Chapter 43
Gabriella
I was fuming as I stormed through the lobby, desperate to get out of the building and away from the two men who drove me absolutely crazy.
I didn’t even say my usual goodbye to the security guard, and he looked wary of even trying.
Could I blame him? It felt like I was on fire, and Chandler had just added more gasoline.
Outside on the sidewalk, I breathed in the hot dog-tinged air of the city and put my hands behind my head as I paced outside the building.
I looked up to the top floor, wondering what my father and Chandler were doing now.
Sure, it had looked unprofessional to walk out, especially when my father was in the middle of a crisis.
I couldn’t help it, though. Call it hormones. Call it being fed up.
I couldn’t wrap my head around the fact that he had let Chandler back in.
He had to know that would push me away. Again.
Why was my father always choosing this man over me?
And why did it have to be the man I had been falling for?
It made it hurt even more than when he was just the asshole I met outside the coffee shop.
I let out a frustrated cry, causing passersby to look in my direction curiously.
I didn’t care. I had to get this frustration out before it exploded out of me.
I quickly threw my hand up for a cab, looking back one last time at the building, as if I could see in.
A yellow cab pulled up to the curb and I slid inside, slamming the door loudly.
“Easy there,” said the driver, looking at me with slight irritation through the rearview mirror.
“Sorry,” I muttered before giving him my address.
The ride home was quick, and full of feelings of my growing irritation.
It felt like I was being forced out again, even though I was the one who had chosen to leave.
I knew my father and I were no closer to finding out who was committing fraud within the company, but the idea of getting help from Chandler was annoying.
He barely had any time in his position as CEO to really know the company.
And he was too much of an asshole to get to know anyone.
How could he possibly help? Aside from the fact he found the missing money in the first place.
I wondered if I had been too hasty in jumping to conclusions about him and his motives. My father seemed to trust him, but then again my father had never spent that much time with him to know the real him. I thought I had seen the real him, something good, but I was wrong. Wasn’t I?
Up in my apartment, my heart and my head felt like they were playing tug-of-war, and neither was winning.
I was once again cut out of the family business, this time by a decision of my own making, but it still stung almost just as bad.
I wondered if Harold Enterprises ever got out of this shitstorm, if I would still want to be there to put it back together again.
I had already told my father I couldn’t be CEO, but that didn’t mean I didn’t want to be a part of it still.
But not if things didn’t change. It was starting to seem like things never would, and I was tired of hoping for them to.
With my father. With Chandler. How much could one person keep trying?
I took a long shower, as if to wash the day away.
I felt a little better once I got out and dried off, feeling refreshed.
A glass of wine sounded really good about then, but of course, that wasn’t an option.
Instead, I made my usual cup of peppermint tea and settled in on the couch to mope some more because that would somehow solve everything.
Around 5 o’clock, I kept listening for the sound of Juliet getting home from work.
I could usually tell it was her by the sound of her heels, mixed with the loud music coming from her headphones.
They really should put some better soundproof doors in the place.
I knew she was the only person who would make me feel better right about now, and felt a slight tinge of guilt about how much I had been relying on her lately.
Soon, I heard the familiar muffled sound of classic rock and the click-clack of heels on the wood floor in the hallway. I opened my door and peeked my head out, spotting her just as she was getting her keys out of her purse.
“Juliet!” I called out loudly, trying to be heard over her music. “Juliet!” I tried again, waving my hand from my doorway.
She looked curiously in my direction and pulled her headphones down. “Hey Gabs!” she said with a smile before striding over. “How are you, mama?”
“I’ve been better…” I said.
Her smile turned to a concerned frown. “Is baby okay?” she asked, her eyes looking down at my stomach.
“Baby is fine.” I assured her. “You think we could take a walk?”
“Sure! Let me just change real fast and I’ll meet you here in a few.”
“Thanks.” I nodded.
A few minutes later, she knocked on my door, changed out of her skirt suit and now in a pair of baggy jeans and a black tank top with her favorite checkered print shoes. Effortlessly cool as usual.
“You ready?” she smiled, offering her arm.
I nodded, linking mine through hers. We caught up on the small things as we made our way downstairs and out the small lobby of our brownstone building.
The air outside was cool and crisp as the sun began to sink behind the buildings.
I smiled, welcoming that familiar feeling of fall.
Juliet and I strode down the sidewalk with no destination in mind.
“So, what’s going on?” she pried gently.
I took a deep breath, realizing I had a lot to fill her in on since the ultrasound appointment she had gone with me to.
“Chandler told me he loved me,” I said softly.
She stopped in her tracks, pulling me to stop alongside her. “What?” she asked wide-eyed, her mouth twitching up into an excited smile.
“I know.”
“When?”
“After the ultrasound appointment.”
“And you’re just now telling me?” She gave me a playful shove.
“I know. I’m sorry. Life has just been crazy. I got home from the appointment and he was waiting outside and then just professed his love. I was as shocked as you are.”
“So, what did you do? What did you say?”
“Nothing. I just listened as he went on and on about how he wanted to be in mine and the baby’s life. How he wanted to be a good father.”
“Wow,” said Juliet with an impressed nod.
We started walking again.
“I know. It was everything I had been wanting to hear.”
“And did you say it back?”
“What?” I raised a brow.
“I love you. Duh.”
I shook my head.
“But you do, don’t you?”
I thought for a moment, chewing the inside of my cheek. It was something I had been thinking about since he told me, even through all of the chaos, I kept coming back to that same question. Did I or didn’t I? As if it mattered now…
“Gabs…” she pried softly. I knew she already knew my answer. I just hadn’t admitted it yet. Not to Chandler. Not to her. Not to myself. But deep down I knew.
I nodded, blinking back the tears that stung the backs of my eyes.
“Then what’s the problem?” she asked.
I went on to tell her all about the accounting firm, the fraud, and the SEC investigation. It felt like any time Chandler and I were about to get close to something good, something real, then something would happen to tear us apart, if we ourselves didn’t do it first.
“You don’t think he had anything to do with it now, do you?” asked Juliet, tucking a strand of her blonde hair behind her ear as she looked at me thoughtfully.
“I don’t know. No. I feel like he wouldn’t be inserting himself in this mess if he had…”
“So, why did you storm off?” She tilted her head.
“I don’t know.” I threw my hands up exasperatedly. “Because as much as I love him, he’s stubborn. And volatile. And… and…”
“An asshole?” Juliet finished my sentence.
“Exactly!” I let out the breath I had been holding as I tried to find the word.
“But a loveable asshole.”
I couldn’t help but laugh.
“What’s wrong with me?” I groaned, running my hands over my face.
“Nothing. Relationships are just complicated…” assured Juliet.
I was about to agree with her, but suddenly had the overwhelming feeling to sit down. I closed my eyes to ground myself as the sidewalk felt like it was swaying beneath me.
“Gabs? Are you okay?” asked Juliet, turning and grabbing my arms firmly.
“I-I don’t know,” I stammered. I opened my eyes, looking for a place to sit. “I think I need to sit down.”
Juliet hurried me over to a nearby bench and sat me down, kneeling on her knees before me. She grabbed my cheeks and forced me to look at her.
“Gabs! Look at me. I’m right here. I’m right here, okay?”
It felt like my eyes couldn’t focus on the face I knew so well. Everything was spinning around me. I had to close my eyes again.
“I’m getting a cab right now! Okay?” she said frantically. I heard her footsteps quickly hurrying away and the squeal of tires right after. I wondered if she had thrown herself into the street to get a cab at this hour. Knowing her, she would.
A minute later, she was helping me into the cab and shouting at the driver to get us to the nearest hospital.
The entire ride, I swallowed down the bile that was rising in my throat, not wanting to puke all over the cab.
I kept my eyes shut the whole way because the blur of the buildings wasn’t helping.
When we arrived at the hospital, Juliet wrapped her arm around me and practically dragged me into the emergency room.
“We need some help over here!” she said loudly. “She’s pregnant. Please, we need help!”
It felt like everything was moving in slow motion as a nurse rushed over with a wheelchair.
She carefully sat me down and began walking quickly toward two double doors nearby.
Juliet gripped my hand tightly as the nurse asked her questions about my pregnancy.
Questions I couldn’t answer because it felt like nothing was working properly.
Juliet answered them urgently, and I was so thankful I had her there.
I tearfully clutched my stomach, thinking the absolute worst. I couldn’t lose the baby. Not after I had fallen so in love with it and the idea of being a mother. It felt like it was some cruel reminder that I had ever thought I wanted a different life.
“You’re okay,” said Juliet over and over again, as she clung to my hand, trying to keep up with the nurse’s speed.
“You’ll have to stay here, miss,” said the nurse. I looked at her pleadingly.
“Please. No. I need her.”
“I’m sorry, but it’s just family beyond this point,” said the nurse regretfully.
Juliet reluctantly let go of my hand and stayed behind as the nurse pushed through the two doors, leading me into a long hallway with fluorescent lights.
Panic began to set in as I realized how alone I was.
Chandler’s face popped in my head and I wished more than anything that he was here with me now.