He gives me a rueful look. “I demanded Gabe’s silence, as his friend and colleague. I thought you would be better off without knowing about any of it—about the fact that someone was targeting you, about Gabe’s covert role in protecting you—at least until we had the situation contained. He disagreed with me on that, more than once. But I told him I knew best. I really believed I did. Now, I realize I was wrong. Gabe knew I was, but he kept those secrets from you only because I made him promise that he would. He’s a good man, Evie. He’s been a good friend, too. I’m sorry to see what that friendship has cost him with you.”
A piece of my outrage calves away from the larger ache still filling my chest. Gabe never said it was Andrew who insisted on the secrets, so I just assumed he participated without qualms.
How would I have reacted if he’d laid the blame at my brother’s feet today? I’m not sure, and as much as it kindles a small hope in me to hear that betraying me hadn’t come easily to him, it doesn’t change the end result.
“No. He chose,” I remind my brother as well as myself. “You gave him a job to do, and he did it. He chose that job over everything else, over me. That’s how much he loves me.”
Andrew’s brows lower. “Evelyn, Gabe resigned.”
Shock takes me aback for a moment. I gape at my brother. “He did? When?”
“After you and he spoke. He tendered his resignation, and from what I’m told, he left the building.”
A flood of emotion pours over me. I can’t believe he would quit the job that means so much to him. The job I accused him of trying to preserve at the cost of our relationship. Instead, it was his bond as Andrew’s friend that kept Gabe’s silence as much as anything else. Perhaps more so.
And then today, after the hurtful things I said to him, Gabe threw it all away.
“Where did he go?”
Andrew shakes his head. “I have no idea. Kelsey O’Connor turned his service pistol in to Nick, so I believe she was the last person to talk with Gabe before he left.”
My feet are in motion even before my brother finishes his sentence. I race for the elevator and punch the down button.
“Evie, wait.” Andrew jogs up behind me as I enter the waiting lift.
He stops outside of it, but he doesn’t challenge me, not this time. We’ve moved past that now, even though I can see he’s struggling to allow me the space enough to make my own decisions, to risk my own mistakes.
He’s not going to stop me from going after the man I love, even though his expression is filled with reservation.
“I need to find him, Andrew. I just . . . need him.”
I see his nod in the instant before the doors slideclosed between us.
Down in the lobby, Luis at the desk tells me where to find Kelsey. I race to the meeting room where she is speaking with several of the security team. I know I should knock, but I have no restraint right now. I catch the tail end of her announcement that Gabe has resigned, but then everyone goes silent as I open the door.
“Where is he, Kelsey?”
Her eyes widen, as if she’s not quite sure how to respond. Stepping out of the room, she closes the door to speak privately with me in the hallway.
“Please,” I implore her. “I need to see Gabe. I need to tell him that I love him.”
A smile breaks over her face. “New York Hospital on Bell Boulevard in Queens. His father was admitted for chest pains this morning, but he’s fine. Gabe was heading there to see his brother Jake.”
Shit. The hospital is across the bridge and I have no car to get there. I also realize in a flood of misery that my purse, wallet, and phone are all back in Gabe’s apartment. We left in such a hurry, and I was so distraught, I didn’t stop to grab it.
“I don’t have my purse.” I give her a sheepish smile. “Do you, ah, do you have any money I could borrow for a taxi?”
“I have a MetroCard for the subway, if that will help?”
Oh, God. The subway. A sudden wave of anxiety seeps through me at the thought.
Kelsey notices my hesitation. “Or you could use my phone to call him?”
No, I can’t do that, no matter how much I wouldprefer to avoid going anywhere near the subway. But what I need to say to Gabe can’t be done over the phone.
I need to see his face. I need to be able to touch him, to kiss him.
I need to be able to look into his soul-stirring hazel eyes and tell him that I love him. I’ll get on my knees and beg him to forgive me for pushing him away, if that’s what it will take to win him back.
