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She pauses, then laughs. “I’m not offended. Just relieved that you can still look at me after what my father’s done. He’s not a bad man, Logan. You know that. He’s just ill and scared and…” She comes and sits next to me. “I’ll do anything for him. But I can’t drag you into it.”
“Yeah, I know.”
“I’ll speak to him. Maybe there’s another way. One where you can still work together, help your dad, and…” She sighs. “And he’ll still be happy too.”
If only it were that simple. It’s what I’ve been working on ever since we came back from Italy. Spencer’s not backing down.
“Your dad wants you to be financially secure. He wants you to have a family. A legacy for him to leave behind. He won’t get both if we team up on Vex but don’t…” I can’t even say the word.Marry.Spencer won’t get what he’s been wanting this whole time. That’s why I’ve gotten nowhere with him. Those are his terms. Or no deal.
Gabrielle stares at her untouched coffee in silence.
“It’s irrelevant now, anyway. I’ve lost investors. The project’s underfunded. It can’t go ahead. My father will lose all he’s worked for. I was hoping I could save it. It’s got so much fucking potential. It could fix everything.” I curl my fingers into a fist.
“I’m sorry,” Gabrielle whispers. She reaches over and takes my hand, squeezing it briefly before wrapping both of her hands back around her mug.
“I told him I’d still find a way. Build everything back from scratch the way he did.”
“Do you think that’s possible?”
“It has to be. It might take me years but…”
She nods, then looks away blinking. Her phone pings with an incoming message on the counter and she looks at the name on the screen. Her lips lift into a pained smile.
“I admire you. Doing it for your parents. You’re driven by your love for them. There’s nothing stronger than a parent and child bond.” She strokes the phone screen. “I left Dad alone after Mum died. And now I’m going to lose him soon too.” She swipes a tear away as it rolls down her cheek. “I wish I could make him happy for what time we have left together.”
“I’m sure he’s happy just having you home.”
She smiles but it doesn’t reach her eyes. “Thank you for saying that. I love my job, and being away so much is a huge part of it. But I know he needs me right now. Only…” She picks up her phone and looks at it. “I really need to talk to him about what me staying means.”
She places her phone on the counter and slides it toward me.
I glance at her and then at the image on the screen.
“Who—?”
She looks at the screen, then back at me. “I should have told him the minute I got back. Earlier, in fact. But then I found his medication and everything has felt like one big mess since then.” She wipes away another stray tear. “I let myself get swept along trying to make him happy. I felt I owed him because I left. But I let my guilt side-track me.”
She studies the image on her phone. “This is something I’ve wanted for a long time. I’ve been making plans. Now that I’m back in London and have a fixed base, those plans can move forward. In fact, it’ll work better.”
I look at the image that’s making her smile with devotion in her eyes.
“You love your dad, Gabrielle. There’s no shame in that. We all make decisions based on what we think is better for other people sometimes. And we forget what it is that we want.”
My mind drifts to Maddy again. She doesn’t want me to marry Gabrielle. She wants my family to be okay.Because she loves me.My head’s still spinning on that one since last night’s revelations with the boys.
She loves me.
I told her she didn’t hate me anymore. But I never thought past that to what she does feel. I take a deep breath and look at Gabrielle.
“Who is he?”
“Someone Dad needs to hear about.” She gives me a wobbly smile. “Would you… come with me when I tell him?”
“Me?”
“It might change the way he sees things. We can hope.”
“Gabrielle, I can’t do that.” I look at her phone screen again. “This is for you and him to talk about. Don’t give me and my father’s business a second thought. This is about the two of you. Your family.”
