32
~ Evelyn ~
My brother is waiting for me in the hallway when I come out of the executive floor ladies’ room.
He is a solemn figure in his bespoke midnight-blue suit and crisp white shirt. His tie is askew, the top button of his collar unfastened below his throat. His dark head is bent, his broad back leaning against the mahogany wood paneled wall, hands stuffed in his pants pockets.
He looks as though he’s been through hell and back.
I’m sure I do too.
I’ve spent the last forty-five minutes in the bathroom, trying to wash the blood-red lipstick stains from my dress and fingers. Really, what I’ve been doing is hiding in the solitude of the luxurious restroom, giving myself a chance to grieve the loss of Gabriel Noble.
Because that’s what this feels like. Death. Mourning.
A soul-deep emptiness.
He’s gone from my life, and while I am still hurting from the reason we’re not together, being without him is only making the pain worse.
“I came back to my office and you were gone,” Andrew says, his deep voice cautious, compassionate. His light green eyes watch me with regret as I approach him. “Lily told me where to find you.”
“How long have you been out here?”
He shrugs faintly. “A while. Are you okay?”
“No.”
His gaze drops from mine and he utters a quiet curse. “Evie, I’m sorry. I’m sorry about all of this. I never wanted you to get hurt. That’s what this whole thing was about.”
I shake my head. “No, Andrew. That’s not what this was about. It was about you treating me like a child. You didn’t respect me enough to give me the truth.”
He frowns. “I do respect you. More than you know.”
“How can you say that when instead of being honest with me, you went behind my back and hired someone to guard me like I’m a piece of property? You still want to handle me as if I’m that sick, broken girl you brought home from Paris.”
His face is filled with consternation. “I can’t get that image out of my mind. When I got the call that you were in the hospital three-thousand miles away, my world just about stopped. And then, when I got there and saw how sick you’d become . . . Christ, Evelyn. I should’ve known. I’m your brother. I should’ve done something more to get you out of that situation before it nearly killed you.”
“You did get me out of there,” I remind him, gently,because I can hear the anguish that’s still fresh in his deep voice. Anguish he’s held all this time, because of me. “You tried to help me, numerous times. In the end, you were the only one who did help, Andrew.”
A heavy sigh gusts out of him as his gaze meets mine. “Every day after I brought you home, all those months you were in therapy, I dreaded I’d get a call telling me you were gone. I watched you fight your way back. You were so brave, Evie, so fucking strong. Stronger than I would’ve been. Hell, you’re stronger than I am now. I don’t know why it’s taken me this long to see it.”
I want to hold on to my anger for my brother, but it’s hard to feel anything but remorse now.
I understood how deeply he cared for me during all the years of my ordeal, but now I can see that although I got better, he is still living with the scars of watching me suffer.
He shakes his head. “I’m sorry I kept the truth from you. I should’ve told you. Hell, I should have taken the whole thing to the police right away. Instead, I dragged Gabe into this, too. Now, you’ve both got every right to despise me.”
I reach out to him, briefly placing my hand against his cheek. “I don’t despise you, Andrew. I never could. As for Gabe, I’m sure he’ll get over it. After all, he was only doing his job.”
“No, that’s not all, Evelyn. He cares about you. That was obvious to me today. I’ve known him for more than a year and I’ve never seen him like this. Not about anything, or anyone. He told me he’s in love with you.”
I close my eyes against the words I so desperately want to believe. Words I was afraid to trust when Gabe said them to me, because my heart had been crackedopen from the hurt of his betrayal. It may never heal from that.
“He lied to me. He let me think I meant something to him, when the whole time he was being paid to care about me.”
Andrew slowly shakes his head. “He wanted to tell you everything. It was me who insisted against it.”
“You insisted.”
