Shit.
“So, it’s true…” he said, looking up at me.
I could only nod.
He stood from the couch abruptly.
“I didn’t mean for it to happen!” I said, standing up after him, my voice pleading. “You have to understand…”
“Understand what? That my daughter decided to humiliate me by sleeping with my replacement?” he asked, his face turning red as his voice rose to a level I hadn’t heard since I was maybe a teenager.
“It didn’tmeananything!” I said.
“Oh, and that is supposed to make me feel better?” he snarled.
“No, I just…I don’t know…I messed up, Dad.”
“You sure as hell did. I thought I knew you, Gabriella. Now, I hardly feel like I recognize you. Hell, I can’t even look at you. God, what will your mother think? Thank God she’s out of town.” He shook his head, turning his gaze to the wall behind me.
I thought his disappointment might destroy me right then and there, and I would melt into the hardwood floor in a pool of nothing.
“You will never be CEO,” he said almost in a whisper, and I swore he was on the verge of tears. “I can never trust you after this.”
I already knew if my father ever found out that it would come to this, like I even had a chance at it anyway. But what about Chandler? I hated that I thought about him in this moment. Hated myself even more for the words that tumbled out of me.
“What does this mean for Chandler?”
My father looked at me sharply, like he couldn’t believe I was even asking. I could hardly believe it myself.
“The asshole who knocked you up?” he scoffed.
I bristled slightly.
“As of this moment, you’re fired, so what happens to him is no concern of yours.”
“F-fired?” I asked.
“I don’t want you anywhere near my company. You’ve humiliated me enough. I don’t need you tarnishing my legacy with your… mistake.”
He looked me up and down with utter disbelief before turning toward the door and leaving, slamming it behind him as I fell to the floor in pieces.
Chapter 32
Chandler
“Order for Chandler,” I told the young girl behind the counter. She gave me a smile, her teeth full of braces, before looking through the brown paper bags on the counter next to her. I usually sent someone out to grab my lunch, or had it delivered, but today I needed the walk to clear my brain. Of course, it didn’t help. My brain was flooded with problems.
Gabriella. The baby. The missing money.Millionsof it.
Still, it was good to get out of the office. I almost expected Gabriella to be back in her office after taking a week to work from home. I thought she would grow tired of it. The office had been her second home for years and years. I knew how much she enjoyed working there, but I had taken that joy away from her. The guilt ate at me more than I let on.
When I arrived at the office this morning, her office door was still closed with no sign of life beyond it. It irritated me that I cared so much, which was probably why I texted her a mundane task. Whether it was to piss her off or to just hear from her, my brain and my heart weren’t so sure. Her snarky response just made me wish I hadn’t messed things up so badly, but there was no turning back now. Even if I wanted to fix things, I had to think what was best for the baby and it was far from me being its father.
“Here you go,” said the teenager, plucking my bag from the lineup and handing it to me.
I slid her a fifty-dollar bill and grabbed a Styrofoam cup from the stack next to her on the counter. “Keep the change,” I said with a wink, assuming this was her summer job before she went back to high school.
“Thank you,” she said excitedly.
