Chapter 24
Tori
After tossing and turning all night, I gave up and headed into the office.
I had plenty to do to occupy my mind. Gabe’s plan to bring the network of resorts and hotels under one company after he had dismantled the original and severed it into a complex maze of holdings was enough to keep me busy for months.
Thankfully, the finances for every holding were strong and detailed, unlike what he’d done for his father’s company.
I dropped Reid off at the childcare center, glad it opened early. Eyes focused on digging my elevator card from my purse, I didn’t notice I was no longer alone in the lobby.
“Miss Hent.”
I looked up, trying to place the man before me.
He looked so familiar and…similar to an older version of Gabe, something I hadn’t noticed in his online photo.
William Icinda Senior. Although Gabe held the same intense gaze, the strong jawline, the fierce presence, there were striking differences that led me to believe Gabe favored his mother in appearance.
“Mr. Icinda.”
“I see you’re settling into your new position quickly.”
“Yes.”
Hardened edges shaped his jawline, and his eyes lacked the life that Gabe’s held, the joy that had once been prominent but now only flickered behind the darkness.
“I hope William’s mess isn’t proving too difficult to unravel.”
I quirked a brow at him. This man didn’t call him Gabe, and I remembered the story of abuse, knowing it had been a truthful insight into his childhood.
“Not at all.”
He gave me an appraising look. “Convenient,” he said, throwing me off with the response that made no sense to me and following it up with one that further confused me.
“I suppose my threat no longer holds sway. Although he knows better than to underestimate me, which explains the confusion you’re struggling to hide. ”
“I’m not sure what you’re talking about,” was the only thing I could think to say.
“Of course you’re not. Even when I’m not controlling him, I am. Let’s see if he rebels again with you this close. Good day, Miss Hent. I’ll be watching to see how it plays out.”
He left me standing there, my mind still working out what he was saying.
“Oh, and Miss Hent.” I glanced over my shoulder. “Tell my grandson to have a happy birthday.”
My world spun as he walked away, his confident swagger so similar to Gabe’s. Had Gabe told him about Reid? From everything he’d told me, it didn’t seem like he would. And what had he meant by a threat and controlling Gabe?
Key card in hand, I watched the elevator doors close.
When they reopened, I jumped, not realizing the floors had passed by so quickly.
I dropped my stuff in my office and signed into my computer, attempting to get the conversation from my mind.
Secrets. So many secrets defined my relationship with Gabe, and the reason we barely had one now was because those secrets kept compounding.
After staring at my computer with no luck quieting my brain, I needed answers. Gabe’s door was closed, so I knocked and peeked my head in. Big mistake because he wasn’t sitting at his desk.
“Jesus, Liv, do you ever wait before you barge in?” he grumbled, not looking up as he snatched his dress shirt from where it rested on his desk.
“I’m sorry, I didn’t even think you’d…” My words wouldn’t form. He was still just as beautiful as he’d been. Muscles defining his chest, his arms powerful and sleek, the V that I’d loved tracing with my fingers still leading to where his pants sat low on his hips.
“Tori? Shit, sorry. I should have known Liv wouldn’t be here this early.”
I dragged my eyes up his bare chest, memories of all the times I’d laid on it, touched it, kissed it, all the times I’d felt safe wrapped in his arms overwhelming me.
“I can come back,” I stuttered.
“No, it’s fine. I used the gym here this morning.
I should have known my father hadn’t locked the door on his way out.
” He reached for his tie, the shirt still in his hands, and I wondered if he was purposely torturing me.
As he grabbed it, I caught the outline of a tattoo on his shoulder blade.
My breath stuck in my throat. A half-moon.
My knees almost gave out. “Did you need something?”
He pulled the shirt on, resting the tie around his neck while he buttoned it.
“Umm, I… When did you get a tattoo?”
His eyes shot up, a flicker of emotion in the hazel. “It’s just something I got a few years ago. What did you need, Tori?”
I wanted to press him, to understand why he would put a moon on his body or why he would name one of his companies Luna.
But the answers were in everything he’d told me, and they rubbed at my need to continue to hate him.
To keep him at a distance because even with all he’d told me, I still didn’t have the one answer I needed. Why he had left me.
Clearing my throat, I said, “I ran into your father in the lobby.”
Narrowed eyes and a jaw twitch. “Did he bother you?”
I shook my head. “No, but he said something I didn’t understand. He mentioned a threat and how it no longer held sway, but you knew better than to underestimate him. What does that mean?”
His fingers froze, a flash of worry lighting his eyes before he said, “It’s nothing.”
Shuffling my feet, I studied him, knowing from that reaction that it wasn’t ‘nothing.’ “What aren’t you telling me, Gabe?”
His eyes dropped to focus on his buttons. “I said it was nothing. Why are you working so early?”
“Don’t change the subject.”
Amber eyes jumped to mine. His features altered.
It was subtle, but for a moment my Gabe was back, the soft, sweet man I had fallen in love with.
And my chest swelled, beating with a steady rhythm that belonged to him.
But the moment passed, and the hesitation that had been there disappeared.
“There is no subject, and it’s nothing you need to worry about. ”
A ragged sigh scraped from my throat. “I’m so tired of your secrets. I just want the truth for once. I’m not asking that much, but you seem to think I’m asking you for the world.”
Hazel with specks of gold lost its darkness, and his mask slipped again. I hated that he thought he had to wear it because I knew what he was like without it. The amazing man he had been.
Until he left you, I reminded myself.
“Fine,” I huffed, throwing my hands in the air and storming back to the door.
“I would have given you the world, Tori. It’s the rest I can’t give.” His wounded voice carried the weight of years of regret.
I paused at the threshold, my head dropping. “I never needed the world. I needed you.”
Not turning back to see his expression and giving him no time to respond, I closed the door behind me and buried myself in work the rest of the day, avoiding him as much as I could.
I questioned what I’d done to myself because every time I was in his presence, it reopened the fractures that remained and had never healed.
People hurried through the hotel lobby where Reid and I waited for Gabe.
I couldn’t stop the nervous shaking in my hands as I considered if this had been a mistake.
Why had I suggested he accompany us to the zoo?
A momentary lapse of sanity. One of many lately because being in his presence left me too weak to think.
Reid hopped on the balls of his feet, his fingers tugging at the buttons on his coat.
“Will we see lions, Mommy?”
“Of course we will.” I crouched down and wiped a spot of jelly from his mouth. “And lots of other animals. Then we’ll go see Uncle Cash and Aunt Brandi.”
He squealed, and I couldn’t help but laugh.
Giving him a kiss on the cheek, I stood back up just as Gabe stepped from the elevator and came our way.
Nerves bounded through me like a collapsing pile of plastic balls.
He looked so handsome that it tugged at the pressure in my chest. His long black coat covered a pair of jeans and a charcoal gray T-shirt, and I was suddenly back in Jacksonville, in love and completely addicted to the man who owned me.
Swallowing back the sensation, I looked away, seeing a few women in the lobby checking him out. Streaks of jealousy struck those bouncing balls, destroying them.
He’s not yours anymore.
But my thought didn’t halt the emotion, which only ceased when I met his eyes again and found they were only on me. He gave me a bashful grin that had me gripping Reid’s hand tighter.
What was I doing? There was no way I could spend the entire day with this man and not have him crush my resolve to hate him for the rest of my life. A resolve I’d fought with for almost six years because as much as he’d devastated me, I couldn’t seem to stop loving him.
“Hey, mister,” Reid called to him. “We’re going to the zoo because it’s my birthday.”
Gabe’s smile could have repaired my heart ten times over. “So I’ve heard. Mind if I tag along?” He held out a handled paper bag to him.
Reid glanced up at me, and I nodded. His little hands tore into it as Gabe said, “I’m not one for wrapping.
” He palmed the back of his neck, and the emotions stirred in me again.
How many times had I watched him do that, and how much further had I fallen for him when he had?
He seemed so different today, so like he’d been then.
A squeal broke my thoughts, and I glanced around to meet judging eyes. All except Gabe’s, which were fixed on Reid, full of adoration.
“Look, Mommy. It’s cars,” he exclaimed, showing me the bag of sports car replicas. “Lots of cool cars.” He pulled one out and started zooming it around like it was on a racetrack. Gabe’s chuckle had me turning my sight to him. His smile lit his eyes, turning them a muted green hue.
“What do you say?” I asked Reid.
“Thanks, mister.”
“It’s Gabe,” I corrected. “His name is Gabe.”
Reid put his hand out. “I’m Reid,” he said, beaming.
Gabe shook it, emotion splashing over his features. “Nice to meet you, Reid.”