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We smile and it’s a united smile, one that says we both know this is a game. One we both win. “Call your mom. Make sure she knows what’s going on. Find us a shelter location. Let’s save some animals while we’re not falling in love.”
“I like that idea.”
“Good. I need to take care of Jean Claude, among other things. I’ll be back soon.” I kiss her hand and head to the door, with the intent of meeting up with Reid. Kenneth’s murder might be solved, but another problem is not. My father.
“Gabe,” Abbie says, as I’m about to open the door.
I pause, and I know without looking at her that she read me, when I thought she hadn’t. I glance over my shoulder. “Yes?”
“You aren’t your father. Don’t forget that.”
My jaw clenches. Yes. She knows. She damn sure knows that I’m after blood and my father. “No,” I say, agreeing with her. “I’m not like my father.” And with that, I leave. She’s right. I’mnot my father. I don’t hurt people for personal gain. I don’t turn my back on those I care about and I’m not going to start now.
Abbie’s the reason this is over for my father.
She’s the reason he won’t be able to hurt anyone else.
She’s the best thing that ever happened to me and anyone who has ever known my father.
Chapter eighty-eight
Gabe
I’m barely out of Abbie’s office when Lulu steps in front of me. “You had an interesting time while I was gone, I see.”
“Not now. I need to go.”
“I’ll walk with you,” she says, as she often does. “I have a few messages for you.”
“Save them. Get rid of them. No time for them. But yes. Walk with me.”
She nods, and we fall into step, but we don’t speak until we’re on the elevator alone. “Yes, I’m seeing Abbie. We’re moving in together. No, I don’t want anyone to know until she wants them to know. That’s Abbie’s call.”
“You don’t like staying silent about it,” she observes. “She’ll come out of the closet when she trusts you. Not until.”
I feel that assessment as accurate and painful. She wants to trust me. Some part of her does trust me, but her ex was horrible to her. He burned her. Time builds trust. We need time that’s about our life as normal human beings, not murder suspects. “You know about—”
“The murder? Yes. I know. What can I do?”
I update her on the arrest. “That’s good news,” she says. “And again. What can I do?”
“What you always do. Control the sharks biting at my feet. And protect Abbie.”
Her eyes soften. “I will. Like she was my very own boss and friend.”
She’s telling me I’m a friend. “Friend,” I say softly, because we both know I don’t have many. I don’t let people close to me.
The elevator opens and I leave her in the car, thankful she’s back and a friend who will be Abbie’s friend, too. I’m comforted by this thought and walk through the lobby with a focus I might not have without her presence watching over Abbie. It’s a short walk and not long before I’m sitting in a corner booth with my brother.
“Neal, the guy they’re arresting today,” Reid says, “he did work for dad. A lot of work. He’ll know I know. He’ll know that he has to be behind that red wig.” He jabs the table. “He came at my wife. Now he came at your woman. I’m so fucking done with him.”
In this moment, I realize how lucky I am to have Reid and Cat. They aren’t like my father. Reid, who came the closest to that demise, still didn’t become that monster. “We need to be done with him,” I say. “We tried and failed. We can’t fail again.”
“I have dirt on him,” Reid says. “The problem is he has dirt on me, too.”
“His dirt he linked to you to control you.”
“If you go at him,” Reid says, “he’ll come at me.”
