Chapter Twenty-Nine
Luna
I’d been asleep for hours when Gabriel’s phone woke me. I’d been jostled awake as he reached for the thing and fought to quiet it. After a minute, he’d gone downstairs, and I figured it was because of Harbor, so I turned over and tried to go back to sleep. I didn’t want to get in the middle of any other drama and hoped things would be worked out come morning.
It was bad enough Kim had heard the whole Sandra thing, but the pleasant retreat I’d hoped to provide was ruined. Thank goodness she was easygoing and we’d had a nice dinner on the patio with Gabriel.
We’d talked his ear off about college and some of the crazy pranks Kim had pulled. I had usually been too scared to join her, but the times I did help were epic. Gabriel laughed and joked and told stories of his brief job as a stuntman in Hollywood. It’s where he met Joe. After a near miss with one stunt, he decided to go into the security business and was a personal bodyguard to the stars. Those were exciting stories, and I’d hoped it would take his mind off Harbor and ease the tension of the day.
Feeling his place grow cold beside me, I tossed and turned, hoping he wouldn’t be long. I’d gotten used to his presence and wasn’t sure if I would ever be comfortable again in my own bed alone. The thought gave me an ache deep in my chest. My own apartment was waiting, but a part of me never wanted to go back.
If you had told me two months ago that I’d be in Gabriel Grant’s home, in his bed, married to him, I’d have laughed. No way would I have bet on us, but here we were, and I found myself enjoying his company more and more despite the troubles, which were plenty.
I sat up in the bed and flicked on the lamp beside it. After letting my eyes adjust, I planted my feet on the floor and stood. I wrapped my robe around me tight as I yawned and found my way to the bathroom. I hoped once I was comfortable again, I could get back to sleep, but on my way back to the bed, I heard a loud scream. Kim.
I took off down the hall and to the stairs where I could see two shadowed figures in the dim light from the hallway. Halfway down, I realized Harbor had Kim’s arm, pulling her as she struggled.
“Let her go!” I dove on him, punching my fist against his shoulder repeatedly. He wasn’t about to hurt my friend and get away with it. She scrambled to get up, but couldn’t seem to.
Harbor spun on me. “Whoa. What the fuck is your problem?” He pushed me back and Kim found her way to her feet and got between us.
“I’m fine, Luna! He was only helping me up. My socks slipped on the damned tile.” I tried to process what she was saying, but the gist was that I’d overreacted. Considering all of the drama that had unfolded over the past day, who could blame me? Kim was my best friend and I’d take on anyone or anything to protect her.
“What the hell is going on out here?” Gabriel came from down the hall as if he’d been on the patio outside. Joe approached behind him, his gun in his hand. He returned it to wherever he’d pulled it from around his back; I don’t know why I’d never realized he was packing heat before.
“I’m sorry. I thought he was hurting Kim.” I kept my voice down but Harbor postured over me.
“What would make you think a thing like that about me? I’ve been down at that damned station all night answering questions for that bunch of assholes at the LAPD, and I come home to get attacked all over again. Real nice.” Harbor brushed off his clothes, and I felt horrible that I’d assumed anything.
I reached out and placed my hand on his arm to apologize, but he pushed me back.
Harbor lashed out. “Keep your fucking hands off of me you money-hungry psycho bitch.”
Gabriel stepped up to his face, their noses almost touching. “You watch yourself. You don’t put your hands on her and mind your mouth.” He turned to walk away, but spun back on his nephew.
“What the hell were you doing in Las Vegas? Don’t pretend that you weren’t there; I saw you on the video myself.” I wondered if Harbor would ever find out that Gabriel had turned over that evidence to the police himself.
Kim and Joe slipped off down the hall, and I wondered if the two were headed outside. I couldn’t blame them. I wished I could go, too, but I wanted to stick close to Gabriel and hear what Harbor had to say.
“I asked if I could go, and you said no.” He flashed a glare my way and then turned back to his uncle as his face reddened. “All I wanted was to spend a little down time with you, but you said you were going for business only.” He held his hand out toward me. “Is she all business?”
Gabriel groaned and shifted on his feet. “She works for me. That’s why she was there.”
“Right, so you married her. As if you didn’t spend the night in the casino. I wanted to hit some clubs, but you didn’t want to deal with me? No, you wanted to fuck your assistant. Well done. You probably should have held off on the alcohol a bit because she took you good.”
“What I do or don’t do isn’t any of your business. And, if it meant so damned much to you to go, why not say so?” Gabriel hadn’t addressed the personal attacks, and I waited for him to do so.
“I shouldn’t have to say so. You should want me around.” Harbor made a move to go, but stopped and glared at Gabriel. And even though his eyes locked on his uncle’s, his words were for me. “He doesn’t love you, Luna. He’s not capable of such a thing. He’s going to keep you under his thumb until he’s ready to let you go. I doubt it will be too long now. Enjoy it while you can.”
I hated the way Harbor and his mother treated Gabriel and wished he’d turn them both out, but I couldn’t help seeing the damaged side of Harbor.
There was more than rebellion that had him acting out, and I’d guess that he’d hoped Gabriel would love him as his father had. I knew what it was like to lose a parent and to be angry at the world and everyone else in your life so you could project all your issues onto them to make yourself feel better. That’s what he was doing.
And he wasn’t done. He stepped back down level with Gabriel. “What’s funny is she doesn’t care. Do you, Luna? You’re not here for love anyway; you’re here for money. Like all those others before you. I told the cops about seeing Cindy.”
That stopped me in my tracks and I turned around to look down at the two, still waiting to see if Gabriel was going to defend me, but instead he was more interested that Harbor had seen Cindy.
Gabriel narrowed his eyes. “You saw her?”
“Yes, and I told them how she was there to see someone else.”
Gabriel grabbed his arm and I expected Harbor to pull away. “How did you know?” he asked, his voice rough like he’d swallowed sandpaper.
“I saw her down in the lobby and approached her. I asked her if she wanted to come back to my room and party, but she said she had a date. She talked to me for about ten minutes before going to find the man. She never said who he was, and she never mentioned you.”
“Probably because she’d seen me,” said Gabriel, shoving his hands in his pocket. “Did you see Stacey?”
“No, I never saw her. But I did see you and Luna ducking into the bar and later at the casino. I made sure you didn’t see me. After I picked up a woman from the club, I left to go back to my room at the hotel down the street. I didn’t kill anyone, and frankly, the idea of anyone thinking that makes me sick.”
“You should have told me all of this. Your mother was worried.” Gabriel’s voice softened and he slipped a hand free out of his pocket to clap Harbor on the back. I’d heard enough.
“I’m going to bed.” I’d had enough of being called a gold digger for a lifetime. The only thing I’d ever asked Gabriel for was a job, and that was it. I paused for a response, but when I didn’t get one, I hurried up to his room.
His room – not mine, not ours, never ours. No matter what he wanted me to think, I knew better.
I crawled into the big bed and slipped under the covers before burying myself deep down in the sea of pillows that Gabriel kept along the headboard. I pulled them around me like a cocoon and hoped that when he came to bed, he’d have no way to snuggle close to me. It might have seemed childish, but I didn’t care.
I couldn’t keep going on pretending that this was all real. We’d tried to fool the staff, and perhaps even his family, but Harbor knew this marriage was doomed.
Normally, it wasn’t front-page news when a Vegas-style wedding failed. The life expectancy for those types of spur-of-the-moment deals didn’t have the best odds, but when you did it with a billionaire, the front page was inevitable.
Gabriel should have known that when he married me he took a big risk. I had hoped it was proof he’d had some deeper feelings for me, but it didn’t seem so, listening to Harbor speak about me like I was some two-bit whore who’d followed him home to steal his wallet without saying anything in my defense.
I wondered how much longer I’d have to endure. If things didn’t get better, I needed a backup plan. I had to find a safe place in case I needed to go, and I wondered if Kim could take me home with her. I could lie down in the back of the car and not sit up until we made it to her house. Then I could stay there until everything blew over. Or maybe I could take refuge within my father’s church.
There had to be somewhere I could go. I wondered if Gabriel would let me or kick up a fuss in fear that someone would find out.
At least the papers were ready, and hopefully we could get those quietly in motion before anyone noticed, but Mason would be the one to convince on that. Any motion he’d file would be scrutinized, and it was no mystery the media would have someone checking for things under Gabriel’s name. Nope, that would have to wait.
The frustration built deep inside as I tossed and turned. With any luck, I could put everything out of my mind and be asleep when Gabriel came back to join me. I didn’t want to feel his warmth, and I didn’t want to hear his breathing. We’d gotten way too close over the past week and I couldn’t help but feel it was time to rip the band-aid off now rather than later, while I could still take the pain.