Chapter 21
Tori
The office was massive, the view incredible.
I unpacked the few things I’d brought: the water bottle my parents had given me for Christmas with the UConn logo on it, the stress ball Cash and Brandi had sent with me saying I’d likely need a replacement within days of working with Gabe, and the framed picture of Reid.
He was playing with his cars and had lifted his head to give me a magnificent smile before focusing back on them.
I’d spent the last week weeding through the boxes I’d had in storage after the company had paid to have them shipped to my new home.
A luxury suite in the hotel that made the one we’d stayed in look like a small apartment.
It wasn’t the townhouse with the fenced-in backyard I’d had in Virginia, but it came with the job, and with the cost of rent in New York, it made the most sense.
Gabe had given me my space, and I hadn’t seen him since his last visit when he’d convinced me to interview with his sister.
The next day had been a series of internal debates where I’d finally relented and called to accept the position.
And since that day, I had reconsidered my decision hundreds of times until my need for the job outweighed my emotional need to flee.
Now I was standing in my new office, facing the reality that I had accepted a job that would have me working side by side with the man who had left his mark on my heart before he had left it in tatters.
“Coffee?”
I looked up to see Olivia standing in my doorway, two cups of coffee in her hand.
“You look like you could use it.”
Insult or observation, I couldn’t tell. Olivia Icinda was a difficult woman to read.
She was gorgeous with long auburn hair, the same color as Gabe’s, and hazel eyes that, like his, were fascinating in how they reflected hues.
There was an edge to her though, hard and prickly but wrapped in an arrogance that screamed ‘I’m rich’ in a way that Gabe didn’t have about him.
“Thanks. I guess I could.”
She placed the coffee on the desk but didn’t leave. After putting my purse in my closet, I looked back at her, trying to figure out what she was waiting for. Astute eyes studied me, perceptive and inquisitive.
“He told you, didn’t he?” I asked, understanding that look.
“After our interview and after I told him to hire you.”
I held my head tall, knowing she was looking for a weakness she could pounce on. Maybe she was doing it to protect her brother, maybe she was just that kind of person.
“We have a meeting with the board at nine. Our first since Gabe took over.” So, she called him Gabe as well.
Score one point for telling me the truth, but the amount of lies he’d told me still left the tally uneven.
She picked up the picture of Reid, and I wanted to grab it from her, feeling protective of him.
Her eyes jumped to mine, perfectly groomed brows furrowing. “God, he’s Gabe’s, isn’t he?”
“Did he fail to mention that?” I snapped, biting my cheek because this was my first day and it wouldn’t do for her to fire me within the first hour.
Her hard exterior slipped, regret deepening the hues of her amber eyes. She looked back at the picture. “He looks just like my brother did when he was that age. Before…”
I swallowed, knowing what she was about to say, remembering his story of the abuse.
Another truth. And suddenly my view of this woman morphed.
The older sister who had wanted to protect her little brother, but he had been the one who had protected her all those years.
What had she suffered knowing all he had endured? And had her life been any easier?
She returned the picture to my desk. “Did he know?” she asked. “Before he left?”
Guilt slashed her features, and I wondered what she would have to be guilty about.
“No. I found out two and a half months after he left. I tried to tell him, but…” The agony returned. “He had moved on already, so no, he never knew.”
She looked like she wanted to say something but shut her mouth before she set the words free. Pushing her hair off her shoulder, she sauntered out of my office saying, “Welcome to the team,” without turning back to me.
Scratching my head, I tried to put the strange conversation to the side.
Tina had given me my credentials, and so I logged into the system, amazed that they had my information loaded already.
The technology differed from Bradman’s, but Gabe’s assistant Sean had swung by earlier and scheduled time later that morning to train me on the systems.
It would be a learning curve, but I’d had the same when moving to my last company.
I spent the next twenty minutes acquainting myself with the rest of the floor, meeting the other executives in the company.
I had just returned to my office when Gabe walked in.
The air rushed from my lungs, and suddenly I was in Jacksonville again, twenty-four and in love.
It didn’t matter how much I hated him, my heart would always be his, and it leaped every time I saw him.
“The board has arrived. We’re heading down to the fourth-floor conference room to meet with them.”
“You don’t use the conference room up here?” I asked, not sure what else to say and surprised I’d found my voice.
“No, that’s for our team meetings. The board doesn’t get that luxury.”
Confusing to say the least since the board was an oversight to any company. Disdain had tainted his words, which left me even more confused.
He stepped further into the office. “Are you all right?”
Eyes squinting, I said, “Am I all right? That’s an odd question coming from the man who left me devastated two months before our wedding, left me to clean up the mess of RSVPs and cancel arrangements all while trying to convince myself to keep breathing because the pain would someday cease.
Which it did not, by the way. Oh, and then learning I was carrying his child and having him ignore my calls to tell him that.
” I walked around my desk and right up to him.
“And you know the worst part? The one that really drove the knife through what remnants there were of the heart you shredded? That you were with another woman when I was curled up on the bathroom floor clutching the pregnancy test in tears.”
His mouth fell open, confusion creasing his eyes.
“Yeah, guess you know now that every time you lied to me about not leaving me for another woman, I knew the truth. Unless you just moved on that fast. I’m not sure which thought hurt more, but they both did. So don’t ask me if I’m all right when I now work for that man.”
“Tori, I didn’t—”
“Don’t, Gabe.” I turned back to my desk and grabbed my notebook and pen. “Let’s just go to the meeting, and then I’ll question my sanity as to why I subjected myself to this.”
Hazel eyes fractured with color and a wounded look met mine when I turned back around.
“Time’s ticking, you two,” Olivia said from the hall. “It’s your show, William.”
Another moment of conflict. She only called him Gabe to those who were close to him, using William for business and the others they worked with. Yet more layers to a man I had thought I knew but in reality, was a mystery to me.
“Sure,” he said, running a hand through his hair.
Demeanor morphing, he straightened his suit jacket, his eyes hardening. I had to admit he looked sexy, even if I didn’t want to. Suits were his thing, and he made them look good. I bit my lip as he turned and walked out of my office without saying another word.
I remembered how darkness would shadow his features, hiding the playful, sexy man and turning him into something frightening.
This was that man. The one he had kept from me but who had slipped in occasionally.
And I stood frozen, wondering if this was the expectation and with me he’d been free of it.
Able to be himself, the man he wanted to be.
I shook off the thought and the sensation that was burning in my chest. Catching up, I hopped into the elevator with Gabe and Olivia.
“Did you bring the paperwork, Liv?” he asked her.
“Yes. This is going to get ugly, Gabe. Are you ready for it?”
He adjusted his cufflink. “I’ve been ready. Let’s just hope Victoria can stomach the carnage.”
The elevator opened, and he walked off. “Welcome to my world, Victoria.”
Olivia followed, and the doors started closing.
I stopped them just in time, holding my spine straight and proud as my heels clicked on the floor while I wondered what kind of carnage he was talking about.
I suspected I was about to see the side of Gabe that he had shielded me from, and I wasn’t sure I would like it.
The board had already taken seats around the large conference table when we entered. A startling picture of white men who looked old enough to be my grandfather. There was no diversity whatsoever.
I took my place next to Olivia, noticing we were the only ones from the top floor who were there.
“Gentlemen.”
“This is highly inappropriate, William. Where is your father? He called the meeting, not you.”
They didn’t know about the transition. He hadn’t announced it yet. For a private company, that wasn’t unusual, but Icinda was large enough for it to matter.
Gabe remained standing, and I noted the changes from when we’d been younger.
The tension he held in his jaw, the matured features of his face, the tiny lines at the corner of his eyes.
But mostly I noticed the confidence. He’d always had it, but this was more pronounced.
A don’t mess with me or I’ll ruin your life kind of look.
He was a threat in a suit, all muscle and power that emanated from him.
“My father is no longer CEO and no longer the owner of the company.”
A murmur went around the table.
“As full owner of Icinda Holdings, I have appointed myself CEO and no longer have need for your oversight.”
The murmur grew.
“This is ridiculous. Where is William?”