“John,” I said through gritted teeth. “Go.”
He turned and left without another word.
I couldn’t believe this was happening. What the hell had Gabi been thinking? What did she do, stop to run some errands? Run into someone she knew and lost track of time? Put the wrong address in her GPS? Get lost in the office tower? Fall down a manhole?
I raked my fingers through my hair.
She knew how much this meant to my business—and to everyone who worked here. I told her how this would benefit everyone. It wasn’t just about me. How could she drop the ball like this?
A thought occurred to me that chilled me to the bone. Maybe she’d missed the deadline on purpose. Maybe it was some kind of payback for how I’d treated her before. How could she betray me after everything we’d been through and how good things had been recently? Had she been playing me?
Someone knocked on my door.
“Go away,” I hissed.
One of my accountants poked his head in. “Sir, I’m sorry to bother you. I just need you to sign off on these numbers before—”
“I said go away!”
My accountant flinched, hurried away down the stairs, and disappeared into one of the communal rooms down on the deck. Whatever business he had to do with me could wait. I was in no place to handle petty dealings like signatures.
Don’t fall back into your old ways, a small voice in the back of my mind called out to me. You’re not your father. You can maintain control. Don’t lash out. Don’t let the anger consume you.
Easier said than done.
Had Gabi changed her mind about me? About us? Had she gotten tired of me and decided I wasn’t worth it? Had she finally listened to all the voices in her life telling her that dating her boss was a bad idea?
I cringed at the thought, but it didn’t sound ludicrous.
I’d always known I didn’t deserve her. She deserved someone who was whole and who could give her a good life without having demons in their closet. She deserved someone who knew what real happiness looked and felt like. How was I supposed to chase something I’d never had? Sure, there had been moments in my past marriage where I thought I was happy, but once the rug was pulled out from under me, I wondered if any of those feelings were actually true. How could I trust myself when I’d been so blind to all the deceit?
The rage was flooding my veins like it always used to. I saw red. I felt like my insides were on fire, and with every passing minute, the flames grew hotter and hotter until they were out of control. My father betrayed me. So had my mother, my ex-wife, and now Gabi.
Fuck them all.
I grabbed my cell phone and turned to leave.
And that was when Gabi walked into my office.
She was out of breath. Her clothes were tattered and stained. She looked like she’d just rolled around in a huge pile of wet dirt, and for some insane reason, she was grinning at me.
She looked proud of herself.
Had she done all of this on purpose to spite me? Was this her way of getting even? Had she reeled me in only to cut me down when I finally trusted her?
I couldn’t take it.
She stepped into my office. “Oh my gosh, Jake, you’re never going to believe what just happened to me.”
“Where the hell were you?”
She drew up short, like she’d just walked into an invisible wall. My tone made her flinch and draw her arms around herself. “I was just going to tell you.”
“You look like you’ve been rolling around with dogs,” I spat. “Are you fucking kidding me, Gabi? With the salary I pay you and the perks you get, I thought you’d respect me a little more than this. Who are you?”
She reeled like I’d just slapped her. “Wait,” she breathed.
She was the one who’d fucked up, not me, and she had the audacity to play the victim?