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I don’t want to answer her. I don’t want her to know that my father, the man I’m a spawn of, is capable of such evil, but now is not the time to protect her from the truth. “Yes. Yes, I believe my father capable of such a thing. I believe he’d do anything to win and come out on top.”
“Even murder Kenneth and frame his own sons?”
“Yes, baby, even that.”
“No.”
“Yes.”
“I can’t let this happen to you.”
“We don’t know anything right now. This is speculation done to protect ourselves. And you. I’m going to protect you.”
She twists away from me and goes down on her knees in front of Cat and Reese. “Protect them. I’ll get another attorney. Please protect them even if you have to throw me under the bus.”
My heart squeezes. The only woman I’ve ever let close to me all but buried me. This one, this one, would bury herself for me. And I won’t let her.
Chapter fifty-nine
Gabe
Before I can even reach for Abbie, Cat is leaning toward her where she still kneels, drawing her hand into hers. “Honey,” Cat declares, “my father doesn’t get to destroy you or my brothers. He doesn’t get to win because he’s an ass and not only that, but I’m married to the best defense attorney on the planet, who is your attorney until this is over.”
“We’re not deserting you,” Reese chimes in. “That’s not how we operate.”
“You can’t represent me if I don’t hire you,” Abbie replies. “I’m not hiring you. That’s official.” She stands up and turns, running right into me.
I catch her arms, repeating Cat’s declaration in my own words. “My father doesn’t get to destroy any of us.”
She grabs my shirt. “I told you to walk away.”
“My father might have dragged me into this anyway. We’re all better off with a united front. And we have your mother to think about, too.”
“We?” she queries.
“We,” I confirm, and as I expect with this group, everyone in the room chimes in and murmurs, “We.”
“This is how we do things,” I add. “We protect our own.”
The forlorn look in those green eyes of hers says what she doesn’t:I’m not one of you.
I lean in, my cheek pressed to hers, lips at her ear. “You’re with me. You’re with us.”
“It’s our way because it was our mother’s way,” Cat adds. “My mother was good and wonderful. This is what she would want. For us to stand together and with you. We’re stronger together.”
“Exactly why my father served you those papers,” I say softly, for her ears only. “He was trying to divide us. Divided, he wins. Together, we win. All in together, Abbie. From this point forward, all in. Say it.”
“Gabe,” she breathes out.
“Say it.”
“Yes,” she says. “I’m all in.”
I don’t give her time to doubt that declaration. I turn her to face the room. “She’s with us.”
“Am I re-hired, Abbie?” Reese queries.
“Are you sure you want to be?” she asks.
