AllFreeNovel
Share Us
From Gabriel
Can we talk?
Yes, we have to. Only it’ll be harder than everything that has happened in the past two days. I text him back and tell him to come over to my place.
I’m about to leave the office when Evan calls me back halfway across the lobby.
“What’s up?” I ask.
“Josh did some more digging, and he’s found out why Justin attacked us.”
“So it wasn’t just a petty ex-lover spat?”
Evan shakes his head and, from the way his lips purse, I know I’m about to be hit by another freight train.
* * *
Gabriel rings my bell an hour later, looking just as tired, underslept, and grim as I feel.
“I don’t know what to say,” he starts as soon as I let him in. “How to apologize.”
I stop him right away. I know he’s sorry, that he didn’t mean to do my business harm, but the fact remains that he did and that he could’ve cost me everything. Not to mention the secrets he’s been keeping from me…
“Gabriel.”
“No!”
“No, what?”
“Don’t say Gabriel like that, like you’re about to tell me this is over.”
I hug myself. “I’m sorry.”
“No, Blake, don’t.”
I hate to hear the pleading note in his voice, but I have to stay strong.
“I can’t,” I say. “I can’t pretend the last forty-eight hours didn’t happen.”
“But you’re fine, Bloominghale is fine. You recovered.”
“And I almost lost all of it because of my boyfriend and my ex. Maybe the fact that Justin targeted me has nothing to do with you, or maybe it has everything to do with the way you’ve been quietly picking off clients from his investment bank.”
Gabriel pales, confirming the worst.
“Yeah, you thought I wouldn’t find out? Would you have told me if I hadn’t?”
“I was only trying to—”
“To what? What? To protect me? To avenge my honor? Or was it just a selfish vendetta? Who was it supposed to make feel better, me or you?”
“The way he treated you! And he was the one who blackmailed my father, I have confirmation of it now. He deserved to learn a lesson.”
“And to hell with the consequences, right? You knew about the IPO and you knew Justin manages one of the most powerful trading floors in the city. Did the thought that he could take it out on me even cross your mind? Did you stop to think for a second?” The next word comes out in half a sob. “No. You let me go into the IPO blind to half the picture. You did the opposite of defending me.”
“I couldn’t just hold back and do nothing. You’re the one who told me not to sit in the back if I want to drive.”
“Yes, when it’s your life. Not mine.”
