Page 8 of Tommy Gabrini: All Fall Down
“I’m the owner of this company and I have rights that I’m going to finally exercise.”
“Why now, Grace? Why all of a sudden it has to be now? Does Orrie Neal have something to do with this sudden need to expand?”
Grace was offended. “Don’t you even try to make this about him. Did he advise me with his expertise on corporate expansions? Yes. But that’s as far as it goes and you know it!”
“What were you doing at his house?” Tommy blurted it out before he realized he had done so. He hated playing the jealous husband, but that shit had been eating at him ever since it happened. And seeing her with him today didn’t help.
Grace frowned. “What are you talking about?”
Tommy stared at her. If Jeremy was lying about that day, then that would come out too. But either way, this shit was coming out and it was coming out now.
But then Grace’s frown lessened. Jeremy wasn’t lying. “I had to pick up some contracts from Orrie, so I dropped by his house one day after lunch.”
“And you decided to stay all day?”
“We were talking business, Tommy.”
“What business did you have to discuss with him that you couldn’t discuss here at Trammel?”
“We just started talking, okay, and time got away from me.”
“What were you talking about?”
“Little of nothing. The Seahawks. The weather. And yes, expanding Trammel. But it wasn’t planned that way. We just got comfortable talking, and we talked all afternoon.”
“And you changed clothes there?”
Grace frowned. “Why are you making this seem so sordid? He’s my COO and I was at his house. So what?” Then she shook her head. He knew her better than that. “I’ve got work to do,” she said, and moved to leave the office.
But Tommy grabbed her by the arm and stopped her. They were face to face. And Tommy knew, in that instant, that if Grace ever left him again it would destroy him. It would be the end of him. He needed her just that much. But did she need him?
And with that question lingering in his mind, he eased his grip on her and then released her.
Grace saw that sadness in Tommy’s eyes she often saw when bad memories were attempting to overtake him, but expanding meant too much for her to back down now. Because if she gave in to Tommy the way she’d been giving in to him all those years, she’d never get her wish. She’d always be solicitous to what he wanted at all times, and her wants would have to take a backseat to his. She was getting tired of that. She left that office.
When the door closed him in, a part of him knew Grace had every right to put her foot down. She wanted expansionism for years. Long before Orrie hit the scene. And he knew it was rather rich of him to accuse her of impropriety, who’d never done shit before, when he’d been the perpetrator of improprieties throughout their marriage. That part of him understood her anger.
But another part of him, perhaps the bigger part, was scared that a man like Orrie could give Grace the kind of loverwithout the baggage that Tommy (and every Gabrini) carried. That she would find comfort in his arms. And that was the part that made him refuse to back down too.
He left that office and Trammel altogether. His decision was final and he knew it. There was be no expansion this year. But Jeremy hadn’t driven him two blocks before his phone was ringing, and it was Tiffany again. She usually left a text message. But this time she phoned.
“I can’t talk right now, Tiff.”
“Tommy, you’ve got to come. I’m still in the same room I sent to you in my text messages. I’m still at the same hotel. You’ve got to come. This can’t wait any longer. They’re after me.”
Tommy frowned. “Who’s after you? What are you talking about?”
“Please come, Tommy. You know I wouldn’t bother you like this if it wasn’t absolutely essential. Please come!” And then she ended the call.
Tommy leaned his head back. He’d just gotten back in town and already all hell was breaking loose.
But she was right. She wouldn’t bother him like that.
“Take me to the Fairmont,” he said to Jeremy.
CHAPTER THREE
At her hotel suite, Tommy only had to knock once before the door flew open and Tiffany Bogata pulled him inside. He saw immediately that she was in grave distress. Her eyes were wild and her long, red hair, which used to always be immaculate, was matted. “What’s wrong, Tiff? What is it?”
