Page 107 of Ghostly
Thank you, buddy.You may be lazy, but at least you didn’t fail me this one time.
She prodded open the door to her bedroom—Shawn never even went in there—and hid the book and the contract by the fireplace. On impulse, she checked the contract. She didn’t know what she thought she’d see; if Gabriel had finally fulfilled the last condition, she would’ve felt it. And she wouldn’t be here anymore. She slid her fingers over the single word remaining in the middle of the page.
Forgive
She snorted. No need to worry about this being fulfilled any time soon; not with Gabriel returning to the world where forgiveness was a weakness, a detriment to his profession.
No, she and Shawn would be best buddies for a while more.
***
“Sir, you have a call from a Natalie Waller.”
Gabriel repressed a sigh and pressed down the button to answer Ollie’s call. “Tell her I’m busy.”
“I have told her. The first three times.”
“Then tell her nothing has changed since. And don’t bother me with anything that’s not related to work.” Gabriel canceled the call, regretting his sharp tone a moment later.
He refocused on the document he’d been reading, a deposition from Mrs. Ashford-Abernathy’s latest husband. Gabriel’s eyes slid over the lines, trying to find the place where he’d left off.Loophole in the prenup, conditions notexactly specified… Good luck with that.Mrs. Ashford-Abernathy’s prenups were iron-clad, always. One did not get through five husbands without some meticulous legal work.
The phone beeped. “Sir, I’m so sorry, I really am…”
“Ollie, this had better not be about Ms. Waller.”
“But she’s so scary. Her voice is like a psychopath’s. All even and… disturbingly calm.”
Fuck.He didn’t have time for Natalie to drive Ollie insane. “Tell her I’ll meet her after work. But she has to stop callingnow.”
Considering he wasn’t disturbed (at least not by the reporter) for the rest of the day, Ollie still had his wits together enough to convey the message.
Gabriel leisurely lengthened his work into the evening—letting Ollie go home sooner—and spent an additional hour just creating new labels for his emails. Surely, Ms. Waller had better things to do than wait for him.
Yet, as he headed over a half-empty parking lot at twelve past nine, a shape emerged from the shadows.
“Mr. Vane. Not rushing away without talking to me, are you?”
So close.Almost to his car. Gabriel took a deep breath and turned to her with a phony smile. “You’re persistent, I’ll give you that.”
“And you’re rude, but we already knew that.”
“So, what can I offer you? Another show in public? A tour of my apartment? ‘And you see, here is where the affair got started…’”
“Let us dispense with the sarcasm for a moment, shall we?”
“Were you sarcastic? I couldn’t tell. Your voice never changes.”
Natalie sighed. “I didn’t come here to argue. Believe it or not, I want to help you.”
He crossed his arms over his chest. “So now, you’ll write an article about my good behavior?”
“No. I try to stick to the truth.” She smiled. “Mr. Vane, do you remember the name of the P.I. you hired to take photos of Mr. Sinclair? The same one who also took photos of you and Mrs. Sinclair—pardon, Ms. Ensfield?”
“Yes,” Gabriel drawled. What kind of trap was she luring him into now?
“You might want to check the list of his clients. Not too recent ones. A few months back.”
“I’m in the middle of a big case. I don’t have the time to chase your random suspicions.”
