears filled her eyes, and she nodded. ”She just wanted her family together, Gabe.”
And since Kate herself had just gone through a divorce that her husband had asked for because he”d fallen in love with another woman had made her an easy mark for Iris.
There was a knock on the door, and I asked the person to come in.
Kate”s eyes widened when she saw our head of human resources, Willa Acker, walk in.
I rose. ”Thank you for everything you”ve done for Rhodes Hotels, Kate. Willa will walk you through your next assignment.” I looked at Willa and nodded. ”I have a meeting, so please feel free to use my office.”
”It won”t take long,” Willa commented.
I knew she was pissed as hell with Kate for what she”d done. Her recommendation had been to fire her, but I hadn”t had the heart. If it had been anyone else, I”d have followed her advice; but Kate had been at Rhodes since she”d graduated from university, and we”d had a good working relationship.
I walked out as I heard Kate”s sob. ”God, Willa, I”m so sorry.”
I”d been sitting for an hour in a meeting about the plan to have solar panels put across all Rhodes Hotels around the world, a project that was near and dear to me when my phone flashed with a message.
As soon as I saw Aurora”s name on my phone, I got hard. Just her fucking name.
I excused myself and stepped into my office as I answered the phone.
”Aurora.”
”Gabriel, hello. Am I disturbing you?”
”No.” Never. ”Is everything okay?”
”Yes…ah…I wanted to let you know that Sophia came by this afternoon to my office.”
Fuck! I hadn”t heard anything about this from Sophia.
”She”s fine,” Aurora rushed, ”I didn”t say anything to hurt her.”
I closed my eyes when I heard the panic in her voice. I”d wounded her so much that she was worried I”d think she was mean to my kid.
”I know you wouldn”t,” I said gently. ”Are you okay?”
”Yes.”
My phone beeped, and as I suspected it was a message from Sophia.
”Aurora, I”d like to talk to you about how your conversation with Sophia went. Would that be okay?”
”Of course.”
She said of course in that tight-assed way of hers when she was doing something, she didn”t want to. I was fine with that as long as she”d talk to me.
”I”d like to not do this over the phone. I have a meeting that I just stepped out of to take your call, and I need to get back.”
”Oh, I”m so sorry to disturb you, that wasn”t my—”
”Baby, I took the call because I wanted to talk to you,” I cut in gently, ”I wanted to talk to you.”
This proved to me how one-sided our relationship had been. She”d made all the allowances, and I”d never given her permission to reach out to me, never let her feel she had any rights to me. She”d been there for me when I needed her; I”d never allowed her to need me.
”Okay. Thank you.”
”No, baby, thank you. Can we meet to talk?”
”I”m at work,” she said. ”I…I have a…I”m at work.”
She was rattled that I asked for us to meet, but holy hell, she”d finally called, and I wanted to prolong this contact.
”How about around six today? I can come by your place, or…we can meet—”
”Six thirty at the Peacock Lounge,” she said hurriedly.
”I”ll see you then.”
After I ended the call, I checked the message from Sophia; she simply said: I talked to Aurora. It”s all good. I”ll tell you everything when I see you.
I replied: You want to talk now?
Sophia: I”m fine. Really. She was very nice. We had hot chocolate at the bakery next door.
I smiled and typed: In this weather?
Sophia: It was really tasty. The whipped cream was cold.
I smiled: I”ll talk to you tonight. Might be out for dinner.
She was with her mother this week.
She sent back a thumbs-up emoji. I returned to my meeting feeling like I”d won the lottery. I was going to meet Aurora at a bar, and I couldn”t wait.