Page 111 of Angel Eyes

“I’m not saying I don’t.” He pulled me down until I was seated between his legs, his arms circling my center. “I’m saying my head gets in the way of my heart sometimes.”

He dropped a kiss on my shoulder, winding his fingers through mine. “Elise,” he began slowly, “is my father’s business manager.”

“Your father?”

“Yeah. He owns a restaurant in Villefranche-sur-Mer. After my mom passed, he needed help managing the business side of things. So he brought someone in to oversee the accounts, recommend strategic decisions, things like that. That person was Elise.”

“Okay …” My heart pounded hard and fast in my chest as I braced myself for whatever was coming next.

“We were lovers.”

His fingers tightened around mine like he was afraid I would pull away. And part of me wanted to—the part that wished for our relationship to be nothing but cloudless skies and smooth sailing. But real relationships aren’t like that. Even the best relationships are made up of two flawed people who choose to love each other anyway and accept everything about the other person. That was the kind of love Gabriel deserved from me, and that was the kind of love I intended to give.

I squeezed his hand. “Okay. When did your, um, relationship start?”

“When I was nineteen.”

“And she was …?”

His chest rose and fell with a breath. “She was thirty-five.”

I let go of a stuttering exhale.

Holy crap. She was a predator.

As if he could hear my thoughts, he said, “I was an adult, Juliet. Our relationship was consensual.”

“Maybe so, but can you honestly say the power balance was even? The maturity level and experience of a thirty-five-year-old female compared to that of a teenage male …” I shook my head, biting down on my lip as angry tears pricked my eyes.

“I know.” He drew me closer, and I swiped at my cheek as moisture tracked down my face.

“I’m sorry. I’m not trying to sound judgmental.” In fact, I couldn’t care less about judging her. I only wanted to find the bitch and murder her a little.

“It’s okay. It would be a lot for anyone to take in.”

I peered at him over my shoulder. “Did your father know?”

“God, no. But maybe if he had, none of what happened would have transpired.” Turning me in his lap to face him, he gave me a penetrating look. “You’re right. The power dynamic between us was highly unbalanced. I was in a vulnerable place in my life when I met Elise. I’d just lost my mom a couple of years earlier and, I don’t know, I guess I needed someone. I …” He swallowed, looking away. “I thought I loved her.”

“Did she hurt you in some way?” Bile rose in my throat as I pictured her coercing him into some twisted BDSM relationship.

“No, but she was manipulative. I don’t think I saw her behavior for what it was at the time—it was only after our relationship ended that I realized she’d been controlling me all those years.” He picked at a loose thread on my T-shirt, shifting his weight beneath me.

“My father was always conservative when it came to business, valuing steady growth over riskier high-return investments. It’s what led him to turn our small family-owned restaurant into a business that drew the attention of locals and celebrities alike. But Elise—she liked to play it fast and loose. Whenever she would present an investment opportunity to my father that he didn’t agree with, she would come to me and convince me to change his mind. It pretty much always worked.”

“Your father trusted you.” It wasn’t a question, but he nodded anyway.

“He wanted me to manage the restaurant one day, and I think he was just glad I was taking an interest. But the reality couldn’t have been further from the truth. I always wanted to pursue my art and open a gallery. The only reason I stuck around as long as I did was to make him happy.”

“So, why did things end between you and Elise?”

He dropped his head back against the headboard. “Around when I was twenty-five, she came to me asking for a large sum of money. She was completely out of sorts that night, not at all like her usual self. Elise never lost her composure, never let anyone see anything other than the respectable businesswoman she presented to the world. That’s how I knew something was off.”

“What did she want the money for?”

“I don’t know. She was rather vague on the details. She just kept insisting she had this investment opportunity with a closing window and we needed to act fast. But when I asked her whether my father had agreed to it, she deflected, telling me she was sure he would get on board. In the meantime, she wanted me to withdraw the funds from the business account directly.”

“Well, that doesn’t sound shady at all.”

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