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I draw in a sharp breath at his harshly spoken words.
“If you do, I’ll have you arrested.”
I shake my head. “You don’t mean that.”
“Do you want to test me?”
“Can’t you see Linda is written all over this? She’s manipulating us.”
“Linda?”
I hear the mockery in his voice, but I don’t care. “Yes.”
“Linda told Hunter about the trip to Aspen? Linda told Hunter about your fake pregnancy? Linda told Hunter about me fucking you in my car and here with such accurate details?”
My face turns a rosy hue. “I don’t know how she got such information, but I swear I didn’t say anything to him. Please believe me, Gareth.”
When he turns away, I become desperate. “I couldn’t have done such a thing to the man I love.”
He stiffens and whirls around. “And I thought Linda was the most manipulative bitch on earth.”
“Gareth, I love you. I love you so much. I miss you. I miss us.”
A palpable blanket of silence falls in the office. Hope rises inside me that he, at least, hasn’t thrown me out. But in the next instant, it’s dashed completely.
“Get out of my office.”
His words are like whiplash to my heart. I raise my eyes to his stony ones, imploring him to take back his words and accept mine, but he stares at me unflinchingly.
There’s no salvaging the situation. Love would have made him know that I would never do such a thing to him. But he doesn’t love me, and I’ll have to live with it. I fell in love with a man who was only interested in having a good time.
“When you find out the truth, don’t come looking for me.” With my head held high, even though my heart shatters into a thousand pieces, I walk out of his office.
It’s over.
CHAPTER26
GARETH
“Um, Dad. Is that a new recipe?”
I blink in confusion at my daughter’s words before comprehending what I did. Quickly, I remove the Caesar salad I had just prepared from the oven.
“Aww, Dad.” Amber gets up from her chair and moves around the counter to throw her arms around my waist. The compassion from my daughter makes my eyes teary, but I blink them away. “It’s been weeks. No one is talking about you and Hailey anymore. Someone else is in the news.”
“I know.” How do I tell her I can’t drive away the image of a sobbing Hailey in my office as she begged me to believe her? Even though I’m still mad at her, I miss her terribly. Every day, I expect her to walk into my office looking drop-dead gorgeous as usual, with her peachy scent filling the place. I miss the fiery passion we shared, our conversations, and being cozy together.
Pushing thoughts of her from my mind, I serve the scallop pasta and set the salad on the table. I smile as I watch Amber eat with relish. If anything, the incident has drawn us closer.
After the initial shock, she got over it quickly and told me to stop apologizing. It was tough on her, with reporters following her around and wanting her opinion about her dad dating his employee, but she took it in stride. I’ll forever be grateful to her friends, Grace and Michelle, who supported her throughout the nightmare. She alternated staying with them to avoid the reporters swarming at her mom’s house. On the other hand, Linda took it badly and kept calling me to curse me out because she couldn’t go anywhere without being swamped by reporters.
“I’m sorry, Pumpkin.”
“It’s alright, Dad.”
I recline in my chair and stare at my food. I’ve been working without rest to get Hailey out of my mind. Everywhere I go, I see her. Every brunette with brown eyes catches my attention until I realize she isn’t the one. My nights are the worst. I wake up from dreaming about her and long for her. Why I’m still aching for the woman who drove a knife into my back and twisted it is beyond me. How do I forget about her? Plunge myself into another passionate relationship?
“Do you want to know what I think?” Amber’s question jolts me from my reverie.
