Chapter Eight
“How did they do this?”
Nora asked. “I was in a coma.”
“They discovered a nurse who was willing to sign as a witness to your sudden wakefulness and coherency, and that took away all doubt,”
Gabriel said.
“This is insane.”
Nora looked through the documents, and none of it made sense. It was all legal terminology, but within a small file, everything that had belonged to her, everything her parents owned, with a few swift signatures, had been signed over to her aunt and uncle.
Waking up from a coma, finding her parents gone, had been eye-opening. There had been so much pain, but it had taken a back seat to the experience of trying to survive in this world without anyone.
She felt that feeling in her gut that twisted at seeing what length her own family went to, for their own gains. Tears filled her eyes, and she tried not to cry, but the truth was, she never truly got to mourn all she had lost. Not financially, but emotionally. Her parents, her mother and father, who had been amazing. Even now, as she sat there, looking at the pieces of paper that meant absolutely nothing to her.
“Hey, baby, don’t cry.”
She turned to Gabriel. “They’re gone. They’re really gone.”
Nora didn’t know anything of what happened in the next few minutes, but Gabriel held her, and she just collapsed. She sobbed in a way she never had before. For the parents she had lost, that pain was unlike anything she had ever experienced. Anger at her aunt and uncle for taking everything from her. The unfairness and rage flowing through her body at being sent to live on the streets.
“I’ve got you,”
Gabriel said.
And if he didn’t have her, she would have already fallen. The pain was real. The feelings inside her were not going away. She felt so sick, so alone, and yet there was Gabriel, the man she had fallen in love with and yet tried so hard not to.
“It hurts,” she said.
“I know. I know.”
The tears kept spilling, and she knew she soaked through his shirt, but she let go. For the first time since losing them, she finally let go. She didn’t care that she must have looked a mess. Gabriel held her and kissed the top of her head.
“You’re safe now.”
Nora pulled away. “Thank you.”
“You loved your parents,” he said.
“They were amazing and would have adored you.”
Gabriel chuckled. “I highly doubt that. A man with my reputation? They would have been horrified at me even looking at their daughter.”
He stroked her cheek.
She shook her head. “No, they wouldn’t. They didn’t listen to gossip, and they always gave everyone a chance. They would have loved you.”
She wasn’t about to tell him she would have asked them to give him a chance because she loved him.
“I wish I could have met them, and they should know I’m going to take care of you. I’m going to make sure no one takes from you again. All of this will belong to you.”
She looked down at the paperwork and sighed. “How?”
“Simple, I’ve already got a lawyer looking over it, and we’ve got the details of the nurse who signed off on your treatment, who was discharged for illegally selling prescription medications. I’ve got this, Nora. You’ll have your family home and everything that was once your parents’.”
Nora didn’t know what to say. Did she feel happiness? Relief?
“You’re not happy?” he asked.
“Oh, I am. I am happy, it’s just so overwhelming. I mean, for a long time I didn’t know what went wrong, and I’d spend so many nights looking up at the skies, asking for answers and getting nothing. I guess I figured I was never going to get what I was looking for.”
Gabriel cupped her cheek. “And now?”
“It’s a little surreal.”
She blew out a breath, put the file on the coffee table, and leaned back. “Tell me about your parents.”
He chuckled. “There’s not much to tell.”
“There is enough for them to send an ex to try and get you to pay for a baby that is not yours,”
Nora said. She reached out and cupped his cheek. He was there for her, and now she wanted him to realize she was going to be there for him. No holding back. “Talk to me.”
He leaned back, and once again he cupped her cheek and rubbed his thumb across her bottom lip.
“I don’t know, to be honest. My parents have always been a crazy train. It’s what my grandfather used to call them.”
“Who is your grandfather related to? Your mom or dad?”
“My dad. I don’t think he approved of my mother. She was a failing model, and well, she got her claws into my father, and he doesn’t like to work. He didn’t think he should have to work, seeing as they were already rich. Of course, my grandfather took his father’s work, and built it up to make it an amazing empire. What he built, my father nearly destroyed within ten years of taking over.”
She watched as Gabriel rubbed his eyes.
“But you run the company?”
Nora asked.
“No, this is all mine. My grandfather saw what was happening and had already passed over the reigns to my father. Seeing the decline of the company and knowing what I wanted to do, he took a chance investing in my company, and it paid off. At first, my parents didn’t give a shit. I was a small name, among them. Once I became wealthier than them and their company lost viability, the tricks started.”
She listened as he told her about the rape allegations. How they also tried to have his company shut down through slave labor complaints, and jumping through hoops.
“Your parents did that?”
“My father was a jealous man. Being the only child to my grandparents, they spoiled him. They struggled to have children, and then out of the blue, they have this healthy baby boy, and he could do no wrong in their eyes. They gave him everything. I don’t think he ever heard the word no, until he was an adult. Anyway, my grandfather, realizing his mistake and seeing that my parents wanted nothing to do with me, took control. He raised me up, and my grandmother had already died by the time I was ten. Cancer took her, and I know it hit my grandfather hard, but he had me. He said with me, he was righting all the wrongs he did with my father. I did get taught to accept no for an answer.”
Nora smiled as she saw his frown. “Something tells me you hated him telling you no.”
“Hell, yeah, it pissed me off.”
He chuckled. “But, he would also always make me earn everything.”
“Did you hate that?”
“At the time I did. Now I’m glad. He made me a stronger person for it. He always told me I made him proud, and that meant the world to me.”
She stared into his eyes, and she saw the tears forming.
Leaning over him, she kissed his lips, and then she felt that need to comfort him and climbed across his lap, straddling him. She cupped his face and tilted his head back so she could look at him.
“I think you’re an incredible man, Gabriel Williams,”
she said, offering him a smile.
He chuckled. “You do?”
“Yeah, I do.”
She kissed him.
“My grandfather would have loved you.”
This made her pull back. “You think so?”
“I know so. He was a sucker for a smile exactly like yours.”
He pushed some of her hair back from her face. “And you’re beautiful. Stunning.”
She couldn’t help but smile. “You’re calling me beautiful and stunning even though you, Mr. Williams, have dated many, many models and actresses, all of whom are stunning.”
“That is true, but you see, none of them are as gorgeous as you.”
“And why is that?”
“You’re real to me.”
She didn’t quite know what he meant, but at the same time she knew exactly what he meant. Pulling him in close, she kissed him hard and didn’t want to let him go.
****
Several weeks later, Gabriel stood in Nora’s family home, and he saw the tears fill her eyes.
“They’ve changed so much.”
He went to her, gripping her shoulders.
Her aunt and uncle hadn’t given any of this up without a fight.
They had attempted to fight.
Once they realized who was helping Nora, they had tried to manipulate and blackmail him.
Nora wasn’t aware but her aunt and uncle had paid a visit to his office, without their lawyer present.
Trudy had been told to never tell Nora, but she had been present at the meeting.
At first, her aunt and uncle attempted to use fake naked images and old sex videos of Nora, to try and get him to pay them money.
At first, Gabriel had been so shocked by what they were suggesting, he’d stayed quiet.
They tried to make him believe, or so they thought, that Nora was a troubled young woman who used her body to get what she wanted.
They went so far as to express that they were the victims.
Claiming she was a drunk and heavily into drugs, that men were coming and going at all hours of the night, and they had to consider their safety.
Once they had finished, clearly thinking they had won him over, Gabriel had burst out laughing.
Nora had been a virgin with him.
He knew her body intimately, and had even spoken to Milly’s father, who she helped to return his daughter to.
He knew Nora better than anyone.
It had been difficult for him to contain himself.
Trudy had given him a stern look, and when he called them out of their bullshit lies and demanded to see the evidence, he saw them floundering.
Then they started to claim all other kinds of lies, which disappeared when he handed them both the written confession he got from the nurse who originally helped them, who was serving time in prison.
With nothing left to lose and being completely sober and clean, the nurse wanted to right his wrongs, so confessing to what the aunt and uncle asked him to do, they backed down.
Providing they gave over everything, including the house, all copyrighted works, and all possessions, he wouldn’t pursue criminal charges.
The aunt and uncle were free to live in the gutter, which was where they were now.
Gabriel would never allow them to hurt his woman again.
“What do you mean?”
Nora’s shoulders slumped. “Mom hated stark colors.”
The walls had been painted a deep red.
“She loved magnolia and pastel colors.”
She glanced down. “Even the carpets are different. She wanted Dad to always be able to write, and he couldn’t do it in a dark environment, and she always kept everything clean.”
Gabriel let her go as she moved through the house, and he knew this was hurting her.
The aunt and uncle had sold many of her parents’ possessions. Jewelry, furniture, even DVD collections. He already had people hunting down everything they could find.
Each room Nora went in hurt her. Her aunt and uncle had changed so much, it no longer was the home she remembered.
“I hate them,”
Nora said, walking upstairs and stepping into a room filled with all kinds of cosmetics. It was like a storage room. “This was my room.”
She spun around. “I spent so many hours reading right here.”
She walked over to the far window and took a deep breath. “And my bed was there. My bedroom was pink, a light shade of pink, with a deeper-colored carpet.”
“Did you love it?” he asked.
“Yeah, I did.”
She sighed. “And now it’s a beauty room, filled with so many different cosmetics.”
She shook her head. “I can’t believe this.”
“I’m sorry,”
Gabriel said.
“No, no, it’s fine. Trudy warned me that there was going to be a chance I wasn’t going to like what I saw.”
She took a deep breath. “I’m going to check my parents’ old room.”
“Don’t,”
Gabriel said.
“They took it.”
She nodded her head. “Why? Why did they have to be so cruel?”
“Some people are, Baby.”
He went to her, gripping her shoulders.
Nora sunk against him. “I hate them.”
“I know, and if you want, I can still throw their asses in prison.”
“They’re not worth it.”
She stepped out of the room, taking hold of his hand. She glanced up at the ceiling, and he saw a little chain dangling.
Nora reached up and grabbed it, pulling it down to reveal a set of wooden steps. “Maybe they put some things up in the attic,” she said.
Gabriel hated how dejected she looked.
When she realized her aunt and uncle were no longer going to be problems, he’d seen the excitement at finally being able to get her parents’ possessions back.
He hadn’t once considered that she might not want to see what they had done to the place.
Now he wished he’d taken the time to truly talk to her about what might have happened.
Nora made her way up into the attic, and he followed her, not wanting her to be alone.
Once they were inside, he saw there had been several years of thick dust settling on boxes.
He watched as she flicked on an overnight light switch, and her gloomy expression soon changed to one of glee as she let out a giggle.
“They didn’t get rid of it all,”
Nora said.
She ran her hand across a few boxes, and then began to tear into them. He heard her sudden giggle and glanced over to him. “Would you like to see my parents?”
He moved in closer, getting toward the light, and she flicked open the first photograph album.
“Here you go. That’s my mom, my dad, and then there is little baby me,”
Nora said, pointing toward the people in the picture.
“You’re cute,” he said.
Nora laughed. “My parents loved taking pictures. Once they got started, there was no stopping them.”
She spun the photograph album around and started to tell him stories attached to each photo.
“This was the disaster picnic.”
“A disaster picnic?” he asked.
“Yeah, Dad forgot the food. Mom forgot the drinks. There was no blanket, and then when we were able to get everything and were all set up, the skies opened, and it just rained. I feel like that summer it rained every single day.”
She giggled. “Wow, I haven’t thought about that day in a long time. Dad had brought a lot of coals for the barbeque, and he never got to light one. Mom grilled indoors.”
He looked at her and loved to see that smile on her face. “You had a happy childhood.”
“Yeah, I did. I miss them so much.”
“I’d have loved to have met them.”
Nora looked up from the photograph album and stared at him. “Thank you.”
“What for?”
“For doing all of this. I know you didn’t have to. There was no obligation or anything.”
He reached out and cupped her cheek. “I was not going to have you going without. They lied and cheated their way into this place. I simply put a right to that wrong.”
Nora moved toward him, cupping his face and kissing him. “And that is why I say thank you. For a long time I’ve not had anyone in my corner, and you’re the first person to take mine. Thank you.”
He’d hold any corner and he’d be with her in any way that mattered.
“I’ll always be there for you, Nora. Always.”
And he meant every word.