GABRIELThe woman in front of me was a complete eyesore. Carla wasn’t just a liar, but a fucking cheater. She sent herself to hell from the moment she betrayed me, but it seems even the devils were sick of her as well.
After my groundbreaking success with Stark Apparel, I tried to trust someone again, but she betrayed me when she let another cock fill her pussy. I was fucking tired of looking at her face.
“I came here last week when you told me you agreed to talk to me, but you aren’t in the office. You stood me up, Gabriel.”
“I didn’t stand you up because I didn’t want to talk to you anyway. What else do you want from me, Carla?”
“I wanted no one else.” She shook her head.
“And when you let Aaron fuck you in his office, you never thought of that?”
Her expression looked tormented, just like how she faked it all those years. “How can I make you believe Aaron set me up?”
“Oh?” I raised my eyebrow. “My ex-business partner set you up when I saw him fucking you on his desk?”
She clenched her fist. “I moved away for a long time, Gabriel, so that you’d realize you made a mistake. What you saw back then isn’t the whole story—”
“I’m not interested,” I cut her off.
When I started this company, I was not alone. Before, it was Stark & Henderson Apparel. Aaron fucking Henderson. Morality was almost gone because he was one of those people. He knew I had proposed to Carla. He fucking knew, but he screwed every hole of her body while lying on my face.
Carla said she was drugged. Like I would fucking believe.
“Don’t you realize I work with a magazine now, Gabriel? I can publish anything I want about you if you keep treating me like this.”
“I don’t care even if you work for The Wall Street Journal.”
“I know your secrets, Gabriel. Don’t push me,” she warned. “Now, if you would just listen to me.”
The only mistake I probably made was telling her about my past. “Don’t mess with me, Carla.” I banged my desk with my fist. “You don’t know what I’m capable of.”
“And you don’t know mine,” she retorted. “I have something I need to tell you. I should’ve told you long ago before I went to Seoul.”
“Guess what? That’s another lie. I will not believe everything that came from your mouth.”
“I was pregnant with you, Gabriel. Our first baby.”
I laughed sarcastically. I couldn’t fucking believe she could still make my blood boil. “I’m sure it’s not Aaron’s as well. Who else did you fuck beside him and me?”
“So at least you knew Aaron can’t have kids. He can’t,“Was? As in past tense?” I smirked.
“I’m not anymore, and I came back to face everything and make it right—to make it right with you.” She tried to reach for me, but I backed away. Her face was dejected.
“Know your limits,” I warned. “And how am I supposed to fucking believe what you just said?”
“Then you can ask him. Aaron knew I was pregnant when he drugged me. I lost the baby because of it. Can’t you fucking understand that he molested me?”
“While moaning? Oh, come on. Give me a break—”
She cried. “How could you be so heartless? You wanted proof, right? Go ahead, you can ask him.” She wiped her tears with her thumb. But whatever tears she showed me were only a waste of her energy. Whatever she said, I couldn't believe it.
“You and Henderson can go to hell.”
“What happened? You agreed that you’d do this interview. Your sports fest was canceled for a week, too.”
I grunted. When was this conversation going to end? “I disagreed. My father agreed.”
“Ah, the mighty Elazar Stark. Does he know he’s supposed to have a grandchild?”
“Goddammit, Carla,” I cursed. “Keep my family out of this—”
“As far as I remember, they’re not your real family,” she mocked. “Isn’t he your real father’s best friend? At least, I recall that part of your story.”
“What do you want from me, Carla?” I hissed.
She flashed out a sad smile, just like her personality. “You’re going to do this interview for me like the good boy you are. You’re going to be on the front page. What’s wrong with that?”
“The reason I think it was wrong was that because it’s you“I’ll take that as a yes, then. As far as I remembered, you liked my ass very much.” She smirked. “I know that the sports fest was moved to the next weekend. Don’t resist, Gabriel, or I will drag Aaron with me in front of your father to tell him what really happened back then that you refused to believe.”
“Am I supposed to believe you when all you say is a lie?”
She glared at me. “You don’t want me as your enemy, Gabriel. I know every inch of your life and how Elazar tried to make the people see that you’re a real Stark, which, of course, is only in the papers. I’m going to prove my innocence to you, and you will come back crawling to me for my forgiveness, mark my words.”
I shut my eyes briefly. She had a hold of my neck. “I can answer any interview, but asking for your forgiveness would never happen. Mark my words.”
I picked up my damned telephone and called Jones. “Jones, can you please escort Miss Garner out of my office? She seemed to have forgotten her way back.”
“There’s no need.” Carla stood up mightily. “I guess we’ll see each other again, Gabriel.”
AUDREYI froze. I wasn’t expecting that. Gabriel had a fiancée? Had he ever planned on telling me?
“It’s not really my place to say this, but you should just talk to Gabriel more about this matter. But you and him?” He chuckled. “Start talking.”
“Well.” I cleared my throat. I was still dazed at the bomb Coulson Stark tossed to me. Why didn’t Gabriel tell me? “I’m sorry about this morning, Mr. Stark, and I’m sorry because I know he’s the boss. I don’t want it to look like—”
“It’s fine, Audrey,” he cut me off. “I just want to hear it from you.”
“I guess.” I looked down at my lap.
“Don’t be bothered with Carla. She’s just a past case Gabriel was trying to get rid of,” he assured.
“I was just surprised, that’s all.”
“You have every right to be surprised, but hey, why won’t you just come with us for dinner tonight? Our parents want to see him, and it’s their anniversary today. Didn’t he tell you?”
Oh, I guess that’s why he’s coming home. “Maybe I shouldn’t, Mr. Stark—”
“Just Coulson.”
“Coulson.” I cleared my throat. “But that’s family time, though Gabriel asked me to dinner tonight. I wondered why he asked me despite the occasion.”
“No, there’s going to be friends and some guests. You should move your plans to our house tonight.”
“I don’t really know.”
“I’ll tell Gabriel, of course. Don’t worry,” he said. “For now, you better stay here. I need your help with something.” He pulled his drawer and grabbed a folder. Then I suddenly remembered that Charles had mentioned his name.
“Coulson? Can I ask you something?”
“Yes?” He opened the binder’s cover.
“Did Gabriel tell you about the house in Phoenix? My friend kind of mentioned you to me.”
“Scott, I guess?”
“Yes.”
“Hmm.” He placed the binder in front of me. “That’s actually what I’m going to talk to you about.”
“Wait. How much do you know? Gabriel does things I don’t understand, like letting you know about this matter.”
“My brother doesn’t hide anything from me, but it seems he’s very smitten with you, Audrey. Is that reason enough? Actually, this is the first time he showed some heart. Not even with his ex-fiancée.”
I looked up curiously at him. “What do you mean?”
“He’s a very complicated person, hard to read, but I support him. Now, if you please.” He pointed out the first page so I could look at the document. “This document came from the land registry in Phoenix, and it’s curious enough that it’s not updated their records. I mean, what Scott showed you about the three-million-dollar mortgage is unofficial, and there are no actual due dates listed.”
I frowned. I read the documents and followed as per the details Coulson was saying, and he was right.
“The Scotts are only rushing you so that they could take over the house. But I didn’t say this so that you can relax. I said this because I want you to know Charles Scott is probably lying to you. He can’t submit any registry because you have to do it yourself, which you didn’t, of course. Your signature is the only thing that’s missing for them.”
I could not speak for a moment. I didn’t exactly understand why Charles had to do that. “And the contract he showed me?”
“Unofficial. It means it’s not valid. At least not yet, but he can have it updated anytime when you sign.”
I sighed. “I would never sign anything I don’t understand. But the house is the only thing my mother left me. I can’t lose it.”
“That’s why you have to decide now, Audrey,” he pressed. “Gabriel can pay more than what your father loaned from the Scotts. Think about it before it’s too late.”
I lifted the folder and secured it with my arms. “Thank you for telling me, Coulson. It really means a lot.”
I guess there were no more options but to accept Gabriel’s proposition. Although I knew he had to answer me first.