“Do what?” I asked.
She laughed nastily, but no light entered her eyes. “Oh, you’re going to play Mr. Innocent? To think I ever boughtanythingyou said to me.” She shook her head in disbelief.
“Gabriella, I don’t know what you’re talking about,” I said insistently, taking a step toward her, desperate to be near her.
She threw her hands up exasperatedly before motioning toward the door behind me. “You called the SEC!” she nearly screamed. “Howcouldyou?”
I jerked my head back, utterly thrown off by what she was accusing me of. I opened my mouth to say something, but she put her hand up as her eyes continued to burn through me.
“You were so spiteful after losing your precious position as CEO, that you called the fucking government on my father’s pride and joy. Hetrustedyou. He gave you a position you werenevermeant to have, and you dothis.And behind my back!”she yelled.
She took another step toward me and jabbed her finger into my chest. “I don’t care what happened between us or what it costyou, you had no right! I don’t care what your accounting firm found. You should have talked to me!”
“Gabriella…” I started, wanting to explain that I had nothing to do with this. Yes, my accounting team had found the issue, but all I did was bring it to Mr. Harold’s attention. I was trying to help him. What happened after that, I didn’t know, but it had been in his hands.
I reached for her hand, desperate to feel her and get back to where we were earlier, but she yanked her hand away. “Don’t!” she yelled, pointing at me. “Don’t touch me.”
“Please, you have to listen to me…” I pleaded.
“I don’thaveto do anything. In fact, I’mdone.Done with all of this. Done with you. Done with the highs and lows of simplyknowingyou.”
“You don’t mean that,” I said, shaking my head.
“Yes, I do.” She nodded, her voice shaking from anger. “You’ve messed with my family. We canneverhave a future. It’s too messy. It’s always been too messy. We were idiots for thinking this could ever work.”
I saw a flicker of sadness replace the anger in her hazel eyes. I felt the same sadness in me now. Maybe we had been idiots. Me, the biggest one of all, professing my love for her. I thought we had it all figured out. That our feelings for each other could beenough to get us through everything, but I could see that I was wrong.
Now that I thought about it, she had never told me she loved me back. I felt like a prize idiot now. I had opened myself up to someone for the first time ever, only to lose them right after. I wondered if ever had her to begin with. My feelings had gone unreciprocated. Did I really think a love could grow from the hate she had toward me? I was delusional.
I looked at her now, standing before me with her arms crossed tightly across her chest. She still looked so damn beautiful, even in her rage. It made my heart physically hurt. As much as I wanted to defend myself, it was clear she wouldn’t believe me. She had her mind made up about me. She had since the very beginning. Maybe I was just as bad as she thought. She was better off without me.
I hadn’t donethis, but it was probably only a matter of time until I did fuck up. Maybe this was all just a sign that we weren’t meant to be together. She was right. It was too messy. There had been more lows than highs, even though the highs took me to new levels of happiness. The good would never outweigh the bad.
“You’re right,” I muttered, the words feeling like they were teeth being pulled. Resistant and painful.
I watched her throat bob as she watched me take a step toward the door. This was what she wanted. She couldn’t look at me like that now. Not after everything she just said. I turned the knoband pulled it open, giving her one last look before walking out the door. It was the hardest goodbye and not a word was spoken.
I wasn’t only walking out on her, but our baby, and that ripped me open. I had just held those glossy photos in my hands, in awe of the tiny human before me. I didn’t know I could love an undecipherable picture so deeply. I didn’t know it would be so painful to leave. I hadn’t even had a chance to try and be a good father before it was ripped away from me.
Chapter 41
Gabriella
I wondered how many times I would be able to endure Chandler walking away from me, but this was the last time. As painful as it was, I tried not to let my hurt show. I couldn’t give him that satisfaction, no matter what we shared this afternoon together. He had tried to hurt my father and his company, and in doing so, he hurt me. And for what? Because his pride was too hurt? Revenge? I thought I mattered more to him.
I wiped at my cheek, tears now falling as I looked at the closed door he had just walked out of. He hadn’t even tried to defend himself, or maybe I hadn’t given him the chance to. All I saw was red when I looked at him. He knew how much this company meant to me and now it was being torn apart by the SEC all because of him.
The first thing he did when I left the office was bring in his own team of accountants to dig into my father’s company. I couldn’t understand why, and was finding myself irritated that hehadfound something. Somethingbig. I shouldn’t be irritated. Someone was stealing from my father, and Chandler was onto them. Whoeverthemwas. I wished ignorance was bliss in this situation, but I had to find out who was responsible.
I cleaned myself up, wiping the salty tears from my face and tucking my hair behind my ears. If I wasn’t a mess already, me crying like a baby while I hid in Chandler’s old office wasn’t helping. I kept getting flashbacks of what went on between us here in this office, but quickly pushed them away. It was over now. It had ended as quickly as we gave it the chance to begin. My heart felt like it had cracked down the middle, but I had to move on. At least for right now.
I opened the office door and peered down either side of the hallway, but there was no sign of Chandler among the sea of SEC agents who were carelessly continuing their ransack. I glared at each one of them as I walked back to the conference room, putting on my best game face as I stepped inside. My father was rubbing his temples as his attorney spoke quietly to him.
“Could you give us a minute?” I interrupted, gesturing toward the door.
His attorney looked at my father for permission, who in return gave him a single nod. I sat beside my father and waited until we were alone, the click of the door sounding behind his attorney. I took my father’s hands and held them tightly in mine. He lookedso lost. So childlike. It was so different from the father I knew. I knew I had to be strong for him.
“I’m so sorry for what Chandler did. He’s gone now. He won’t be back,” I said firmly.
