88. Chapter 88
Chapter eighty-eight
Gabe
I ’m barely out of Abbie’s office when Lulu steps in front of me. “You had an interesting time while I was gone, I see.”
“Not now. I need to go.”
“I’ll walk with you,” she says, as she often does. “I have a few messages for you.”
“Save them. Get rid of them. No time for them. But yes. Walk with me.”
She nods, and we fall into step, but we don’t speak until we’re on the elevator alone. “Yes, I’m seeing Abbie. We’re moving in together. No, I don’t want anyone to know until she wants them to know. That’s Abbie’s call.”
“You don’t like staying silent about it,” she observes. “She’ll come out of the closet when she trusts you. Not until.”
I feel that assessment as accurate and painful. She wants to trust me. Some part of her does trust me, but her ex was horrible to her. He burned her. Time builds trust. We need time that’s about our life as normal human beings, not murder suspects. “You know about—”
“The murder? Yes. I know. What can I do?”
I update her on the arrest. “That’s good news,” she says. “And again. What can I do?”
“What you always do. Control the sharks biting at my feet. And protect Abbie.”
Her eyes soften. “I will. Like she was my very own boss and friend.”
She’s telling me I’m a friend. “Friend,” I say softly, because we both know I don’t have many. I don’t let people close to me.
The elevator opens and I leave her in the car, thankful she’s back and a friend who will be Abbie’s friend, too. I’m comforted by this thought and walk through the lobby with a focus I might not have without her presence watching over Abbie. It’s a short walk and not long before I’m sitting in a corner booth with my brother.
“Neal, the guy they’re arresting today,” Reid says, “he did work for dad. A lot of work. He’ll know I know. He’ll know that he has to be behind that red wig.” He jabs the table. “He came at my wife. Now he came at your woman. I’m so fucking done with him.”
In this moment, I realize how lucky I am to have Reid and Cat. They aren’t like my father. Reid, who came the closest to that demise, still didn’t become that monster. “We need to be done with him,” I say. “We tried and failed. We can’t fail again.”
“I have dirt on him,” Reid says. “The problem is he has dirt on me, too.”
“His dirt he linked to you to control you.”
“If you go at him,” Reid says, “he’ll come at me.”
“And you’ll take him down with you. He knows that.”
“But I’ll go down and that hurts my wife.” He scrubs his jaw. “And man, no one knows yet, but Carrie’s talking about babies more and more often as Cat gets closer to her due date.”
Babies.
This announcement thunders through me. Both of my siblings with babies, while I made sure I can’t be a father. Abbie’s affected by my decision. I shove that aside and focus on the here and now. “Then let’s talk about how we end this before any more Maxwells are running around. What if we get him to confess while we record him? Then turn him in.”
“He’ll lash out and come at us, even behind bars. You know that.”
“Aside from killing him, Reid, which would make mom roll over in her grave, what else?”
“I don’t disagree with sending him to jail. It just can’t seem like we’re involved.”
“What do you suggest?”
“Let’s go meet with Walker Security. Blake can make this happen. He has the connections and the hacking skills to set him up.”
“Blake’s going to agree to this?”
“If it’s a real crime, yes. I believe he will, but you know this will be bad press for the company. He’s the founder. He’s our father.”
“I don’t care about bad press. We have a solid foundation. We can handle it. Our family, our women, that’s what matters. We can’t keep swimming in the same shark-infested waters and expect to survive. We have to get rid of the shark. Let’s go meet with Blake.”
abbie
I’ve just hung up with the dog walker when my mother returns my call. “You heard they made an arrest for Kenneth’s murder?” I ask.
“I heard. Thank God. It sounds like this is over.”
Over.
Why do I feel like that’s not true?
“How do you feel about it, Abigail?” my mother asks. “ Is it over?”
“I hope so. Reese says we’ll know more later today.”
“I’m eager for news. You know, I was thinking earlier. Gabe’s really taken care of us, honey.”
“I know. He has. He’s—well, I’m moving in with him.”
“Wow. Well, I’d say that’s fast, but, drumroll please, I’m moving in with Brandon, too.”
My eyes go wide. “What? You are?” I’m a bit stunned. My mother has always been all work, no love life. “When?”
“Soon. Now. I might as well already live with him here in the Hamptons. I’m always with him. And since Gabe has a place here we can still see each other often.”
“Wait. The Hamptons? He doesn’t have a place here?”
“No, Abigail. We’ll live here.”
“You can’t keep the shelter in the Hamptons, mom,” I say. “How is that going to work?”
“Brandon’s going to let me keep it here at the ranch and Reid already talked to me about the offer on the shelter there in the city. He’s scanning me the paperwork to sign. You’re a go on that, right?”
“Yes, I think that’s the right decision. We need to let Jean Claude forget who we are but that doesn’t mean we can’t find another location here. I mean how many people are there in the Hamptons to adopt the animals? Isn’t that limiting for the animals?”
“He has ideas on how to overcome that, and with all the money here, the donations and support will be overflowing.”
We talk through the details and she actually seems to be happy and has a really amazing plan. “I feel a little lost,” I say. “I’m used to helping you with the shelter.”
“You still can, but now you can do other things as well. When can you come up here?”
“We’re moving me this weekend so probably not until the weekend after next.”
“Do you want help moving?”
“Maybe. If you can?”
“Of course. Me and Brandon will come.” She hesitates. “Abigail, honey, the memorial or funeral, or whatever it is they’re holding for Kenneth, is set for Monday. I’m not sure why it’s so far out, but what’s your plan?”
I know that Reese says I don’t have to go, but there is a part of me that feels bad for Kenneth. He has no living family but I certainly wasn’t his family, either. “You were divorced, Abbie,” my mother says softly. “Let’s skip it.”
I don’t need a lot of persuading. “I do feel weird about going to the funeral of a man I despised. It feels wrong.”
“Agreed. Decision made. We aren’t going.”
I let her guide me on this. We aren’t going to the funeral.
We’ve just finished our chat and disconnected when a strange number appears on my phone. I frown, wondering if it’s Reese calling from the courthouse or even the police trying to reach me. Nervously, I hit the answer button. “This is Abbie.”
“Abbie. This is Gabe’s father.”
Shock radiates through me and then fear for Gabe. “I—how did you get this number?”
“The dog walker gave it to me when I tipped her and told her I’d finish walking Dexter. He’s here with me, at my apartment. Come pick him up and we can have a nice chat.”
“I’ll send Gabe to get him.”
“That won’t work for me or you. There are some things about my son you need to know that he won’t allow me to share if he comes along. And hurry. I really don’t like dogs. I’d hate to just let Dexter run loose in the city. There are a great deal of cars here, now aren’t there?”