I clawed my hand through my hair and eclipsed the remaining distance between us, grasping her arms with my hands. The contact sent a flurry of currents charging through me.
“If it’s one thing I have never regretted, it’s proposing to you. Don’t ever think I didn’t want to marry you, Tori.”
She jerked her arms free, anger etched in her features. “You are the most confounding man. If you didn’t leave me for any of those reasons, then why put me through that hell? Why cause me so much pain?”
The strength leached from my body, and my shoulders sagged. I couldn’t give her the reason yet. The ink had just dried on the contracts, and my father was vindictive. While he could no longer destroy her career since she worked for me, he still had the means to go after her family business. Until I knew he wouldn’t, I wouldn’t risk it.
Hands plunging into my pockets again, I looked away from her. “Because I’m an ass, just like you thought I was. You have every right to hate me, Tori. I hurt you, and nothing you did warranted my actions. Now you know the truth. I’m the selfish bastard you thought I was all those years.”
Her head tipped as she studied me. Walking to the bar, I poured myself another glass of scotch before turning back to her.
“Anything else you needed to discuss?” I asked, taking a drink.
“Secrets,” she said. “It was always secrets with you, and it still is.” She threw her hands in the air and headed to the door. “Your secrets got us where we are today, Gabe. Maybe it’s time for honesty.”
She swung the door open and glanced back at me.
“I’d like to get to know Reid,” I said, expecting the reaction I got.
Her eyes narrowed, and she stormed back over to me, the door slamming behind her. “You have no right to see him. Not until I have some answers. I can’t trust you, Gabe. I don’t even know who you are anymore.” And the pain lanced through me again because she was the only one who truly knew me. “Until you earn my trust, you’ll have no contact with my son. I don’t need you doing to him what you did to me. I already have to face the questions about why he doesn’t have a father. Why the other kids at the daycare have dads and he doesn’t. Why his cousin has a mother and a father but he only has me. I don’t need to explain why you left him when you decide you’ve had enough and disappear on me again.”
Her steps were quick and angry as she crossed the room and didn’t stop this time. The door closed behind her with a loud thud, and I lowered my glass. Her words stung like a hive of aggravated bees attacking me from the inside. The guilt hammered me until I slid down the bar and pulled my knees to my chest. I’d done this. Left her alone. Left my son without a father. Nothing I could ever do would make that better, nor could it ever alleviate the guilt that had festered for over five years and continued to compound with every day Tori was back in my life.
Chapter 23
Gabe
Two weeks passed, and in that time, the tension between me and Liv didn’t cease, and the uncomfortable silence from Tori continued. I was stuck between the two women I loved but who currently hated me.
I stepped into Liv’s office, trapping her before she could dodge my attempt to talk.
“I have Pilates at noon. If you make me late, I’ll empty every bottle of that high-end scotch you like.”
“Ouch, that’s uncalled for.”
Her mouth twisted as she sat back and crossed her arms.
“I thought I made it clear I wasn’t talking to you anymore.”
“Come on, Liv.”
She stood and rested her hands on the desk. “Go away.”
“No.” I moved to the desk and placed my hands on the other side, staring her down. “You can’t continue to not talk to me. It’s bad enough I have to walk on eggshells with Tori, but adding you and your emphasized silence doesn’t help.”
“Too bad, backstabber.”
“Are you kidding me? So I told you I would have gone back to her. I didn’t, and things worked out for you. You have your inheritance, and we had our revenge. It worked out.”
“But you would have given it all up for her.”
“I didn’t.” Even if it was still killing me.
She lifted her hands and crossed her arms. “But you would have.”
“I have a son, Liv. Your nephew. A boy I don’t know because I turned my back on them.” I let out a sigh. “I know what you gave up to do this, but there was no child involved. If there had been, would you have made the same choice to leave him?”
“It doesn’t matter,” she said, her sight falling from mine.
