Page 49 of Forbidden Sins
Ellie shrugged indifferently, making him feel like punching a wall. But he got his anger and hurt under control.
He put the ring in her hand. “But I meant what I said earlier. The ring is yours. In fact, I meant everything I said to you.” He turned and strode down the hall.
“Gabe, wait!”
Instead of facing her, he waved casually over his shoulder, dismissing her, without even looking back.
Gabe stood outside of his office. His most fucked-up day was just getting worse and worse. Kellen looked up at him but said nothing, most likely stunned at seeing his boss anything but put together. He quickly averted his eyes and looked back to his computer, but his fingers didn’t move over the keyboard.
Gabe put his hand on the doorknob, about to enter his office and try to see how he could even go about salvaging his career. But something stopped him. Instead of opening his door, he turned around and went back down the hall to Charles’s office.
Striding past Charles’s assistant, he walked right into his mentor’s office. The older man was clearly surprised to see him. “Yes, Gabe?”
He watched Charles’s hand shake as he brought the scotch tumbler to his lips. “I need to talk to you.”
He waved at him to proceed.
“I’m in love with Ellie.” Charles nodded, but didn’t say anything. “It might be too late for us, but you need to rethink your relationship with her. She’s kind, smart, funny, compassionate, and your approximation of her, that she’s still the irresponsible party girl she used to be, is bullshit.”
“My relationship with my daughter is none of your concern.”
“That’s where you’re wrong. Ellie concerns me. Her desire to be close to you touched every aspect of our relationship.”
“You don’t know what she’s put me through. The headlines, the gossip.”
“She was a teenager. Get to know her, sir. You won’t regret it.” He paused. “I don’t.”
“This matter with Ellie aside. You started a physical relationship with another associate. You’re her mentor. You know that is highly inappropriate.”
Gabe nodded. “Yes, sir.”
“If I can’t trust you, how could I propose you as partner?”
Gabe shook his head. “You know what? I don’t care anymore.”
“Excuse me?”
“You’ve held that goddamn partnership over my head, dangling the carrot for far too long. I don’t care. I don’t want it anymore. And now that I think about it, I don’t even want to work at this firm anymore. Consider this my resignation.” Gabe turned without saying anything else, but before he reached the door, Charles called to him.
“Gabe,” he said, in a sad tone that almost made Gabe pity him.
“What?”
“What was the fight about, between you and Ian?”
“He discovered some things about me that I didn’t really want you to know.” Gabe didn’t care about revealing the truth about himself, if it took the focus off Ellie. “Ian had me investigated and found out that I not only serve as counsel for the owners of Di Terrestres, but I’m an owner, as well.”
“You what? You own that...that...den of sin?” Charles sputtered so dramatically Gabe rolled his eyes.
“With my friends, yes.” His chuckle held little humor. “You know, it’s ridiculous how long I was wary of you finding out. But really, the fight was that he saw me with Ellie, and had some comments about her.”
“You gave up on your career for Ellie?”
“I’d give up a lot more than that for her.” He extended his hand to his former mentor. “But, Charles, I want to thank you for the opportunity you’ve given me here. I really appreciate it. But it’s over. I’ll go pack up my office now.”
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
GABESATBEHINDhis piano, his right hand pressing a sequence of keys that should have combined melodically with those played by the left hand, if only that hand hadn’t been holding a tumbler of scotch. He drained his glass, put it down and filled it again with the bottle that sat on the top, not taking his right hand from the keys.