My Billionaire Fling by Maci Dillon
GABE
It’s a photo of me at fifteen, shortly after charges were filed against my father for his involvement in the crash. At the time, I thought it was the second worst day of my life when three officers visited our home and took my father away in cuffs. Second only to the day my mother died.
“Yes, that’s me.” I lift my eyes from the article and stare at the woman I’m in love with. The woman I’ve hid myself from and may now pay the ultimate price.
“I was fifteen. This photo was taken outside our home after returning from court the day my father’s charges were read aloud, and bail was posted. This was the day I declared my father dead to me. I escaped that night and booked myself into the boys’ home, begging for a safe place away from my father.”
“You felt unsafe with him?”
I scoff. “No, never. But once I learned what he’d done, everything I thought I knew changed. And I wanted nothing to do with him. I used his charges and a wad of cash my father kept beneath his mattress to convince the lady at the group home to take me in.”
“Is that why you changed your name, to remove yourself from his image?”
“From his image, his name, and what would come of his reputation. Once I turned sixteen the month after he went to prison, I changed my name. Shortened my first name to Gabe and took my mother’s maiden name.”
“Why did you hide this from me, Gabe?”
“It’s not the best first date conversation, Sophia, and I liked you.”
“You didn’t know me! Did you think dating me out of pity or guilt would save your soul and redeem you of your father’s sins?”
“His sins aren’t my own!” I lash out, scrunching the paper in my hands and throwing the ball into the pile of mess on the floor.
“No, they’re not. So why hide the fact you knew who I was.”
“I thought I was protecting you, Sophia.”
“No, Gabe. You were protecting yourself. You wormed your way into my life, pressured me into a relationship that was more than I wanted, lied to the press, moved my whole life into a home you chose to call ours, waited until I fell in love with you, and bam!” Her arms flail around as she yells at me, her words cutting us both.
She turns and crouches over the back of the sofa, her head in her hands. Her body shakes as painful sobs break through the silence. Tears blur my vision as I listen to her and remember all the nights I cried myself to sleep as a teenage boy, desperate to wake and find out it was all a dream. That my father was still the loving, caring, successful, and genuine man I’d always believed him to be.
That day never came, and this day wasn’t supposed to either.
“Sophia,” I whisper as I try to comfort her, rubbing my hand over the middle of her back.
“Don’t touch me. I don’t even know who you are,” she spits, pulling from beneath my touch.
“Yes, you do. You know me better than I know myself. And fuck, I never wanted you to relive this pain and was trying to save you the heartache from revisiting all these memories.” My eyes plead with her, begging for forgiveness.
“This pain is part of my life, and I live with it every fucking day.”
“That’s not what I meant, and you know it.”
“I don’t know shit anymore. How can I ever believe a word you say to me after this?”
“I never lied to you, Sophia.”
“Omitting important life-altering facts is as good as lying, where I come from.”
Knowing she’s right, I nod.
“Let’s go home and talk about it.”
When she lifts her eyes to mine, I know she has no intention of coming with me. “No, Gabe. I’m not ready to go to our fake home and continue living our fake lives.”
“There’s nothing fake about my love for you.”
Tears raging down her face, she wipes them away with the back of her hand. “I fell in love with you, now I don’t…”
“Don’t say it.”
“I’m sorry, Gabe. I don’t know how to be with you right now. I need some space.”
I glance around the apartment, only half decorated and void of any personal belongings. “Sweetheart, you can’t stay here.”
“I know. But my brothers need to know what I’ve uncovered this afternoon before your New York Times story goes live.”
Frowning, I consider asking how the hell she knew about the interview, but I have no right to ask questions. “Yeah, received the alert from an unknown number, and hours later, Danny or Dustin, shows up and tells us he can’t wait to see the look on our faces when we learn the truth over the weekend. So, I assume he was the one who sent it.”
“That creepy son of a bitch has your number?” So he didn’t outright tell her but gave her all the clues to figure it out herself. Weak bastard.
“What does it matter? He’s no threat to any of us, he just wants to see us all hurt the way he is. I think he blames us for his father’s death, and I dare say, he’ll never forgive you for your father’s part in it.”
“What about you?”
“I need space and time with my family to figure this out in my head.”
Her strong will is one of the things I love about her, and it won’t do any good to order her home with me.
“Promise me, you’ll let Viktor drive you to your brothers. You might trust Danny, but I don’t, and I need to know you’re safe.”
“I didn’t say I trust him.”
“You should know, my private investigator confirmed he was the one to leak our relationship to the press. And he made that dickhead reporter say I was a client by waving a huge wad of cash in his face. Once I show him the proof we have of the bribe, I’ll slap him with a restraining order and a ticket home. He won’t be any more trouble for any of us.”
Silently, she nods. And I leave, knowing I can’t expect anything more from her tonight.
But leaving without her is my worst nightmare.
Making a call to Jarett, I warn him she’s coming with news that casts a dark shadow over my name. But I remind him to consider who I am as both a person and a business associate. “I love your sister with all that I am, and I’ll fight for her forgiveness.” I end the call before he can ask any more questions, hating that I won’t be in the room to defend myself when she shares the news.
The secret I’ve done everything to keep from being spilled.
All I can do is trust our love is enough, and her brothers will come to understand my reason for keeping quiet. My past might have brought me to them, first Jarett when I approached him about a deal a few years ago and then Sophia. But the life Sophia and I have is as genuine as I’m the son of a killer.
