Chapter 4
Gabe
Tori took another bite of pizza, the cheese stretching as she pulled the slice back. I didn’t know what I was doing, but I wouldn’t turn back. Not now. She was amazing, and I would make this work. Somehow. Because even after just a week, I knew I couldn’t lose her.
She wiped her mouth with the back of her hand as the movie continued to play.
“You know they make napkins for that?” I said, handing her one.
“Is that what this is? I thought it was for decoration.”
I took another sip of beer, shaking my head at her joke.
She flopped back on the couch and put her feet up on the coffee table, moving the pizza box over with her bare foot.
She was so different from anything in my world, from everything I had escaped and everything that waited in the distance to claim me again.
Years of prep schools, expensive clothes and cars, mansions, housekeepers, and parties with the top one percent, yet all I wanted was to be with the woman who gave me none of that.
Relaxed, unreserved, informal, down to earth, and from roots that were grounded in family and love.
Not death and disdain, resentment and revenge.
Tori made me feel alive, like the withered part of my soul was coming back to life.
Her forehead creased as she studied me. “Where do you go?” she asked.
I could be myself with her, the person I’d once been before my father’s hand had hardened me and my mother’s death had carved out my heart.
I leaned back next to her, staring at the television. “I get in my head sometimes,” I admitted.
Quiet eclipsed us for a few moments before she said, “I know there are things that you have yet to tell me. And we’re still new, so I get that. But if you ever want to talk about it, I’ll be here.”
I turned my head, seeing the sincerity in her bright eyes. Taking her hand, I rubbed my thumb over her fingers. “Tell me more about your family,” I said, needing to hear about a normal family.
I kept my sight on her hand but sensed her eyes on me, like she was trying to figure out why I had changed the subject.
There were things I couldn’t tell her. Not yet.
Not until I could determine the best way to move forward with my mission and keep her.
An inkling that I would lose her in the process, lose her trust by not admitting the truth, snuck into my mind.
I couldn’t ignore it because I was risking everything by falling for her, and I risked losing her by not telling her about my intentions in the next five years or the things I’d been building since I was sixteen.
“There’s not much more to tell. It’s just my parents, me, and my brother Cash.”
“He’s older, right?”
“Yeah, by six years. I think I was an oops,” she said, humor in her tone.
“A good oops.” I looked back over at her, seeing her smile. It was something I never wanted to lose.
“Cash likes to say I was an annoying addition who stole his toys and irritated him when he was a teenager, but he loves me. Even if he hates telling me.”
“Sounds like a big brother to me.”
“Do you have any siblings?” she asked, resting her head on my shoulder. I brought my arm around her and pulled her to my side, loving how it felt to have her in my embrace.
“I have an older sister. We don’t talk often.
She lives in California.” The lies came too easily.
I’d been lying since I moved from home, pretending to be someone else.
Taking my paternal grandmother’s last name to hide my identity, something that my father had surprisingly approved of for security.
Having the heir to the Icinda fortune and next CEO so far from home would be dangerous.
Having him work for investment firms to wet his feet before he stepped into the CFO position wouldn’t look good for business.
And my father was all about image and pleasing his shareholders.
I disappeared off the radar, leaving my sister to the wolves while I enjoyed a few years of anonymity. It didn’t mean his men hadn’t watched me for the years I’d been away. I hadn’t caught them following me lately, but that didn't mean they weren’t out there, ensuring I stayed protected.
“So, you’re not close?” she asked.
“No, not really.” Another lie because Liv had been my fortress since we were young.
The safe place I crawled to when things got bad and my father’s temper had meant cruelty.
He’d never hurt her, deciding to take his aggression out on me.
To toughen me up, to make me a man. The man I now was.
The one who didn’t show himself often around Tori.
She was a safe place, just like Liv had always been.
“I’m sorry.” I hated the sadness in her voice because my lie had caused it. “I can’t imagine not having Cash. We talk at least once a week.”
Guilt weighing heavily on me, I gave her a shrug and picked her pizza up. “Eat,” I said, feeding her a bite.
“Are you trying to stop me from asking questions?” she asked between chews.
Giving her a wink, I offered another shrug with a “Maybe.”
Those keen eyes surveyed me, and I wondered if she could see the lies I was building for her. It was a shaky foundation to start us on, and there was a high probability that when the truth came out, she would hate me. Not for what I was planning but for the lies.
“So, your parents own a bed-and-breakfast?”
Blue orbs narrowed before she released a sigh.
It was still early enough in our relationship to have secrets, but if this continued in the direction I thought it was heading, I’d have to tell her everything.
If I could dig myself out from under my mountain of lies.
Confess that I was the son of a billionaire business owner who had abused his status as my father until my mother had taken her life.
That had been the first day I had stopped his hand from coming down on me.
The day I started fighting back. But it was a day too late, and for that, he would lose it all by my hands and Liv’s.
“I may have fibbed a little on that,” Tori said, sitting up and tucking her legs under her.
My attention piqued, I waited for her to explain. Maybe we were both keeping secrets.
“They own a resort in Piedmont. The Haven.”
I gaped at her, the confession like a punch to the gut.
She scratched her arm. “I didn’t realize it was that big of a deal, Gabe.”
Finding my voice, I said, “No, it’s not at all. It’s just that I know that resort. We stayed there when I was young and,” I swallowed back the pain of the memory, “my mother loved it there.”
So much so that my father had expanded the hotel arm of his business based on that resort.
Starting in upstate New York, he had slowly bought out private owners and added each to his collection.
The Haven was the one he really wanted, but my mother had made him swear not to touch it.
She’d loved it too much. The only redeeming quality of my father was that he loved my mother.
Had never raised a hand to her, only me, and that along with his greed had driven her into a depression she couldn’t overcome.
“Really?” Tori’s voice rose an octave. “When did you stay there?”
“I don’t know,” I answered, rubbing my temple to take the image of my mother’s smile from my mind. “I think I was maybe seven.”
She folded her legs under her, and the memory of the lobby flickered in my mind.
My parents checking in while Liv and I snuck into the sitting area with the massive stone fireplace.
A little girl sprawled out on the rug in front of the fire, coloring.
Her black pigtails had bounced when she’d lifted her navy eyes to me and smiled, handing me a crayon.
Right before my father’s hand had dug into my shoulder and he’d dragged me back to the check-in counter.
Stunned, I stared at Tori. Our paths had crossed long before now, and I couldn’t help but think our second meeting had been a destined one.
“Then I would have been four. I wonder if I saw you.” She took another bite of her pizza. “How cool would that have been? Like we were meant to be.” Her smile sent those blue irises sparkling.
“Maybe you did,” I said, resting back on the couch and motioning for her to sit back with me. She scooted closer and laid against me. My fingers played in her hair as I contemplated her words.
The movie continued to play, and I enjoyed the quiet of having her in my arms. It didn’t last. She was a demanding boss, and as soon as I finished my beer, we were back to unpacking, a reprieve from questions that dug too far.
Given that my father owned two rival lodges further south of Piedmont, the answers to those questions had me even more worried.
Two weeks passed and I was in so deep, I didn’t know if I’d ever resurface. Tori scooped the pile of licensing books they’d handed out in class, and I picked up my bag, ready to spend the evening decompressing with her.
“Gabe, I’d like to speak with you before you head out,” our trainer, Beth said.
I glanced at Tori, and she mouthed, “I’ll meet you at the car.”
I’d taken to driving her the last week, so desperate to see her that even the few minutes in the car refueled me. Gracing me with a smile, she adjusted her books and headed out of the room, chatting with another trainee.
“I have good news,” Beth told me when I approached her. “On Monday, you’ll report to your new team. Sixth floor. Craig, your manager, will meet you at the guard station to take you up. You remember Craig, right?”
“Sure, from the interview.”
“Great. It was nice to meet you, Gabe. Reach out if you need anything, and good luck.”