Chapter 19
Chapter Nineteen
He shouldn’t be there.
Gabriel stood in the recess of a service alcove that was conveniently located where he could stay mostly hidden but still see the door to Isabella’s suite.
He’d been there ever since he’d followed her father’s angry march through the casino to Isabella’s door.
And even from across the hall, he’d heard the bastard’s shouts.
He told himself he didn’t care what Sterling had said to her behind that closed door. Whatever vitriol her father wanted to dole out, Isabella deserved.
But that satisfaction curdled into something else as the minutes ticked by. Something that felt uncomfortably like concern.
He told himself he was here for intelligence. To observe. To gather information that might be useful in his campaign against the Harts.
He was a goddamn liar.
Her door flew open, wrenching him away from his thoughts as he watched Sterling Hart storm past, face purple with fury, fists clenched.
Gabriel felt a twinge of dark satisfaction. Whatever had happened inside that suite, Sterling wasn’t winning.
But had he hurt Isabella?
He pushed the worry down. Bella wasn’t his problem. Not now. Not anymore.
He told himself that, and here he was, lurking near her door, seemingly unable to walk away.
She was still inside, probably alone now. Probably shaking. Probably trying to put her armor back together after whatever her father had just done to her.
He should leave. There was nothing to gain by staying. Nothing except—
The door opened again.
Harper emerged first, her face tight with worry. David Mercer was at her side, also worried, though he hid it better.
Gabriel stepped out of the shadow as they passed.
“Harper.”
She spun around, eyes wide. David moved instantly, putting himself between Harper and Gabriel.
“What the hell are you doing here?” David’s voice was low and dangerous. Not the smooth businessman Gabriel had seen at the engagement party. This was something rawer. More primal.
Interesting.
Gabriel ignored him, his focus on Harper. “I need to talk to you.”
“She doesn’t have anything to say to you.” David didn’t move. Didn’t back down. “And you need to stay the fuck away from Bella.”
“This doesn’t concern you, Mercer.”
“Everything about Bella concerns me.” David stepped closer, and Gabriel saw something in his eyes that he recognized. Something that went beyond friendship. Beyond the engagement he’d believed to be nothing more than a business transaction.
The man was in love with her.
The realization hit Gabriel like a fist to the gut. Of course he was. Of course, this handsome, wealthy, safe man was in love with the woman Gabriel had spent five years hating. The woman he still dreamed about, still woke up hard and aching for, still wanted so badly it made him sick.
And she’d been with him—probably fucking him—for five years while Gabriel rotted in his self-imposed grave.
Five long years when he’d craved her—and all the while, she’d been building a life with someone else.
The jealousy was irrational. He knew that. She’d been the one who’d announced his death based on the teeth and blood and ring the authorities had found by the cabin, all planted by him.
And then he’d done everything in his power to make the world believe Gabriel Grimm really was dead. He’d stayed hidden, hadn’t he?
So he had no right to feel betrayed. No right to want to tear David Mercer apart with his bare hands.
But he wanted to anyway.
Goddamn him to hell. He’d literally seen the bitch point the gun at him, but he was still jealous that she could have fallen for another man.
Ever heard of contact lenses? And in case you’re wondering, surprise is a pretty common word.
He pushed the memory down as he looked Mercer in the eye. “Get the fuck out of my way.”
“Make me.”
Gabriel scoffed. He was bigger, stronger, trained in ways Mercer couldn’t imagine. He could put the man on the ground in seconds.
But that wasn’t why he hesitated.
He hesitated because Mercer wasn’t backing down. Wasn’t flinching. Was standing his ground despite knowing exactly who and what Gabriel was.
That took guts. Or stupidity. Or love.
Probably all three.
“I don’t want to hurt you,” Gabriel said, and was surprised to find it was true.
Mercer laughed bitterly. “No, you just want to hurt her. That’s so much better.”
“I want the truth. I want to know why she tried to kill me.”
Mercer’s eyes widened, and he glanced at Harper, who looked equally befuddled.
“She didn’t.”
Harper shot David a grimace, then crossed her arms and turned her focus to Gabriel. “You know I love you, but you are seriously out of line. She was fucking broken for years after you died. Do you understand that? Broken. Couldn’t get out of bed. Couldn’t eat. Couldn’t function.”
She took another step closer. “I grieved for you, Gabriel. Big time. But Bella? She was the walking dead. And now that she’s finally come back to life, you show up and try to knock her six feet under again? Fuck that.”
“Actually,” she added, giving his chest a shove. “Fuck you.”
Gabriel’s jaw tightened, but he said nothing. This was Harper laying into him. The girl who’d been his closest friend for years. One third of The Trio. And he wanted to believe her. So help him, he wanted it to be true…even though the truth would make him more reprehensible than he already was.
“She went to Aspen after the fire,” David said, his voice low and tentative.
“Did you know that? Even though the investigators said there was nothing left to find, she went anyway. Spent a week in that frozen hellhole, walking the grounds, talking to local cops, determined to prove you had to be alive because no body was found.”
He paused as if gathering himself. “She came back broken,” David said. “Ripped to bits. But she went again and again and again. And you have the gall to stand there and say she didn’t care? Didn’t love you? Fuck that. You don’t deserve her love.”
Gabriel went still.
“It’s true,” Harper said softly. “She hired private investigators, too. Three different firms over two years. Spent a fortune trying to find answers because she couldn’t let go.
And when she finally learned about some men who bragged about killing you, the teeth, the fire…
It nearly destroyed her all over again. Especially when she could never track them down. ”
Some men who bragged about killing you…
Fury cut through him at the words. Not at Harper. Not at David. Not even at his killers. This fury he had to carry on his own shoulders.
“Go,” he said.
“Fuck you,” David retorted. “If you think—”
Gabe turned and walked away himself.
“What a fucking shame she wasted so much time loving you,” David said, his words seeming to echo in the hall. Gabriel tensed, fighting the urge to whip back around. To snarl that David didn’t know what it was like to be left for dead, pain ripping through you as life oozed out.
But he didn’t turn back. David was right. Gabriel deserved the harsh words. The torment. The torture.
Every goddamn scar.
She’d searched for him.
The eyes hadn’t been hers.
It had all been part of the ruse his killer had set up to make him believe the woman who loved him had betrayed him.
And it had worked.
God help him, it had worked