Page 45 of Bound by Their Christmas Baby

‘You, coming to meet me. What did your father say to you?’

Abby’s tummy twisted. She couldn’t meet his eyes. ‘Is that why you wanted to have lunch with me?’

Gabe’s frown was infinitesimal, but she caught the tail end of it.

‘It’s natural you’d be curious,’ she rushed to add.

?

?I wasn’t. But seeing as you’ve mentioned him…’

She nodded. Hadn’t she decided that she needed to be honest with him, to help him understand why she’d done what she had? Of course he felt the same need to know.

‘I told you—’ she spoke slowly, every word considered ‘—my father was destroyed when your company launched.’ Her grimace was an acknowledgement of the fact that this was an awkward conversation to have. ‘I’d heard about you for years, you know.’

She felt Gabe stiffen without looking at him.

‘He came to blame you and…your foster brother…for every single business problem he had.’ She closed her eyes, finding it insufficient simply to look away from Gabe now and needing instead to block him out completely. Her slender throat shifted as she swallowed.

‘You are not saying anything I had not deduced for myself,’ he said. The words were offered with his usual degree of detachment but Abby felt them—she felt them right in the centre of her heart. ‘You are fortunate your father targeted me rather than Noah.’

‘Why?’

Gabe thought of his best friend and his frown deepened. ‘Because Noah is…’

She waited, her interest obvious.

‘Noah and I are very similar. But he has no interest in pretending to be civil. He would have chewed you up and spat you back out again if you’d tried your trick on him.’

‘It wasn’t a trick.’

He ignored her. ‘Noah would have seen through you too. He’s always been a better judge of character than me.’

She paled.

‘He would hate you, I think, for what you planned to do.’

Abby gripped the fork tightly, her brain hurting. ‘I’m sorry to hear that. He’s your best friend, right?’

‘He’s my…yes.’

‘Have you told him about us? About Raf?’

Gabe’s eyes held Abby’s. ‘No.’

‘Why not?’

‘He’s…’ Gabe looked towards the window for a moment, his expression tight. ‘He’s got his own stuff going on.’ It was vague enough to create more questions than it answered, but Abby didn’t push him. Gabe had clammed up and she knew him well enough to know that he would only speak when he was ready to share.

‘My dad didn’t target you,’ she said softly, bringing them back to the topic.

Gabe spun back to face her, lancing her with his eyes.

‘He wanted information. He never meant to hurt you.’

‘He wanted to destroy my business. You don’t think that would have hurt me?’

‘He didn’t think about it like that,’ Abby insisted. ‘You were irrelevant. All he cares about is his own success. For years he was at the top of his game, and then you came along…’

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