Page 93 of Filthy Little Lies
His nostrils flare. “He’s fine.”
“How fine?” I question. He’d told me the guy who failed to keep me from sneaking off the grounds was fine, too. And when I’d seen him a week later his jaw was wired shut, and his left hand was in a cast.
“No one hurt him. Well, Lucian did punch him once, but he had that one coming to him.” He frowns. “He’s inpatient at a place in River Forest. It’s a six-month program.”
“How did you get him to do that?”
“I can be convincing when I want to be,” he says flatly. And it’s the truest thing ever said. “But I’m not going to talk you into coming home.”
“It’s probably better—”
“It’s not. But you’ll have to come to that decision on your own.”
“You’re serious?”
He stretches his fingers out on the table, like he’s doing his best to keep them from reaching for me.
“I am. When you were a kid, you never got a say in where you went, who you lived with, it was always decided for you. And then I did the same damn thing when I had Roman move you from the house to the safehouse without talking to you. So, no. I’m not going to force you to come home with me. It’s going to be your choice. But I’m not leaving you behind either.” He finishes his coffee, then pulls out his wallet. “This is where I am.”
He drops a card on the table along with a hundred-dollar bill. “For the coffee.”
“Gabriel—”
He starts to scoot out of the booth but stops and turns back to me. “Savvy, you told me over and over again, people don’t stay.”
“That’s been my experience.” I roll my shoulders back, feeling the weight of my life on them.
“I’m not the one who ran away. And who’s still running. I stayed.” He stands to his full height, straightens his jacket and walks through the diner like he owns the damn place, and then he’s gone.
CHAPTER 28
Gabriel
“How long are you going to stay out there? We have the groundbreaking next week,” Roman asks. The new distribution center deal finally went through, and we’re ready to get started on the build.
“Deal with it. Or get Lucian to handle it.”
“Lucian’s handling other business.” He’s referring to the off-the-books money. Where we make the majority of our cash.
“Roman. You don’t need me for the construction crew to start building a fucking building. Just let them start.”
“There’s going to be press.”
“Let there be fucking press. Have someone at the office deal with a press release.”
“Gabriel, having this public business was your idea. You wanted to have one foot in the real world and one in our world, now you’re hiding in Georgia trying to talk Savvy into coming home? Just grab her ass and get back here.”
It would be easy to do. The locks on her apartment were barely functional, and I kept a key for the new ones I installed. I could slip in during the night, snatch her up and take her home.
But then what? Lock her in our room until she promises never to leave again? Spank her until she swears to love me as much as I love her?
This has to be on her time in her own way.
But that doesn’t mean I’m going to sit back in Chicago and wait. I can stay in Atlanta for as long as she needs.
“I’ll be back when I’m back. Just handle shit.”
“Ricci?”
