Page 126 of Angel Eyes

“I’m talking about the fact that she played you like a fucking piano—just like she played me.” He gave me a hard look. “There was never any affair, Gabriel. I never touched Elise.”

All the air evacuated my lungs in an instant, my knees giving way as I slumped into a chair.

No. That couldn’t be right. For years, I’d been living in the shadow of a betrayal that never even happened? Lucien watched me, nodding as though coming to the same conclusion himself.

“Then, why?” I croaked. “Why did you take the money? Or did she lie about that too?”

His Adam’s apple rose and fell as he held my gaze. “No, that part was true. I took the money.” A hint of color rose in his cheeks as he lowered his eyes to his hands. “Elise came to me with a proposal for an investment opportunity—a new seaside property in Monaco that was in the early stages of development. The company in charge of the project was still looking for investors, and based on returns for similar ventures in the area, I knew we stood to gain a fortune. I researched the company, reviewed the investment documents, even went to check out the stretch of land where they planned to break ground. Everything was legitimate.”

“So, what happened?”

“Elise happened,” he growled. “The property was just the carrot she used to lure me into withdrawing the money. And like a fool, I trusted her when she asked me to deposit the funds in a separate offshore account rather than wiring it directly to the developer’s investment fund.”

“And you did all of this without saying a word to my father?”

“I planned to tell him.” He rested his forehead on a fist. “I was going to present everything to him as soon as the contracts came through. But they never came, and that’s when I realized Elise never planned to make the investment. It was all just an elaborate ruse to get her hands on the money without leaving an incriminating paper trail.”

“But why? What did she need that kind of money for?”

“I asked myself the same question. As soon as I realized her intentions were less than honorable, I stopped looking into the property and started looking into her. As it turned out, Elise had gotten in over her head with some unsavory people down in Monte Carlo, and she owed them a huge gambling debt. These guys were involved in all sorts of illegal activity—arms dealing, drugs, trafficking. You name it, they’ve done it. She always had an appetite for risk, so I wasn’t surprised to find out she had a taste for high-stakes gambling as well. But her luck finally ran out, and she had to come up with the money to pay off her debt. Fast.”

“And if she couldn’t come up with the money?”

He cast me a dry look. “These weren’t the type of guys to accept an IOU, Gabriel.”

“Mother of God.” I scrubbed a hand over my mouth. “Do you have proof of all this?”

He nodded seriously. “I do. I’ve been amassing a file since the day I discovered her scheme. In addition to the original confirmation of the electronic funds transfer, I have documentation proving the offshore account was owned by a shell company, of which she was the sole owner. I also have records on the men she gambled with as well as incriminating photographs, audio recordings, security footage …”

I gaped at him. “How the hell do you have all of that?”

“I have a private investigator on retainer.”

An unexpected laugh caught in my throat. “You’re insane.”

His lips twitched. “Why, thank you.”

And then I did laugh. We both did, and to my surprise, the ache that had been living in my chest for the past three days—the past three years—finally eased a bit.

“Gabriel,” he said after our laughter finally died down. “I need you to know I am truly sorry, especially about Juliet. It’s my fault your relationship ended.”

“No, it’s mine.” I ran a hand over my forehead and through my hair, my throat tightening as the full weight of what I had done descended on me. “I’m the one who jumped to conclusions and assumed the worst of her. She told me I had it all wrong, but I wouldn’t listen. I’d just come from talking to Elise, which had my head all kinds of fucked up. Then I saw you with her, and I just—” I shook my head, pressing my eyelids shut.

“It doesn’t matter. I’m the one who messed up. I’m the one who’s responsible for all of this. If I had just confronted my trust issues sooner, worked through them rather than trying to outrun them, none of this would have happened. All these years, I’ve kept my pain about the past locked inside, letting it damage me to the point that I hurt someone who didn’t deserve it.”

I glanced at him. “That’s what you were trying to tell me before, wasn’t it? That afternoon we met at the café—you told me I needed to deal with my issues before I ended up hurting someone who was innocent in all this. I should have listened to you.”

“Well, it’s hard to trust the word of a man who you thought betrayed you. And in a way, I did. I never should have taken the money behind your back. I should have told you the truth.”

“Why didn’t you?”

He expelled a sigh. “When Elise presented the investment idea, she told me you had already turned it down. In hindsight, I believe she told me that on purpose. Just like she told you we were having an affair to sow mistrust between us, she told me you passed on the opportunity because she knew I wouldn’t be able to resist the chance to come out on top for once.”

I frowned. “What do you mean?”

His eyes drifted down to the whiskey bottle in his hands. “All I’ve ever wanted to do is make Marcel proud, to have the one thing that you always seemed to take for granted. A father. I worked three times as hard, all in the hope that one day I might gain his favor. But no matter what I did, he reserved all his attention for you, his son.”

I swallowed hard, my eyes raking over him. Suddenly, a completely different person was sitting in front of me. How had I not seen it before? The clothes, the image, the relentless pursuit of perfection—it was all to prove himself worthy. Worthy of love.

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