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A part of me wanted to believe her but because of her past, I quickly shut that down. I turned my back, for I couldn’t face her anymore.
“Get out,” I firmly spoke.
“What?”
“Pack your stuff and get out of my house. I’m done with you.”
“Gabriel, no,” she cried as she grabbed my arm.
I jerked away so hard she fell to the ground.
“Don’t come near me. You played me for a fool for the last time. I’m going out, and when I get back, you better be gone. Go back to your apartment and back to your con artist life. I better never see you again.”
Chapter 31
Kate
He walked out and it felt like the wind had been knocked out of me. The air I tried to breathe was so constricted, I felt like I was suffocating. I sat on the floor, my arms around my legs, rocking back and forth while the tears fell from my eyes. This wasn’t happening. The pain I felt inside was unbearable and I began to hyperventilate. I didn’t know what to do. It felt like my heart had been torn in half. After a while, as I tried to calm down, I picked myself up from the floor and stumbled up the stairs, one by one, in a daze, until I reached the bedroom and packed all my things. Once I was finished, I took the phone he gave me out of my purse and set it down on his bed. I had thought about writing him a letter of some sort, telling him once again that I didn’t say a word to Marcel or anyone about his plans. But then I thought it wouldn’t have mattered anyway. He never trusted me like he said he did. Way back in the dark corners of his mind was always doubt. Taking the elevator down to the foyer, I dragged my suitcase behind me in one hand, my guitar in the other, and out the front door.
When I reached my apartment, I unlocked the door and stepped inside. Turning on the lights, I stood in the small foyer and looked around the place I didn’t want to be in. I wanted to be back at Gabriel’s townhouse, sitting on the couch, by the fire, snuggled up against him while we watched TV. This sadness that overwhelmed me was too much and I didn’t know how to make it stop, so I drowned my sorrows with a bottle of wine.
* * *
Gabriel
I had Carl park the limo around the corner, but just far enough away so I could watch her as she left. The feeling of betrayal I felt killed me inside. She said she didn’t do it, and as much as I wanted to believe her, I couldn’t. Once she left, I walked up the steps and through the front door. I went up to my bedroom and found her phone lying on the bed. I picked it up, and in a rage, I threw it against the wall. Pulling my phone from my pocket, I called my brother Caleb, who was in California recording his album.
“Hey, bro. Can I call you back in a few? We’re just wrapping up.”
“Sure. Do me a favor and facetime me. I need to talk to you.”
“Are you okay?” he asked.
“No, I’m not.” I ran my hand down my face.
“Did something happen? Is Mom okay?”
“She’s fine. It’s about Kate.”
“Shit. Okay. Give me about ten minutes.”
I headed downstairs, poured myself a bourbon, downed it, and took the bottle with me to my office. Opening my laptop, I waited for Caleb’s call. A few moments later, my phone rang, and I explained what happened.
“Gabriel, are you one hundred percent sure Kate was the one who leaked it?”
“It’s a gut feeling, Caleb. No one on my design team would betray me like that. There’s too much at stake for them.”
“Then what would Kate’s reasoning be?”
“All I know is they talked quite a bit in Hawaii, and it was after I told her about my plans.”
“So what if they talked? Marcel will talk to anything with long legs just to get a good fuck out of them. It doesn’t mean she told him anything.”
“And it doesn’t mean she didn’t.”
“I thought you were over your trust issues with her,” he spoke.
“I guess not. She played me. She gained my trust, only to stab me in the back.”
