by Anna Antonia
But then why didn’t Gabriel just tell me the truth? Why did he lie?
I eyed the clock. Time was ticking whether I liked it or not.
You have to find out.
I rapped on the wall next door.
“Going to lunch, Emma?”
“Yeah, Kevin. I’ll be back in a bit.”
“All right. Have a good one.”
Doubt it.
I hurried over to the bathroom and changed my clothes. I was going for a run if anyone asked. Everything fit perfectly. I didn’t want to think too deeply as to why. After dropping my work clothes back at my cube, I hurried downstairs. I texted Embry in the elevator.
I’m in the elevator.
She replied a minute or so later.
My driver is waiting at the curb. White Porsche.
Of course it is.
I pulled the cap low over my eyes and made my way outside. Sure enough there was a gleaming Porsche Cayenne idling at the curb. The driver stood by the door, perfect red rose exactly where Embry said it would be.
I stalked over to him, cursing myself a fool for playing Embry’s stupid game. I slid into the back seat. Embry’s driver, an older gentleman with salt and pepper hair and kind brown eyes, effortlessly slid into the heavy traffic.
He didn’t say a word. Neither did I. All I could think about was Gabriel. Was he really there? Why was he seeing her? Why did he lie?
The questions swirled round and round, circling the drain of my insecurities.
Why would he sneak around with an ex-girlfriend? There’s no way I’m mistaken about how much he wants me, am I?
Dirty suspicion dragged me low. Gabriel may have wanted me, but he had yet to touch me. Embry was obviously someone he’d been recently involved in. I doubt celibacy had been part of their relationship. Maybe he wasn’t completely over her sexually?
Nausea roiled in the pit of my stomach. My breathing quickened and beads of sweat dotted my forehead. If Gabriel was there I’d have my answer.
Please don’t be there.
All too quickly the vehicle came to a stop at a two-story Italian restaurant. We’d probably gone maybe a mile.
“Is this it?”
“Yes, Miss.”
I didn’t wait for him to come around for my door. I exited the vehicle a scant second later and strode inside. My eyes struggled to adjust to the darkened interior as I searched for the host or hostess.
“May I help you, ma’am?” A pretty woman about my age stood behind her podium, black hair straight as an arrow and face mildly curious.
“Yes, I’m…” Who was I supposed to ask for? “Embry Milford has a reservation and is expecting me. My name is Emma Adams.”
“Ms. Adams, of course. You are the last member of Ms. Milford’s party to arrive. Please follow me.” She picked up a menu and indicated that we should go up a set of stairs flanking the bar.
“Excuse me?”
“Yes, ma’am?”
“Do you know if Gabriel Gordon is already here?”
The hostess’ smile turned up in wattage. “Mr. Gordon arrived with Ms. Milford about fifteen minutes ago.”
“I see.” My nausea disappeared. Fury appeared in its place. “This is my first time meeting them here. Do they come here often?”
The hostess took my smile at face value. She nodded her head and shared, “They always reserve the 2nd floor dining room even though it’s usually just them. They’re so obviously in love, you know?”
“I do.” Black spots swam in my vision. I don’t remember being this enraged ever. I felt as if I could strike Gabriel dead.
You always knew who he was, who he was capable of being. He’s not worth it. Go in, see what you need to see, and then get out. There’ll be no doubts, no regrets. You’ll finally be able to move past him.
We climbed up the stairs and made our way down the narrow, dimly lit hallway. The hostess stopped before a closed door and said, “Right this way, Ms. Adams.”
I took a look at the menu in her hand. “Actually I won’t need a menu because I won’t be staying for long. I’ll just see my way in, thanks.” I stepped inside the door before she could say another word.
Slipping inside the door, I immediately spied Gabriel and Embry. They were sitting close, her hand on his cheek and his face twisted with what looked like pain.
My heart cracked in two.
She was telling the truth and he wasn’t. Goddamn you, Gabriel Gordon.
I shelved the devastated girl and brought forth someone manic to the core.
“Well, isn’t this cozy. Tucked away like this in your own dining room with complete privacy. Oh, and look! Red roses. Ah, and a ribboned box. I wonder what’s in there? Something expensive, I’m sure.”
“Emma!” Gabriel surged to his feet. Guilt ravaged his features. All my doubts were freshly buried. Even though I wanted to scream and cry, I wouldn’t give either if them the satisfaction of watching me break.
“Hello, baby.” Butter wouldn’t melt in my mouth. “You brought her flowers too? And here I thought my flowers were special! Too bad. When I get back to the office, guess what the first thing that’s going in the trash is?”
Gabriel clenched his eyes shut. He exhaled long and loud before looking at me again. “Emma, I swear this isn’t what you think it is.”
“My eyesight is pretty good, Gabriel. I know what I’m seeing.” I turned my attention to the exquisite woman still seated. “You’re set up quite nicely for a romantic lunch. No wonder you wanted me to see this for myself.”
“It was one of our favorites.” Her pale gaze indicated my presence was most welcome. “This table, I mean. Gabriel always reserved this room so he could kiss my neck in private…among other things.”
“I’m sure.” My glare should’ve burned him alive. I pulled a chair from a nearby table and sat down. I looked from one face to the other, noting Gabriel’s pale countenance and Embry’s smug one. I wanted to slap one and punch the other.
Just exactly who got the slap and who got the punch had yet to be determined.
“Well, well. Isn’t it funny how plans can change on a dime? Last I heard, Gabriel, you were neck-deep in a ton of paperwork.” I made a dramatic show of looking around. “I don’t see any paperwork. Your definition of a ton and mine must be different for you to get through it all so fast.”
“How did you know?” Gabriel’s lips tightened before trying again. “I mean, how did you know I was having lunch out today?” He reached for my hand.
The fury in my stare stopped him cold. He withdrew it and quickly tossed back a drink instead. “Didn’t you hear what I just said? Or do you need to hear from her? Would you care to tell him, Embry, or should I?”
“I could but I much prefer to hear your version.”
My mouth twisted in a venom smile. “Oh, you’re good. I like how neatly you deflected that. I might have to borrow your technique.”
Embry lifted her glass and sipped the champagne with enviable grace. “You could do worse.”
Gabriel clenched his hand into a fist. “Embry, you bitch.” He turned to me and pleaded in a low tone, “It’s not what you think.”
“Oh, that is rich! I’m sorry, but really? It’s not what I think? How would you know what I think when I haven’t had the pleasure of telling you in explicit detail? Would you like me to tell you now, hmm? Because I’m not feeling particularly shy at the moment and I really feel you simply must know.”
Gabriel closed his eyes. His face looked haggard, exhausted beyond the moment. “It’s not what you think. I swear it isn’t.”
“Sure it isn’t, Gabriel. I mean you’re not the kind of man who would lie to me and tell me you can’t see me for lunch because you’re absolutely swamped with work, are you?” I rocked my head back in emphasis. “Oh, wait a minute. You did just that with me today, didn’t you? That wasn’t a smart move at all, Gabriel. Not at all. But then again, you’ve had plenty of practice moving on from one girl to the other. Don’t worry—I’
m a quick learner. This won’t be the messy kind of breakup you’re used to.”
Terror possessed his features. He scooted his chair closer to mine. “Emma, baby, don’t.”
My violent cheeriness couldn’t be stopped. “Be quiet! Really. You don’t get say that to me anymore because you’re a liar.”
“Gabriel, darling, I would move back a bit. She looks like she’s apt to resort to violence and I’m sure that’s the last thing you’d like.”
Hearing Embry speak to him in such sugary-sweet tones made me want to slam her face against the table and hope she choked a huge shard of broken glass on the way down. The viciousness of my emotions scared me, but not nearly enough.
“Embry, shut-up!” Gabriel snapped before I could, intense dislike for the cool blond staining his beautiful, dishonest face. “I shouldn’t have tried to reason with you. If you think for a moment that you’ve won—you’ve got another thing coming.”
Nice try. You weren’t so hateful when she had her hand on your cheek, were you?
Gabriel tried again, voice low and insistent. “Emma, baby, I know this looks terrible, but I need you to listen to me.”
I pointed my finger at his face. “That’s where you’re wrong. I don’t actually have to do that.”
“Emma, please.”
“No! You don’t get to talk especially since everything that is coming out of your mouth is either a lie or an obvious grab at buying time. I’m afraid, Mr. Gordon, you don’t have a bank account big enough to buy your way out of this—at least not with me.”
“Emma—”
“No.” I grabbed a breadstick and took a leisurely bite. “Embry texted me and invited me to pop in if I didn’t believe that you, the man I finally let myself trust above all others, was actually having lunch with her. Behind my back and after you lied to me.”
Gabriel shook his head. “I’m sorry that I had to do that.”
“Really? I’m afraid I don’t believe that.” I turned my attention to Embry. “You planned this. Why don’t tell us both why you really wanted me here?”
“Should I tell her, darling?”
The use of the word grated as I’m sure it intended to. Fuck it. I wasn’t going to keep my mouth shut and let her keep pricking me with her damned diamond tipped claws.
I tossed my breadstick on the table. “Let’s clear something up right now—Gabriel’s not mine anymore so you can call him darling all day long. It’s no sweat off my back, understand?”
“Crystal.”
“No, goddamnit!” Gabriel wrapped his hand around my wrist. “I’m not going to let you do this! I’m not skirting beyond your back with this woman, Emma.” His tortured whisper would’ve normally been enough to break me.
Not anymore.
I ignored Gabriel. I fixated my attention on the viperous bitch across the table, daring her to do her worst. “You’ve set it in motion, Embry. Let me see how it’s all supposed to end.”
“Let’s go. Now!” Gabriel made to stand up and forcibly pull me up with him.
“If you even try to make me leave, I will scream this whole restaurant down. You don’t need the publicity or the gossip, Gabriel.”
“Fuck the publicity and the gossip. We’re going now.”
Embry set her champagne flute down. “Gabriel, she’s bound to find out sooner or later. Dragging her out of here won’t do anything to delay it now.”
I yanked my arm from him. “I’m to find out more than this? Lovely.”
Embry observed me for a bit. “You’re not quite what I expected, Emma. I’m compelled to inform you this isn’t exactly personal. Just necessary.”
“Of course, it is.”
She addressed the seething man sitting so close to me that I felt the trembling in his hard thigh.
“Gabriel, you surprise me. I’ve never seen you so out of control, so vulnerable. I’m afraid it makes me sick with jealousy. I’d give anything to have you look at me the way you look at her.”
“Give it time,” I interjected. “I’m sure it won’t take much.”
“Emma!” Gabriel hissed in censure. “Say that again and I’ll drag you out of here—by your hair if need be.”
“Try it and see how well your face fares.”
“I wouldn’t touch his face if I were you. It’s one of the things I love about him.” Embry cleared her throat delicately. “I’m not going to draw the suspense out any further, Emma. I want Gabriel back and I want you to let him go.”
“Impossible!” Gabriel snapped coldly. “Embry, you and I were done months ago. You know that.”
“Yes, but only a day after you found her. That’s rather cruel, even for you.”
Tunnel vision erased Gabriel. I could only see Embry. “Explain.”
“I’d been Gabriel’s for two years, Emma. It was quite serious, you know.”
“How serious?”
“Gabriel was going to be my husband.”
Oh, God!
“You were engaged to her?” I asked him, accusation dripping off each careful syllable. “Engaged?”
“No.” Gabriel’s gaze begged me to believe him. I looked away.
“But you were going to ask me. I saw the ring, Gabriel.”
Embry didn’t have the look of a liar. I still had to ask. “Is this true?”
Please say no. Please say no. Please, please, please.
Murder boiled in his crystalline stare for the woman seated across from us. “Yes.”
The room turned black for a split-second. My breath came out in an agonized rush. “You were going to marry her.”
“Yes, he was. I was going to be Mrs. Gabriel Gordon. I was going to be his wife and the mother of his children. Everything I ever wanted was right there. And then you ruined it, Emma. All of my dreams came to an end the day he saw you in his building.”
Shocked and more than a little sick, I turned to the man I had let myself love but could no longer recognize. “You mean the day of the fundraiser…” I thought of how we ran into her just four nights before. To think he’d been that seriously involved with Embry, but if he’d had why didn’t she say anything?
Why didn’t she raise hell like so many others would’ve?
What the hell is going on between them?
Gabriel clenched his jaw and gave a short shake of his head. “No. Not that day.”
Pain pierced my brain. A brutal headache brewed, minutes away from fully unleashing agony onto my poor body. “Then I don’t understand…”
Embry’s brittle smile betrayed the human heart beating beneath the polished shell. “No, Emma. It wasn’t that day. It was a month before. The first day your company moved into Obelisk Pointe. You have no idea how much I would give to go back and buy Med-Tech out, to make sure Gabriel never set eyes on you again.”
Information moved too quickly. I couldn’t make sense of it. I suspected the pieces were there, but I couldn’t see the whole picture to bring order yet. “How do you know he saw me?”
“Gabriel didn’t tell me why he was leaving me—just that he was. I figured it out after my security showed me the pictures of you.” A bittersweet smile played about the corners of her pink mouth. “Yes, even then I knew who you were and what you meant to him.”
I didn’t have enough words to even begin to address that. “You were having Gabriel followed?”
“Of course. Just as he’s had you followed.” She read my stunned expression with unerring accuracy. “I can see you didn’t expect that, never dreamed of it. That’s what people like us do with the ones we love. We cage them up, Emma, knowing the moment we let up is the moment they’ll fly. And we’ll do anything to keep that from happening.”
I didn’t think her capable of dark poetry. Just as I didn’t think Gabriel capable of doing something so monstrous either. His words from the night before rose up to haunt me.
“Gabriel is a fucking monster. He’s a sick bastard that doesn’t deserve you, but he’s such a bastard that he’ll do whatever it takes to keep
you. You really don’t want to know him, Emma. You shouldn’t. So go. Please.”
“Why do you think I sent those clothes for you to wear? Gabriel’s security detail would’ve called him the minute they saw you leave the building otherwise. You never would’ve been able to make it to this room without him finding out. And I couldn’t have that happen. You had to see for yourself.”
I can’t believe I was so stupid to fall for this. Keeping things discreet? Don’t ruin or embarrass his image by being seen?
“You had me picked up and brought here as an added precaution. You used what I didn’t know against me.”
Embry looked completely unapologetic.
“Is it true? Were you having me followed?” My eyes were clear even as the pain boiled over. I wasn’t going to show him how devastated and wounded I was. That much I was sure of. Perhaps the only thing.
Gabriel’s shuttered expression answered me long before he did. “Yes.”
I blew out a cleansing breath, doing everything in my power to not take the glass centerpiece and smash it against his head. “The alarm system. They got in my apartment because they already had a key. It’s not just an alarm system, is it? You’re spying on me.”
“No, Emma. It is just an alarm system.”
“Why are you having me followed? Because I wouldn’t work for you? Because you thought I’d cheat on you? Because you couldn’t trust me? Why, Gabriel?”
“I wanted to keep you safe.” He stared at Embry significantly before turning back to him.
“Safe from what? From her?” I shook my head wildly, flinching back from his touch. Gabriel’s hand hovered in the air. “No, you didn’t want to keep me safe. You wanted to be able to control me.”
He didn’t deny it.
“What else do I need to know?”
“Emma—”
“I’m not asking you. I’m asking her.” The rage continued to build steadily inside. I was quickly becoming a force separate and apart from the girl I’d always known myself to be.
I was becoming monstrous, out of control.
Just like the girls that screamed and slapped Gabriel when he broke their hearts. No! I am not going to be like them. I am not going to need him that badly. I won’t…I can’t…
