Chapter 19
Tori
Sleep was what I needed, but it evaded me. Staring at my reflection, I wondered if even concealer could hide the circles under my eyes.
Gabe. Had I envisioned a day when I would run into him again?
Yes, but it had gone much differently in my head the million times I’d played the scene.
Seeing him, having him that close, smelling his cologne, looking into those gorgeous hazel eyes, turned every scenario to ash.
He had changed. I could see it in the hard edges of his features, the icy looks, the expensive suit, and the scent of scotch on his breath. Hardened and refined.
This was no longer the man who drank beer and ate pizza with me while we binge-watched fantasy movies.
This was a shrewd businessman. But underneath were glimpses of the man I’d loved, and I thought it would be better if those didn’t exist. If he was the cold man who accused me of having a child with another man, I could easily admit I should never have spent the past years wondering if I could ever forgive him.
If there could ever be a second chance for us.
The emotion in those eyes had told me there was. That under the hesitation and steely glances lived the adorable smirk and fiery kisses that had once lit my soul on fire. And that he would give them freely to me again.
“He left you for another woman,” I told myself. Although I didn’t really know if that was the truth or if he had simply moved on. Either way, it hurt because I had never moved on. My heart had never healed, and I didn’t know if it ever would.
Glancing at my watch, I snapped out of it, finishing my hair and makeup.
I had taken the train out with Reid and met Brandi earlier in the morning before returning to the city.
If I got this job, that round-trip commute would need to continue until I could find childcare for him.
He was too young for kindergarten, and the daycares I had contacted all had waiting lists.
One last glance in the mirror had me shrugging my jacket on and grabbing my purse. I considered giving the front desk a piece of my mind for giving Gabe my room number but thought it better to wait until after my interview. I didn’t want to go in fired up.
They had sent a car for me, and so I took the time to look at the city while the driver took me to their headquarters. I couldn’t get over how busy it was, how many people there were in one city. It would take some adjustment, but maybe I would grow to like it.
“Miss Hent.” A woman in her late forties came toward me, and I recognized her from the virtual interview I’d had with her the prior week, Tina.
“Please call me Victoria,” I told her as I shook her hand.
“Noted. Have you had a chance to do some sightseeing?” she asked as she led me to a set of elevators.
“A little. I took my son to FAO Schwarz and Central Park yesterday. But there are so many things to see, I’m sure it will take me weeks to see them all.”
“True,” she said. “The floor we’re going to is reserved only for the higher-up positions. Although we now share this building with two other companies, the top six floors are all functions for Icinda Holdings. The floor you were on is designated for the call center.”
“Is each floor a different division of the company?”
“Mostly,” she said, guiding me out of the elevator onto a floor that screamed luxury. This was not where the employees spent time; this was for the heads of the company. We walked through the glass doors, where a woman answering a phone gave us a smile and a wave.
“That’s Paula. Officially our receptionist but she’s more like the gel that holds everything together, as is Sean, who is William and Olivia’s assistant. He ensures everything runs smoothly.”
“Does the new CFO have the same assistant?”
“Yes,” she said, leading us around a U-shaped hall with a conference room in the center.
At the end of the hall, open space led to three more offices, these decidedly larger than the ones we’d passed.
Ones that were two times bigger than my last office.
Two massive offices sat across from each other, one with a beautiful woman who was rolling her eyes at the phone and gesturing with her hands as she talked to whoever she had on speakerphone.
She looked so elegant, I subconsciously fixed my suit jacket, thinking I now looked underdressed until I realized who she was.
“That’s Olivia Icinda. You won’t meet with her today, but she sometimes takes part in the follow-up interviews.”
Rich beyond belief and handed every opportunity.
These weren’t people who had worked for their positions.
Their father had handed them everything.
No wonder her clothes looked like she spent ten times what I did on my three-hundred-dollar suit.
Because she probably had. I glanced at the other office, which was dark.
William Icinda the second, the reclusive one but still a man who had never had to fight for his position or his money.
“Will I still be interviewing with Mr. Icinda’s son?” I asked just as we reached the last office, confused about why his office was dark and unoccupied when I’d expected to interview with him.
“Of course, he’s just in here.”
My eyes left the empty office and focused on the open door ahead of us. I stumbled, my foot twisting in my heel as my eyes locked with Gabe’s.
“Are you all right?” Tina said as Gabe approached the door. His eyes were shadowed, the steely look he’d had yesterday darkening them.
“I’m fine,” I said, staring at Gabe. “Just a little thrown off.”
“William, this is Victoria Hent.”
“Miss Hent,” Gabe said, extending his hand as if we were meeting for the first time. I swallowed back the emotion as I played along. Tingles shot up my arm when our hands touched.
What was he doing here? My world was spinning, and my legs were wobbling as I followed him into the office.
“I thought I was meeting with…I mean, I thought…” I didn’t know what I thought anymore, and now I sounded like a fool.
“Tina, would you mind getting Miss Hent a bottle of water before we get started? I should have gotten Sean to get it, but I didn’t think.”
“Of course. I could use one myself. I’ll be back in a few.”
She bustled out of the office, closing the door behind her.
“What is going on, Gabe? Are you stalking me now? First my hotel room and now this?”
That gorgeous smirk that made my insides melt peeked out at me. “I’m not stalking you. It’s a long story.” He ran his hand through his hair, and the man I still loved returned.
“Why did she call you William?”
“Because that’s my name. William Gabriel Icinda. William Icinda is my father, but I used his mother’s maiden name for anonymity when I was in Florida.”
My head swirled. “Secrets. This is one of your damned secrets?”
“I told you. It’s a long story.”
The door opened, and Tina came in with two water bottles.
“I was just explaining to Miss Hent that I took over as CEO as of yesterday, which is the reason my last position is open.”
Yesterday, when he’d been standing in the lobby, telling me he had a meeting to attend. When our lives had intersected once again.
“Yes, we’ve had quite the change in the last twenty-four hours. Please sit.”
I hadn’t realized Gabe and I were still standing, our eyes on each other and nowhere else. This was a disaster. I couldn’t interview with him, pretend I hadn’t spent eight months of my life loving him and the next five years in a love/hate relationship with memories of him as I raised our son.
Still, I sat, unsure what my next move would be.
“So, tell me why you left Bradman Holdings, Miss Hent,” Gabe asked, entirely too calm and unfazed by this.
“Victoria,” I corrected him. I tried not to fidget with my hands.
“I spent three years bringing them to financial security, stabilizing their balance sheets, and cutting out frivolous costs. It seemed like the right time to leave and look for a new challenge.” I rubbed my wrist, that firm hold still itching under my skin.
The memory of the day I’d walked away still fresh in my mind.
“We parted on friendly terms, as I’m sure you know from your diligent background checks. ”
He glanced at Tina, who nodded. That’s why he had said nothing yesterday.
He had left the vetting up to others and not bothered to look at the candidates until now.
More questions followed, typical for this level position and ones for which I had prepared.
Listing the ways I could make the company more efficient and build it back to the dynasty it had once been.
“You mentioned a son the last time we spoke,” Tina said, and Gabe’s spine went straight.
“Yes, Reid. He’ll be five later this month. The joy of my life, even if his father abandoned us.”
Out of my periphery, I saw Gabe’s jaw tighten and thought I heard teeth grinding.
"Oh no, one of those," she said.
“Yes, he was a real winner. I’m glad I don’t have to deal with his lies anymore.”
“I’m not sure what this has to do with the interview, so let’s focus back on the subject.”
The level of discomfort in Gabe was well worth derailing the interview.
“I can assure you it’s relevant.” I faced him, sitting back in my chair.
“You see, it made me more resilient being a single mother, raising my son by myself with no help. I could have moved home with my family, but it pushed me to move to Boston, where I climbed my way up the ladder until I was ready for a new challenge, which I took on at Bradman. They saw my potential, and I helped turn the company into one that others see as a model when studying its financials.”
That clenched jaw didn’t ease up.
“If that bastard, pardon my language, hadn’t left me in the middle of the night, I might have been content to spend the rest of my life never reaching my potential.”
“And would you have been happy then?” he asked me, folding his hands and leaning onto his desk.
“Yes, I would have. But that’s not the way my cards played out.”
I detected a flicker of regret in his amber eyes and dropped my sight to my hands, hating how it teased my unruly heart.
Tina turned the conversation, asking a few more questions before the interview ended.
“I’ll walk Victoria out,” Gabe said, as we stood. I didn’t really want to walk out with him or be stuck in an elevator with him, but that’s exactly what happened.
“Why did you really leave Bradman?” he asked as the doors closed.
“It doesn’t matter. I’m not getting the job, not that I’d want it now.”
He turned to me. “I don’t care what happened in our past. If you’re the more qualified candidate, you’ll get the job.”
“I’m sure your girlfriend would love to know I’m working with you.”
A frustrated growl came from him. “I don’t know why you think I left you for another woman, but I didn’t.”
“Then you got over me fast.” The door opened, and I stepped out quickly, not wanting to be that close to him anymore.
“Tori,” he said, catching up to me.
“Thank you for the interview, William. I’m sure you’ll be in touch, but I won’t get my hopes up.” I put my hand out to shake his, knowing the contact would only remind me of how my heart still belonged to him.
“Tori, there was no other woman. There never has been.”
“No more lies. Just shake and say goodbye.” I heard the fracture in my last word, the emotion that seeped into it.
He took my hand, the shake lingering as his eyes held mine. The intensity of the moment reminded me of our time together, causing flames to leap in my chest.
“Goodbye, Gabe.” Letting go, I left him there, feeling his eyes on me as I made my way out of the building. I didn’t look back, didn’t stop to think about how everything he’d told me had been a lie and I’d never known him at all, until I was on the train to get Reid.
William Icinda. The billionaire’s son. How could he have kept that from me?
And why? I hated to go back to that time, to think of him when I was in my delusional state of bliss, planning to walk down the aisle to marry the man of my dreams. But he had been nothing more than an illusion.
A carefully crafted lie that I’d fallen for.
“So, did you get it?” Cash asked as I climbed into his car.
With the train station so close to their home, he and Brandi had set up a schedule to pick Reid up in the morning and me when the interview was done.
We’d set up the same for several days in case I had a second interview.
The company had booked the hotel for the week, and I had intended to use it until I’d found out the truth.
I should have packed up and checked out when I left the interview, but I hadn’t thought it through.
Maybe I’d take Reid back to the toy store in the morning and check out in the afternoon.
“That’s doubtful.”
He glanced at me as he pulled out of the lot. “What happened? You were so confident yesterday.”
“William Gabriel Icinda happened.” Just saying his name caused my chest to spasm.
“The CEO?”
“His son, the new CEO and the man who might as well have left me at the altar.”
Cash slammed on his brakes, narrowly avoiding the car in front of us. “Wait. Gabe? The dick who left you pregnant two months before the wedding is the CEO and Icinda’s son? I’m so confused.”
“Join the club. Apparently, he didn’t use his real name for privacy reasons when he lived in Florida.”
He gnashed his teeth, something he did when he was thinking. “That’s actually really smart. He goes incognito, falls off everyone’s radar, and bides his time in financial firms to gain training and knowledge that ensures he succeeds when he takes over as CFO.”
I stared at him, trying not to gawk. Although I’d been the one to take the finance path, my brother was a finance nerd at heart.
“Still doesn’t mean I don’t hate the man,” he added.
“Yeah.” I stared out the window, my emotions and thoughts jumbled and confused.
“What are you thinking, Tor?”
“That I’m glad I have enough savings to live on while I look for another job.”