Chapter 25
Gabe
With my head in my hands, I considered my options, unsure if any were viable. Spending the day with Tori and Reid opened my eyes to all I’d lost. And it had torn me in two. I’d spent the rest of the weekend drowning myself in alcohol and memories, locked away in my room.
Tori had ignored me all day Monday, sticking to emails when she needed something. And in our meeting earlier this morning, she’d avoided my eyes, keeping her sight on everyone but me. The tension crawled over my skin until the meeting ended.
A knock at my door had me dragging my head up. Liv peered around the corner before stepping in and closing the door behind her.
“You’ve looked like shit the last two days and…” She walked around my desk and took my chin in her hands, tipping my head back and forth. “…when was the last time you shaved?”
I swatted her hands away. “I hope you’re here because you finished that report I requested.”
“Not a chance,” she said, sitting on the corner of my desk. “What’s going on with you two? It’s like I’m caught in one of those reality shows where they’re all awkward after they start screwing each other. Are you two fighting again or did you have sex?”
I rolled my eyes and fell back into my chair. “I didn’t sleep with her. She gave me an ultimatum.”
Her brow arched as she waited for me to explain. I dropped my eyes to my desk.
“I’m waiting,” she snapped.
“You’re a pain in my ass,” I grumbled, looking back up at her.
“I know. Now tell me what she said.”
Wiping my face, I said, “If I don’t tell her the truth, she’ll leave.”
“So just tell her. You had responsibilities and the trust guidelines to meet. She can’t hate you for that.”
“For leaving her for money and never telling her about it? I beg to differ.”
“Well, when you put it that way. But you were doing it for me, too. That should count for something.”
With a sigh, I turned my attention to the window, watching thick clouds coast overhead. “I did it for both of you.”
“What does that mean?”
“Dad called me right before I left. He knew, just like you’d warned, and he threatened her and her family.”
Her mouth fell open as she stared at me. “What did he threaten?”
“To destroy her career and ruin her family’s business. Remember the resort Mom loved, The Haven? Tori’s parents own it.”
“The one he was dying to buy but Mom made him promise not to touch it?”
“That one.”
“Holy crap. I can’t believe he’d go that far…never-mind, I can believe it. What an asshole.”
“He knew about Reid. He’s been watching her all these years, waiting to see if I went after her. I don’t know that he won’t do something still.”
She scratched her head before pushing off the desk. “What can he do? She works for you. You won’t fire her, and he’s in no position to do anything to her parents. Tell her. She deserves to know the truth.”
My phone buzzed, and I glanced down to see it was Bruce from the lobby front desk. Putting him on speakerphone, I answered.
“There’s a Carl Bradman here requesting to see you, sir.” His voice went lower, like he didn’t want anyone to hear him. “Made a fuss when I told him no. He’s still going off about how we should know who he is.”
I glanced up at Liv, but she shrugged.
“Thanks, Bruce. Please have someone escort him up.”
Standing, I pulled my jacket on, fixing my sleeves as I questioned Liv. “What does Bradman want?”
“No clue, but better yet, what’s he doing here? He’s a long way from home.”
“Guess I’ll find out.” I opened my office door and gestured for Liv to leave. A hop from the desk and she sauntered out.
“Tell her,” she said as she walked by me.
Snapping my lapels, I headed to the elevator, thinking just maybe I would. Liv was right. My father could no longer hurt Tori, and I could protect her this time if he did. But would she believe me? Believe that I’d had no choice but to go, even if I’d continued to look back since that day.
“Carl,” I said, extending my hand as he exited the elevator. I gave a nod and a quick ‘thank you’ to the security guard, who had escorted him.
Carl Bradman was a shrewd businessman in his early sixties with a thick head of black hair streaked with gray.
Fit and tall, he stood only about two inches below me.
His grip was firm as he greeted me. It was my first time meeting him, but I knew his type, and any show of weakness would be an opening for him.
“William. Do you use your father’s name or go by something else to avoid confusion?”
“William.” My response was sharp because that was expected with a man like Bradman.
I led him back to my office, discovering he was in town for a business meeting. We had a brief chat about his observations of city life before I closed my office door behind him.
“So, what brings you to see me, Carl?” I asked, unbuttoning my jacket as I sat and offered him a seat.
“I came to congratulate you and introduce myself in person. Since we share business interests, it seemed best to get off on the right foot.”
Bradman owned mostly commercial real estate and apartment complexes throughout the East Coast. To say we shared business interests was an oversimplification.
He’d been breathing down my father’s neck for years, trying to buy the company while I’d been slowly dismantling it.
I’d competed with him for most of the properties my father had divested, but he didn’t know that since my attorney always worked the agreements and closings for me.
And I’d won every bidding war, my assets more profound than his.
“And to let me know your offers to buy the company still stand?”
He chuckled, looking entirely too comfortable. “Of course they do. You’ve acquired a failing company, William. You’ve been part of that demise, and now you expect to revitalize something you should have let die.”
I stood, fooling with my cufflinks as I came around the desk.
“Let me make one thing clear, Carl. I do not intend to sell this company. I intend to rebuild it with the holdings I’ve collected over the past few years.
” His eyes grew large. “I don’t need an investor, nor do I need to know what you planned to offer me when you walked through those doors this morning.
If anything, maybe it’s your company that’s in danger. ”
He stood, his face muscles rigid. “My company is not for sale, and you’re a fool if you think you can resurrect this dying one.”
“My financials say otherwise. I’m happy to maintain a civil relationship as business acquaintances, Carl, but don’t threaten my company or disparage what my father built.
He turned your offers down every time, as will I.
You don’t have enough money to even consider buying me out, so next time you’re in town, let’s have a drink and talk about politics or the market, anything that doesn’t insult me like you just did with your assumptions and arrogance. ”
His head went back, and I could see him weighing his options. Power was a coveted thing, and I had the power here. A shrewd business owner would keep me on his good side.
“I see your father taught you well.”
“Did you think otherwise?”
“I did, but I see you’re not the inexperienced, na?ve pup I thought you were.”
“Never make assumptions, Carl. They’re bad for business.” I smoothed my suit jacket and walked toward the door. “I have a meeting, but let me show you out.”
“I’d like to stop by and congratulate Victoria before I leave.”
That instinct that had been nudging me about why she’d left, returned. With my hand on the doorknob, I turned to him. “I don’t know what happened to cause her to leave, but if I find out and I don’t like it, I can promise you’ll be hearing from me.”
Beady green eyes glared back at me. “She has an NDA, and if she breaks it, I’ll have her in court.”
“Which makes me even more curious about what happened to make a talented CFO leave just as she brought the company financials into the best spot they’ve ever been.
Bradman Holdings is thriving because of her, and you lost her when you should have been celebrating her.
I suppose that’s my blessing since I now have her on my team. ”
The clench of his jaw told me I’d struck a nerve.
“Let me show you to her office,” I said, opening the door for him.
His body language told me everything, and I straightened my spine to stand my full height over him as I walked him to Tori’s.
Her door was open now, her focus intent on her computer.
I had to stop my reaction at how fantastic she looked.
She wore her hair up in a loose bun, a pen protruding from it, and I remembered how she would tuck pencils in her hair when studying for her licenses.
The times she would sprawl across my bed, her ankles crossed and her feet in the air.
“Victoria,” Carl said before I could get her attention.
Nothing could have been more revealing than her reaction: wide eyes, a sudden jump from her seat, knocking papers from her desk that she disregarded as they fell, the paling of her skin.
I wanted to drag him from her office and ease her discomfort because it permeated the air.
Her eyes jumped to me, and I tried to read them before they returned to him.
“Carl,” she said, staying behind her desk. “This is unexpected.”
“Can we have a few minutes, William?” he asked me.
I continued standing in the doorway waiting for Tori’s approval.
The tension coming from her body made me hesitant to leave her alone with him, and I decided then that knowing what had happened between them was more important than holding onto my secrets.
She had hers, and I had mine, but it was time to come clean.
She gave me a nod, one that was too hesitant for Tori, and I debated saying no and staying right where I was.
“I’ll be right outside to walk you out, Carl.” I glanced at my watch. “I have a meeting in five minutes, so make it fast.”
He threw me an icy glare, and I ignored it, walking out of the office and softly closing the door behind me even though every part of me screamed to leave it open.
Something had happened between them, and from Tori’s frigid movements, I suspected it was one-sided.
I leaned against the wall, catching Liv’s attention in the office across from Tori’s.
She creased her brows and mouthed, “What are you doing?”
Shaking my head, I loosened my fists, which were balled tightly in my irritation at Carl Bradman. Tori’s voice came through the wall, raised and angry, and I fought my need to barge in.
The door opened a few minutes later, and I lifted from the wall.
“Remember what I said, Victoria.”
“How could I forget? Goodbye, Carl.”
“Let’s see you out,” I told him, leading him back to the elevators. “Call ahead next time, and I might have more time to chat.”
“Of course.” He looked back to Tori’s office as the elevator opened.
I placed my hands on the doors to keep them from closing and leaned into the elevator. “And we’ll leave Victoria out of it next time, understood.”
His teeth ground as he eyed me. “Understood.”
I stepped back and let the doors close, keeping my eyes locked on his until he was gone.
“That was intense,” Paula, our secretary, said.
“Something like that. Do me a favor, call security and have them make sure he leaves.” I didn’t want him hanging around waiting for Tori to leave.
“Got it,” she said, picking up the phone.
I heard her talking to Bruce at the front desk while I walked back to Tori’s office.
Tori had her back to the door, her sight on something out the window.
“Mind telling me about that?” I asked, crossing my arms as I leaned on the doorframe.
“Yes,” she replied without turning around.
“I’m assuming the NDA isn’t for trade secrets.”
“Go away, Gabe.”
I walked into her office and stood in front of her, leaving her no choice but to look at me.
“What?” she huffed.
“Did he hurt you?”
A flash of emotion confirmed my suspicion, and my urge to hurt the man increased.
“I need to get back to work.” She turned her chair and refocused on her computer.
“Secrets?” I asked.
“I guess you know how it feels now.”
The remark stung, but I accepted the pain, knowing she had every right to aim her anger at me.
I left her office, muttering, “I suppose I do,” as I walked out.
What had I thought? That she’d open up to me when I had denied her the same courtesy? It was time to come clean, to tell her everything and let her decide what she wanted to do with the information. I couldn’t force her to believe me, and if she didn’t, then that would be the end of it.
Strolling into Liv’s office, I said, “What are you doing tonight?”