Falling For You

by Nicole Taylor

  Tears began rolling down his cheeks, and it was painful for Gabriel to watch. But Patrick angrily swatted them away and continued. “When you left the company, I was secretly glad. I thought to myself, ‘Now I won’t have to hear about how great Gabriel is.’ What a joke! On the contrary, it got worse. Nothing I did was good enough for him. And then the final crushing blow. When he was diagnosed with cancer and had to go to Switzerland for treatment. Instead of leaving me, the faithful son, to run the business, he instead calls the prodigal and gives him the keys to the kingdom. I thought that it served him right when you went to the feds and confessed all that Barry Walsh and Company had done. I figured he would see that your loyalty didn’t really lay with him after all.”

  He sniffled a bit more and then wiped his nose with the back of his hand. “When you asked me to partner with you in purchasing dad’s shares and taking over the company, I saw it as a chance for me to finally gain some respect and recognition. You told me you valued me and my input and wanted me to help you run things. But that didn’t happen in reality. You were the one who came up with all the great ideas and made all the decisions and relegated me to finding money for your pet projects. And I tried. I tried every legitimate avenue until we had exhausted that. You were no longer satisfied. You seemed to think I could do miracles. So that was what I did. I found the money. Don’t try to blame me now. This is all your fault. You’re more like Dad than you think. You’re both arrogant and reckless and dismissive.”

  Gabriel had to sit. He couldn’t believe that all these years, Patrick had been building up this bitterness against him in his heart.

  “Why didn’t you share these feelings with me. All this time, you never came to me with any proposals. I assumed you were satisfied with your role. I always consulted you when I was embarking on a new venture. Even when Leiliana came to me with the proposed merger, I flew back to New York to consult with you.”

  “And what good did that do? In the end, you did what you wanted to do.”

  “As CEO, the final decision was mine to make. It doesn’t mean that I didn’t care about your opinion. It just meant that I didn’t agree with it.”

  Patrick shook his head and looked pitifully at the bottle of alcohol again.

  “You said you went to Lebedev because you were tired of being taken for granted. Are you happy now? Do you feel contented and fulfilled?”

  Patrick smiled sadly. “You wanted money, and I got it for you. Shouldn’t you be thanking me instead of trying to crucify me.”

  Gabriel shook his head. “I don’t want dirty money. I’d rather go bankrupt. I don’t care what I have to sell, I’m going to find a way to repay Alexei Lebedev his loan and get out.”

  “There is more,” Patrick said quietly.

  “What now!” Gabriel asked through clenched teeth.

  “Dmitri contacted me two months ago. He told me that due to market conditions, the terms of the agreement had changed slightly.”

  “What!”

  “The interest rate will go up in June, and we are required to pay them an extra $500,000 per month. Even with diverting funds from the bank loan, I knew there was no way we could swing that, so I asked him to allow us to repay over a longer period rather than increase the monthly repayments. He advised me that his father would be amenable to doing so if we would allow him to funnel some of his money through our own operations.” Patrick’s voice went very low. “So I promised him he could invest in the next project, the tidal wave energy one. I signed an agreement with the company last week. So we now have $20 M in startup cost thanks to Alexei Lebedev.”

  Gabriel drew his hand down his entire face. “I’ve heard enough. I want you to contact Mr. Lebedev and set up a meeting with him. I’m going to put an end to this business right now!”

  “That’s not a good idea, Gabriel.”

  “I’m done listening to you! Get Lebedev on the phone right now, Patrick!” he shouted.

  Patrick staggered to his feet and took his phone off a nearby table. He looked back at Gabriel through terrified eyes.

  “This guy is dangerous. He could kill us. You can’t just get out of an agreement with him like that—”

  “And this is the man you got involved in our affairs! Get him on the phone right now, Patrick, or so help me you’re going to catch it!”

  Patrick hastily began swiping and tapping his phone, then he handed it over to Gabriel with a shaky hand.

  The phone rang a few times, and finally, a smooth heavily-accented voice answered.

  “Hello, Patrick.”

  “This is Gabriel Walsh.”

  There was a beat of silence. “Ah…Gabriel. To what do I owe this pleasure?”

  “I need to discuss a business matter with you. It’s of grave importance that we meet as soon as possible.”

  “The last time we spoke, you were not very ah…how do you say…cordial? In fact, you were almost hostile. You did not want to discuss any business with me.”

  “Yet, it turns out that we are doing business.”

  “You refer to the money I lent to your company and then the recent investment I promised for this…ah…ocean technology it is?”

  Gabriel swallowed. If he had needed any further proof that this was all a front for the man’s money laundering here it was. Lebedev didn’t even know what he was investing in. “Tidal wave energy,” Gabriel supplied between clenched teeth.

  “Yes...yes. I don’t hold grudge. Business is business. If we can’t have trade one way, we have another, yes?”

  “I didn’t authorize that transaction. My brother made a decision and did not consult me.”

  “He told me he had the authority. He said he is responsible for finances. Did he lie?”

  “Not exactly.”

  “Ahh. Well, it sounds to me as though you have internal matters to deal with. That is not my concern.”

  “Mr. Lebedev, I’m not clear on the terms of the agreements with Walsh Enterprises. Like I said, I want to meet with you as soon as possible to discuss it.”

  There was a long pause. “I am taking a trip today. I will be unavailable for the next week or so.”

  “How soon can we meet after you return?”

  “I will contact you.”

  Gabriel slowly sat. He didn’t even look in Patrick’s direction. He was furious with him but also with himself. Even though a part of his brain was telling him that Patrick was entirely to blame, that there was no excuse for what he had done, another part of his brain reminded him that he had ultimately been accountable. As he had correctly stated, he was the CEO. The buck stopped with him, as Leiliana would say. He placed his head in his hands. All he could think about was that in his eagerness to rebuild the Walsh reputation, he had made some terrible choices. Choices that could erode all he’d tried to build over the last three years. Choices that could cost him Leiliana Lamport.

  ~*~*~*~

  It was now two days after Dot had come to Gabriel regarding her information about Patrick and the day after he had called Lebedev. The first thing he thought about that morning was that he had not seen or heard from Leiliana in two days. She had responded to his text message with a text of her own telling him she had to return to London unexpectedly. That was it. No terms of endearment. No inquiries after his own health. Just that abrupt message.

  Since then, he had tried calling and texting again to no avail. In frustration, he called her residence, the London Waldorf. After being placed on hold, the receptionist told him that Miss Lamport was unavailable and asked if he wanted to leave a message. He did so, stressing that he had an urgent matter to discuss with her. He felt quite perturbed. Why was he relegated to leaving messages with a receptionist? Didn’t he mean more to Leiliana than this?

  Sometime around midday, someone named Claudia called him and reported that Leiliana was feeling under the weather and couldn’t respond to him in person, but she would relay any messages to her personally.

  Now he was very concerned.

  He tri
ed to question the woman about what exactly was ailing her.

  “I’m not at liberty to discuss that, sir.”

  “So, what good are you?” Gabriel asked abruptly.

  There was a moment of silence. During that time, Gabriel was convicted that he was wrong to take out his frustrations on the woman.

  “Listen, Miss. I’m sorry for yelling at you. It’s just that I’m concerned about Miss Lamport. We…uh…well…she’s a friend of mine…I just want to make sure she’s okay.”

  Her voice softened. “Mr. Walsh, you can be assured that what ails Miss Lamport is nothing life-threatening. She will call you as soon as she can.”

  He had to be satisfied with that. What choice did he have? But the whole thing was killing him. Between coping with the mess with Lebedev and his fractured relationship with Patrick and the bank threatening to foreclose and his merger up in the air, he felt that he needed to hear from Leiliana. She was so sensible and practical and smart. He was sure she would understand. The more he thought about it, he didn’t feel that she would reject him. She was such a caring person. Surely she would understand.

  He dropped to his knees now and prayed for God to help him. “I just need to hear from her, Lord. I just need to hear her voice.”

  ~*~*~*~

  Early the next morning, Gabriel received a call that made him question if God had abandoned him in his crisis or if He was answering his prayer in a roundabout way. Instead of hearing from Leiliana, he got a call from her lawyer. A woman by the name of Elizabeth Jennings.

  In a crisp British accent, she informed him that she and her team would be taking over the merger discussions on behalf of Lamport Holdings. First, though, she would like to have a one-on-one meeting with him.

  Gabriel agreed to meet with her the next morning at his office in New York. He wanted more information on Leiliana, and it seemed as though this was the only way to get it.

  It was when Miss Jennings was about fifteen minutes into her presentation that Gabriel found he couldn’t take it anymore. He abruptly sat forward.

  The woman’s speech halted. “What’s wrong?” she asked.

  “I need to get hold of Leiliana Lamport. Where is she?”

  The woman opened and closed her mouth for a few minutes. Then she said, “She’s not well, Mr. Walsh. She has asked me to take over discussions.”

  “I didn’t ask you that. I asked where she is.”

  “I can’t say.”

  Gabriel pressed his palms on the conference room table and leaned towards the woman.

  Speaking precisely, he said, “Listen, I began negotiations with Leiliana Lamport and now I get abruptly passed off to you. I have nothing against you, eh? But this isn’t the way I do business. You will get hold of her and tell her to call me asap, or the deal is off. I don’t care if she can only croak my name. I want to hear her voice on the phone.”

  ~*~*~*~

  Leiliana had returned home to Belfield manor.

  She didn’t feel like going back to her lonely London apartment. Right now, she wanted to be surrounded by her loving family. The timing couldn’t have been better. Her grandmother Kendra Lamport and great aunt, Kate Brennan, twin sisters, had turned 90 years old, just that week, and a birthday party would be held for them that weekend.

  In addition to Leiliana’s immediate family, relatives from the Lamport and Foster side of the family kept showing up. It helped to distract Leiliana from her thoughts of Gabriel, and she needed that.

  The day before the big day, her brother Liam and his wife Nia and their adorable two-year-old twin girls showed up. This was soon followed by her younger brother Benjamin who was accompanied by his latest girlfriend, Alexis, a fashion model.

  As Leiliana sat under a tree in the gardens, Leiliana witnessed a quarrel between Benjamin and the model. When he joined her later, she jutted her chin at Alexis, a pretty girl with endless blond hair and a lithe figure.

  “What’s going on between you two?”

  Benjamin grinned. “She doesn’t like the arrangement.”

  “What arrangement?”

  “Separate quarters.”

  Leiliana shot him a sidelong glance. “Why would she be bothered? Surely she knows your stance on pre-marital sex?”

  Benjamin cleared his throat. “Of course. It’s just that she didn’t expect to be staying in a room positioned so far away from mine.”

  Despite herself, Leiliana couldn’t help her amusement. “Well, you know how mum and dad are about that kind of thing. Plus, I don’t think they are terribly impressed with your girlfriend.”

  Gabriel shot Leiliana an exasperated look. “No kidding. Mum took me aside and showed me a photo on her phone of Alexis in an outfit she wore during Paris fashion week. Apparently, it doesn’t meet puritan standards.”

  Leiliana shook her head. Her brother was much too good looking for his own good. From as young as she could remember, he had attracted female attention and had seemed to find it difficult to resist. “Ben, remember what the Bible says about a virtuous woman. You need to evaluate Alexis’ behavior in light of that.”

  Benjamin groaned. “Don’t you start on me too.”

  Leiliana was about to reply when she heard laughter and saw her niece, Nyla, running in her direction, with the other twin, Lola, close behind. Their mother, Nia, was chasing them.

  Leiliana caught Nyla in her arms and whirled her around. Lola reached her and collapsed against her leg, hugging tight. Their mother came to stand before them laughing.

  Nia Lamport nee Carmichael was an exquisite woman with mocha skin and long curly hair. It was hard to imagine that this former pop princess was now a Christian, but Leiliana had found, much to her delight, that her sister-in-law was sincere. She had joined Redeemed since her conversion and went touring with them, boldly declaring her newfound faith.

  Benjamin smiled at his sister-in-law as he reached out and grabbed Lola and began tickling her.

  Leiliana sat back down with Nyla on her lap. She looked up and saw Liam approaching them talking on the phone. When he reached them, he wrapped an arm around Nia’s shoulders and drew her to his side. He spoke a few more minutes into the phone and then ended the call.

  Nia tilted her head and began kissing his neck as she slid her arms around his waist. Liam tightened his arms around her and then leaned down and kissed her lips.

  “Would you two get a room?” Leiliana groaned, covering Nyla’s eyes with her hand. “There are children here, you know.”

  They ignored her and continued to kiss for a few minutes more. Leiliana shook her head and looked across at Benjamin. He shrugged and grinned.

  “There’s no need to be jealous, dear,” Liam said with a smirk as he and Nia took a seat beside them.

  Leiliana made a face at him. Was she really jealous? She supposed she was a bit jealous. While she was happy that her brother and his wife were so passionately in love, she just wished that she could experience the same thing. She had thought she had found it with Gabriel, but…

  Benjamin got up. “I’m going to find Alexis. I don’t want her to think I’ve abandoned her.”

  “Bring her over here,” Leiliana said. “We don’t want her to feel unwelcomed.”

  Benjamin gave her the thumbs-up sign as he left.

  “What do you think of Ben’s new girlfriend?” she asked Liam.

  Liam shrugged. “You know your brother. I guess she’s the flavor of the month.”

  “You need to speak to him, Liam. He really looks up to you.”

  Liam gave her a deadpan look. “You think I haven’t? But I will continue to do so. What about you? How’s this merger with Walsh Enterprises going?”

  Leiliana gulped. She really did not want to talk about anything that would remind her of Gabriel.

  “Good,” she said with a tight smile.

  Nia watched her closely. “Are you sure? You look a little stressed.”

  Leiliana glanced away. Of course she was stressed. During the day, she kept herself
as busy as possible, but at night all she could think of was Gabriel. She told herself that she wasn’t pining for him, but if that were true, why had her appetite fled and the joy gone out of her days.

  “I’m fine. How are sales on the new record going?” she asked, trying to change the subject.

  “They are going great,” Nia responded with a laugh. “Your brother is an awesome songwriter. I don’t know how he does it. He just churns out these amazing lyrics.”

  “I’ve noticed that the new album you released is different. I really like the change. Not that I didn’t like the previous albums. But this one is amazing.”

  “The band has evolved since Nia joined us,” he said, glancing at his wife with a loving gleam in his eyes. “She came to me brimming with ideas about jazzing things up a bit. We incorporated them, and they’ve worked.”

  “Ideas like what?” Leiliana asked.

  “Well, I suggested that we could add a few other artists to the mix, a violinist, a flutist, one or two back-up singers, and a rapper,” Nia said.

  “The rapper. Now I had to be sold on that idea,” Liam added with a laugh, patting Nia’s leg. “Remember, honey?”

  “He had to be sold on all of them actually. He’s got this stubborn streak. I don’t know if you’ve ever noticed.”

  “Don’t get me started,” said Leiliana.

  “He asked why change up things that have been going so well for us. Why those particular instruments? Would they meld well together? What will the rapper sing? How would that fit in with our image and fan base?”

  “Because of me, we worked through those concerns carefully and were able to make it work,” Liam pointed out in his defense. And then hastened to add. “But, we made the change in the first place because of Nia.”