She took the red and white roses from his hands and led a path to the kitchen. “Everyone saw the news. The phone hasn’t stopped ringing since I returned from your office.”
He studied her movements as she found a vase and filled it with water. He searched for any uncertainty in her actions and found none.
“Flowers from a cheating husband makes you look guilty,” she told him.
“And if anyone asks, the day Hayden became public knowledge I bought my wife flowers and came home early.”
“It’s after six.”
“Early for me,” he corrected himself. He shrugged out of his jacket and laid it on the back of a chair.
She picked the tiny sealed card from the floral spray and pointed it in his direction. “Good thing you’re taking me out for dinner.”
“I am?”
“You are. Meeting the mother of your son is exhausting,” she teased as she pulled at the edge of the envelope. Gabi’s teasing smile fell when she opened the check. “What’s this?”
He leaned a hip against the counter. “One million for every affair, alleged or proven.”
Her eyes narrowed and didn’t let his go. “I should cash this just to spite you.”
“A deal is a deal.”
“How many eyes do you have on him?” Gabi lay beside Hunter, her knee draped over his, her hand on his chest drawing circles.
“You’re asking about another man after that?”
She smacked his chest. “Hayden. How many eyes do you have on him?”
“My extended eyes are on Sheila and Noah.”
Gabi leaned up on her elbow and her gaze went cold.
Before he could utter a word, she leaned her naked body over his and fumbled with the phone on the side table. She shoved the phone into his face. “All eyes on Hayden.”
“Wha—”
“The entire free world was told, by the media, that you have a son. You want the free world to believe he’s yours . . . would you let your son have less protection than your wife?”
He sat up in the bed, as did Gabi. The sheet pooled around her waist, leaving a picture of beauty he had to ignore. “I have private investigators on Sheila and Noah . . . not bodyguards.”
Gabi placed a hand on her naked hip as she straightened her shoulders. “Why do you have bodyguards watching over me?”
“Someone out there could . . .” His words trailed off as the point she was trying to make drove home. “Shit.”
He tossed the sheet from his spent frame and shoved off the bed as he dialed. His head was so bent on the taking, he’d completely disregarded the target.
“MacBain.”
“I know it’s late,” Hunter told Neil as he made his way to his office. “I need eyes on . . .” the moment of decision was on him.
“On who?” It was late, but Neil’s voice was solid.
Hunter clicked on his computer. “My son.”
Silence.
“The news had the truth for once?”
Something told Hunter that eventually Neil and those who knew Gabi would know the truth. Instead of a flat-out lie, he stated what he needed. “Hayden is the innocent one here. I want eyes on him, Neil. I’m here with Gabi and can send Solomon or Connor.”
Hunter gave the address he had, the name of the day care, and the two private investigators working the case so Neil’s men didn’t mistake them for someone else.
By the time he was off the phone, Gabi stood in the doorway, arms crossed over the black flowing robe covering her bare shoulders. “You need me,” she told him.
Her words and stance were flippant.
The reality of her statement, anything but.
The difference between defense and offense is really about the placement of the players on the board. Only for Gabi, her life went from defending her position to taking what she wanted overnight.
Hunter met with his lawyers first thing in the morning and Gabi met with hers.
Lori ushered her into the office, offered tea and a smile. “Looks like we missed an angle in your contract with Blackwell,” she said before Gabi could explain anything.
“Hayden wasn’t expected.”
Lori relaxed in her high-back chair. “Something tells me Blackwell knew all about his little bundle before he offered you a contract.”
“No doubt about it. But that’s not why I’m here.”
“Oh?”
Gabi opened the folder she’d brought in and held it over Lori’s desk. “Everything I say in here is confidential . . . right?”
From the drop of Lori’s jaw, she wasn’t expecting the question. “Completely.”
Gabi handed her the papers. Lori glanced through the pile as Gabi spoke. “My late husband was a drug smuggler.”
From the expression on Lori’s face, this wasn’t new information. She’d been Samantha’s lawyer for some time, and if Gabi had to guess, some of the less public information was old news to the attorney.
“You already knew that.”
Lori shrugged.
“What you don’t know . . . what few know is . . . I killed him.”
Lori snapped her eyes to Gabi’s “He died in the hospital.”
“I pulled the plug.”
The attorney released a sigh. “Telling the doctors to take him off life support isn’t the same as killing him.”