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She yanked her arm free and shot him a hard look through flashing brown eyes. “Yes, it was hard. My brother’s a chocolate chef. He could have made your candy and then kept the recipe for us to use against you.”
Infuriated, confused, Gabe demanded, “Why? What have you got against the Hart family?”
The elevator started to close and she slapped one hand out to hold the doors open. “Because my last name isn’t Cassini, Gabe. It’s Donatello.”
“What?” Everything Gabe thought he knew went right out the window. Stunned, he thought back to all the times he’d discussed business with her. How he’d told her about the Donatello buyout and how his brother was eager to take over the shop in Laguna and introduce a new venue for Heart Chocolates.
Hell, he’d trusted her.
Gabe looked at her as if seeing her for the first time. And still he didn’t know who he was looking at. The woman he loved? Or an industrial spy? “You lied to me this whole time?”
“It wasn’t all a lie,” she countered, voice breaking as the first tears filled her eyes. “Cassini is my mother’s maiden name.”
“Oh, well then. That’s okay.” Shaking his head, Gabe fought down the fury clawing at his throat as he looked at the woman he loved. The woman he’d thought was with him. A partner. “Are you even really in PR?”
“No. I make chocolate. With my family. Just like you.”
“Of course you do,” he muttered thickly. No wonder she’d known so much about the chocolate industry. “And you wanted to ruin Heart Chocolates as what? Payback for us buying your father out?”
“Your brother is ruining my father’s life,” she said, her voice urgent, desperate. “Dad can’t stand up against a company the size of Heart. He has no choice, he has to sell because the great and powerful Ethan has decided he needs a street location and he’s focused on my dad’s.” A hot rush of tears spilled from her eyes and streamed down her cheeks unchecked. “The Donatellos have been running that shop for forty-five years, Gabe. It’s just as important to us as your company is to you. My brother and I grew up in that shop. It means everything to us.”
Her tears shook him to the bone. He wanted to reach out to hold her, tell her everything would be okay, but he wasn’t sure it would be. Hell, he didn’t even know what he was feeling at the moment.
He loved Pam Cassini. But did that woman even really exist?
“I do love you, Gabe,” she confessed. “I didn’t mean to, but I do. I wasn’t pretending about that. But this is about my father. I had to do whatever I could to help.” She jumped into the elevator and kept her gaze on him as the doors slid shut. “I love you...”
“Damn it, Pam...” He lunged for her, but the doors shut him out. Then she was gone.
A few hours later, Sadie sat in the front passenger seat of Ethan’s car while Gabe leaned forward from the back, still talking. They’d been talking for hours. Ever since Pam had dropped her bomb on Gabe.
“It’s her father, Ethan,” he was saying, not for the first time. “We can understand family loyalty.”
“Agreed,” Ethan said, giving his brother a quick look before shifting his gaze back to Pacific Coast Highway. He was just as shocked as Gabe by Pam’s revelation. But at least now he knew why the woman had seemed so familiar. Ethan had met personally with Richard Donatello, and his daughter resembled him quite a bit. “She went about all of this the wrong way, but at least you two have something in common.”
Sadie said, “Ethan, that’s not really fair. Yes, Pam lied, and okay, I guess Gabe did, too...”
“Hey.”
“Well, it’s true,” she said, and patted his hand. “But you both had good reasons for it.”
That was surely true. From the moment he’d charged back into the office to tell Ethan exactly who Pam Cassini really was, Gabe had been like a man possessed. He couldn’t stop talking about the woman. Ethan glanced at Sadie and didn’t miss her wistful expression. Was she envious of what Gabe felt for Pam?
“I didn’t expect you to take it this well,” Gabe admitted. “I thought you’d be supremely pissed that Pam had used me to get to the recipe.”
