17. Gabriel
Gabriel
For a heartbeat, I don’t understand the words.
Then they rearrange themselves, punching the air out of my lungs.
Alexander Voss... is my father.
Everything inside me goes still.
Voss.
The man who’s spent years trying to tear my family apart. The man whose company poisoned Kitty. Whose people nearly burned Luna alive. Who forged my name onto documents and nearly convinced the people I loved that I’d betrayed them.
And Evie—my Evie—is his daughter.
She’s crying. Great, heaving sobs that shake her so hard she can barely breathe, one hand clamped over her mouth like she’s trying to hold herself together by force.
She isn’t looking at me. She can’t. Because she’s already decided what’s coming next. She thinks I’m going to look at her the way her father always did. Like she’s a problem. Something to be managed. Abandoned.
Fuck.
The realization cuts through everything else.
She’s not frightened of her father. She’s frightened of losing me.
“Evie.”
She flinches.
I reach for her face, cupping her cheeks between my hands. “Look at me, darlin’.”
She shakes her head. “I can’t.”
“You can.”
“Gabe—” Her voice breaks completely. “If you look at me”—she swallows hard—“you’ll see him.”
My heart damn near stops. “No.”
Another shake of her head. “I’m his daughter.”
“Yes.”
“I have his blood.”
“Yes.”
“I didn’t know what he was doing, but that doesn’t change who I am.”
“It changes exactly nothing.”
Finally, she lifts her eyes to mine. They’re red-rimmed and terrified. Waiting. I don’t think she’s breathing.
“Listen to me.” I brush my thumbs beneath her eyes, wiping away tears that refuse to stop falling. “You didn’t poison Kitty.”
She closes her eyes.
“You didn’t light that fire.”
Another tear slips free.
“You didn’t forge my signature.”
Her breathing catches.
“You didn’t murder Marlon Ennis.”
“But I’m still his daughter,” she repeats.
I rest my forehead against hers. “And you’re the woman I love.”
She goes perfectly still.
I don’t think she expected those words. Hell… I don’t think I expected them to come out like that. But once they’re free, there’s no taking them back.
And I don’t want to.
“I love you, Evie.”
The words settle between us like they’ve been waiting for this moment all along.
“I loved you before I knew whose daughter you were. I loved you before I knew you were carrying our little girl. I probably loved you somewhere between watching you climb onto that bull fence in Bigfork and realizing I’d never stop looking for you.”
She stares at me, her eyes wet and searching.
“You don’t have to say anything back. Not now. I just need you to know it before we walk out that door.” I take her hand and press it over my heart. “Whatever they say out there—I’ve got you. We face this together.”
Fresh tears spill down her cheeks. “They’ll hate me.”
I won’t lie to her. “They might need a minute”—I squeeze her hand—“but I don’t. I’m with you all the way.”
Silence falls. The only sounds are our breathing and the drip of the tap into the sink.
“You hear me?”
She nods. “I hear you.”
I wait until she looks at me again. “I love you.”
She searches my face for a long moment. Her mouth opens. Closes.
I see it in her eyes, how she feels about me. It’s enough for now.
I breathe for what feels like the first time in hours. Not because the world suddenly makes sense. It doesn’t. In a few minutes, we’re going to walk into the hardest conversation either of us has ever had.
Nothing about this is easy. Nothing about it is fair.
But one thing has become perfectly clear.
She isn’t facing it alone.
I stand and offer her my hand. She looks at it for a second before placing hers in mine. I lace our fingers together.
“Ready?”
She lets out a watery laugh. “Didn’t we already do this once?”
“Something like that.”
She shakes her head. “I’m even less ready this time.”
I smile. “Me too, darlin’. Me too.”
The conversation dies the moment we step back into the living room.
Every head turns.
Evie’s hand is still in mine. I don’t let go.
Shay is the first to her feet. “Honey? Are you okay?”
Luna’s already crossing the room. “Was it morning sickness?” she asks gently.
Delaney is halfway to the kitchen before anyone’s answered. “I’ll get some water.”
“And crackers,” Shay calls after her.
“Already on it.”
Kitty is looking between us, worried enough that she’s forgotten to smile. “Is the baby all right?”
Evie opens her mouth.
Nothing comes out.
I tighten my fingers around hers. “The baby’s fine,” I say quietly.
Relief ripples through the room.
“But there’s something you all need to know.”
Evie’s fingers tremble inside mine. I hear her draw one slow, shaking breath. Then another.
She looks at the room. “Alexander Voss”—she closes her eyes briefly—“is my father.”
Dead silence.
The kind that sucks all the air out of a room.
Jacob is the first to speak. His face has gone gray with shock, his eyes fixed on Evie. “You’re Evie Voss?”
Evie’s head lifts. “No. I’m Evie Gale.”
“By blood—”
“By blood,” she agrees, pain flickering across her face. “Not by choice.”
I look at my father. “I don’t give a damn whose blood runs through her veins. I love her.”
Shay’s hand flies to her mouth.
Kitty’s eyes are wide.
Tom’s eyes flick from me to Evie.
Ben studies me with an expression I can’t quite read.
Daniel doesn’t move at all.
Jacob’s eyes narrow. “Gabriel—”
I don’t let him finish. “She didn’t know any of it until Jenna said his name.” I look back at my family. “I love Evie. And nothing will ever change that.”
Jenna stands. “I think we all need to remember something.” She looks at Evie.
“When I came here, I worked for Julian Vance. I spent two years walking into that building every morning. I answered his emails. Sat in his meetings. I helped organize his calendar. And I had no idea what he was really doing.”
Evie bites her lip as she stares at Jenna.
“When I found out”—Jenna glances at Ethan—“I ran. I stole evidence and nearly got myself killed bringing it here.”
She looks at Jacob. “You could have looked at me and seen LandCorp. You didn’t.” Her gaze softens. “You saw me.”
Jenna’s gaze shifts to Evie. “I wasn’t responsible for Julian Vance’s choices. And neither are you responsible for your father’s.”
Evie’s eyes fill again.
Jenna walks over and stops in front of her, taking Evie’s free hand. “I’ve stood where you’re standing. I know exactly what you’re afraid of. You’re waiting for someone to decide you’re too close to the monster to deserve a place here.”
Evie’s chin trembles. “It isn’t the same.”
“No,” Jenna agrees quietly. “It’s worse. Because it’s your father.”
She squeezes Evie’s hand. “But blood doesn’t make you him. I know what fear looks like.” She smiles sadly. “I’ve looked at it in the mirror.”
She looks around the room before her gaze settles on Jacob. “So before anyone in this family decides who Evie is, remember that every single one of you chose to believe me.”
Jacob closes his eyes for a second. When he opens them again, they look older somehow. “I believe you, Evie.”
His words surprise everyone, including Evie.
“I believe you didn’t know,” he continues, his voice rough. “I believe you aren’t responsible for what your father has done.”
He rubs a hand over his face. “But…”
The single word hangs in the room.
“I’ve watched this family bleed for years fighting that man’s company.”
His gaze drifts to Luna. “Watched Angus nearly lose the woman he loves.”
It moves to Kitty. “Watched Kitty lying in a hospital bed because somebody decided profit mattered more than people.”
His eyes find me. “And I watched Gabriel carry the weight of forged papers that made it look like he’d betrayed his family.”
Gabriel. Not son. Thirty years and he still reaches for my name instead.
He shakes his head slowly. “I’ve only just started getting my family back. I don’t know what to do with this.”
Jacob looks at Evie again. Not accusing. Just… heartbroken. “God, I wish we’d met under different circumstances.”
Evie lowers her eyes. “Me too.”
“You walked in carrying my granddaughter.” His eyes drop briefly to her stomach. “And the name of the man who’s been trying to tear this family apart.” Jacob’s shoulders sag. “I don’t know how to hold both of those truths at the same time.”
Ben sets his coffee mug down. He’s been so quiet, I’d almost forgotten he was there.
“Jacob, I reckon you’re carrying two conversations in your head.”
Jacob lets out a weary breath. “Am I?”
“One’s about Alexander Voss. The other’s about this young woman standing in front of us.”
Ben’s gaze shifts to Evie. “I’ve watched her all day. Watched her laugh with Kitty. Watched her listen to Luna. Watched her fuss over Max. And I watched the way she looks at Gabriel when she thinks nobody’s paying attention.”
His eyes settle on me. “Son, I’ve known evil men. They don’t raise daughters who drive from Nevada to Montana to tell a man he’s gonna be a daddy. They don’t raise daughters who give a frightened mare more patience than most people give another human being.”
He shakes his head. “So don’t ask me to believe that Alexander Voss is standing in this room. Because he isn’t. Evie Gale is.”
Evie takes a slow, unsteady breath. “I appreciate what all of you are saying.” She looks at Ben, then Jenna, and finally at me. “I really do. But none of it changes what’s coming.”
She looks directly at Jacob. “I need you to understand something about my father. He doesn’t think the way normal people do. He doesn’t accept when people tell him no. I always thought it was business.” A sad smile touches her mouth. “I know now it never was.”
She looks around the room. “You’re fighting a man who doesn’t lose. He doesn’t simply want your land for what’s underneath it. He wants it because your family refused to give it to him.”
She looks at me, and her hand slides instinctively to the curve of her stomach. “I know because I’ve refused him too. I walked away from his money. I took my mother’s name. I cut him off.”
Each sentence drops into the silence.
Then Kitty gets to her feet. Tom reaches for her hand automatically. She squeezes his fingers once before letting go and walking across the room to stand in front of Evie.
Then, she wraps her arms around her and simply holds her.
“I’m so sorry,” Kitty whispers. “I can’t imagine what it must have been like growing up with someone like that. And I don't think for one second you’re responsible for the things he’s done.”
Evie goes completely still. Then the tears she’s been fighting spill over. “I don’t know how to make this right.”
Kitty pulls back to look at her, smiling through her own tears. “You don’t have to. You just have to stop apologizing for somebody else’s choices.”
She brushes a tear from Evie’s cheek and says softly, “Besides, you already belong to us.”
She pulls Evie into another hug before returning to Tom’s side.
“Does Alexander know you’re pregnant?” Daniel asks Evie. His expression is calm. Steady. The expression of a man who’s spent a lifetime making decisions when everyone else is still catching their breath.
Evie shakes her head. “No.”
“When did you last speak to him?”
“Nine days ago.” She looks at me. “He called me at the Honey Pot the day I came here.”
Daniel’s expression doesn’t change. “Tell me.”
“He called after months of silence.” She lets out a slow breath. “Wanted me at another charity fundraiser. Offered me fifty thousand dollars to show up.”
Ethan curses under his breath.
“I said no.” She shrugs. “Then I blocked his number.”
“Good.” Daniel nods. “Did he know where you were?”
“No.”
“Did you tell him anything that could help him find you?”
She pauses to think. “No. Nothing.”
Daniel glances at Ethan. “He won’t need the phone.”
Ethan nods. “If Voss wants to find someone, he’ll pay someone else to do it.”
“Which means we assume he’s already trying,” Henry says, speaking for the first time, his gray eyes turning toward the window, toward the ranch beyond it. The anger in his voice has nothing to do with Evie. It’s for the man threatening everything we’ve built.
“You still have the same number?” Daniel asks Evie.
She nods. “I never changed it.”
Daniel and Ethan exchange a look.
“Evie,” Daniel says carefully, “if he decides to look for you, that number is a thread.”
She goes very still as the full import of his words settles in.
“I blocked his number after he called.” She lets out a slow breath. “I thought that was enough. Then I caught myself thinking maybe one day I’d unblock him.” She looks at me. “Hope dies hard. Stupid, huh?”
“No.” I look at Evie, my hand tightening around hers. “That’s not stupid. That’s a daughter hoping her father might finally choose her. There’s nothing foolish about that, darlin’.”
To my surprise, Evie rises onto her toes and kisses me, soft and lingering, not caring that my entire family is standing three feet away watching.
When she draws back, her eyes are bright with unshed tears. “Thank you,” she whispers.
Daniel clears his throat. “Evie. Can I see your phone?”
She hesitates for only a second before handing it over.
Daniel turns it over in his hands. “We’ll have Ethan and the FBI take a look. Until they tell us otherwise, we’re going to assume your phone isn’t secure. Gabriel will get you another one.”
“The FBI’s been keeping Voss under surveillance since Vance gave us his name,” Ethan says. “So far, there’s no indication he’s connected Evie to Stoneridge.”
“That doesn’t mean he won’t,” Henry says. “From this point on, we assume he will.”
Daniel nods, then looks at me. “Go home, Gabe.”
I open my mouth to argue.
He shakes his head. “You’re not running. You’re going home. There’s a difference. It’s late. Tomorrow morning, we’ll get Sheriff Lucas and the FBI on a call and make a plan.”
I look at him for a long moment before nodding.
Daniel turns back to Ethan. Everyone begins to stand. Coffee mugs are gathered. Conversations start again, quieter this time, the tension easing gradually now that something resembling a plan has taken shape.
I slip an arm around Evie’s shoulders. “Come on, darlin’.”
“Evie.”
She freezes. Slowly, she turns.
Jacob is still sitting beside Ben. He looks tired. Older than he did an hour ago.
He takes a long breath. “I don’t know what tomorrow looks like. I don’t know what Alexander will do. And I won’t pretend I’m not still trying to make sense of it.”
His eyes hold hers. “But you’re family, Evie Gale.”