Destiny Undone: The Complete Series Box Set (42 page)

“I don’t think so,” I said as I pushed away from the reception desk and strutted towards Gabe’s office. Mills was right on my heels, trying to talk to me.

“Pepper, Pepper. Don’t do anything stupid!”

I ignored Mills and my focus zeroed in on getting to the bottom of this mess. I didn’t bother knocking and opened Gabe’s office door so hard it clanged against the wall as it hit the doorstop. My eyes raked over him in a sweeping assessment. He looked like a disaster. His thick, dark hair was jacked up and traces of red lipstick covered his face. I tried to piece together the scene. He was obviously having it out with Sophie. The sleazy brunette wore a red silk dress that had several buttons undone at the top, her long, wavy hair looked messy, too. Gabe stood with his hands on his hips and Sophie smiled at me like the Cheshire cat. She said something to me, but all I could hear was the angry string of expletives exploding in my mind.

I repeated myself. “What the hell is going on in here?”

Sophie draped herself over Gabe’s shoulder and smiled at me even bigger.

“I said what do we call you now, Pepper? I mean, I heard the big news. You aren’t a real Anderson. I just heard Evangeline tell the news channel that you weren’t her kid or Doug Anderson’s. Said she found you at some orphanage or something? Poor, Pepper…so what do we call you?”

I took a step towards her, my fist pinched tight, but Mills grabbed my hand. “Pepper! Please! Don’t listen to this crazy woman.”

Gabe shoved her away from him. “Sophie, get out. You’re done here.”

“Aw, I’m sorry, baby. So am I still meeting you later?” she smiled sweetly at him.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about, but you need to leave—now!”

“Oh, I got it,” she said as if she were sharing a secret with him. She made a show of stopping to button up the front of her dress and grabbed her cherry red Gucci bag from the nearby chair. “Fine. I’ll wait for you to call me once you’re done with this disaster of a publicity stunt.”

“Just what do you mean by that?” I snapped.

“Isn’t it obvious?” She flipped her collar up and smoothed her dress. “That’s what you’ve been—a publicity stunt. What better way to get the money we needed for the whales? I mean, the whole riding on a fish thing—that was brilliant. You really helped so much. I know Gabe was pleased with the results.”

“Gabe? Is this true?” Mills whimpered as she looked over at him.

“No, never!” Gabe sounded desperate, but I wasn’t done with this.

“You don’t know what you’re talking about!” I couldn’t help myself—I stood between Sophie and the door.

“No, honey. You don’t know what you’re talking about. I’m so sorry you had to find out this way. I thought Gabe had already come clean. Guess not. How awkward,” she purred.

I rooted myself to the floor. I wasn’t giving this up without a fight. “You aren’t leaving here until you answer my questions. Why are you here?”

“Pepper, please just let her go.” Gabe took a step towards me but I didn’t look at him. I waved him away, keeping my focus on Sophie.

“No, I think I deserve to know why this bitch is here in your office. Was this a PR stunt, Gabriel?”

“Bitch? Bitch? Hah! At least I know where I come from!” Sophie inched towards me, wearing a dangerous smile. “I’m sure that’s more than you can say.” My hand flew up before I could think and I slapped her in the face. It was a hard slap—one that stung my hand and left a red mark on her pale cheek.

She dropped her purse and shoved me against the wall. I slapped her again and then Gabe’s strong arms were around me. All of a sudden, Bobbie Jo was in the room and she shoved Sophie into the hallway. “You need to go, Soph. Come on, just go. Be a lady.” Sophie swore at her and I heard people whispering.

“Get your hands off of me. This isn’t over, Pepper Anderson! Or whatever the hell your last name is! You’ll be hearing from my attorney! I swear to God you will!”

“Fine! Bring it on, you pathetic tramp!” I was shaking so hard, I slung myself out of Gabe’s hands and walked towards the door.

“Pepper, stop! Don’t leave. Let me explain,” Gabe pleaded as he stepped between me and the door and closed it behind him.

I smoothed my messy hair with one hand, grabbed Mills’ hand with the other. “Get out of my way, Gabriel!”

“Pepper, stop! Please listen to me. I didn’t know she was in here. The temp told me my girlfriend was waiting for me in the office. I thought it was you! I swear it!”

“Yeah, right, because we look so much alike!” I said in an angry whisper. “Try again, jerk!”

“Pep, listen to him, for God’s sake!” Mills looked pale again and sat down in a nearby chair. “I’m not going until you listen!”

“Fine! You have just one minute to convince me you didn’t know it was me in here. And I can see her sloppy, red lipstick all over your face, Gabe.”

“I know, I was an idiot. I walked in here, the lights were off and the blinds were closed. I swear I thought it was you—I thought it was like the other day when we…” He looked at Mills embarrassed. “You know what I thought.”

“So what? You had to kiss her a dozen times before you knew she wasn’t me?”

Gabe groaned and rubbed his face with his hands. “Please, as soon as I touched her, I knew it wasn’t you. I was trying to throw her out when you got here. Didn’t you hear me? You walked in before I could get her to leave. I swear, nothing happened! You have to believe me. You know I’m not a cheater, Pepper. I would never do that. I’m not that kind of guy at all.”

“Yeah, I’ve heard that before.” I was still not completely convinced. How could he have not known? Even in the dark. Sophie and I were nothing alike. Different heights, different voices, different perfume. It should have been obvious to Gabe.

He reared back at my statement. “Are you comparing me to that slimy ex-boyfriend of yours, Jonathan Church?”

“If the shoe fits!” I said with tears in my eyes.

Mills rose to her feet. “Pep, you don’t mean that,” she said as she tried to calm me down. “Gabe, she doesn’t mean that.”

“I do mean it! I’ve had enough of backstabbing cheaters in my life!”

Gabe stared at me, completely shell shocked. Then, he shook his head and his face went back to neutral. He calmly walked behind his desk and shuffled a stack of papers as if nothing had happened at all. “I think you should go, Pepper. I have a lot of work to catch up on. I don’t have time for this conversation.”

I didn’t say anything else. I knew I’d crossed a line but I wasn’t willing to say I was sorry yet. I wanted him to hurt like I was hurting in that moment.

I dropped my fists as the fight drained out of me. I let Mills lead me out of Gabe’s office and by the time we were halfway back to the car, my mind had shifted gears and I suddenly couldn’t stop thinking about part of what Sophie had said. I needed to get to a TV and see if what she’d said was true. If Evangeline had really done what she’d threatened to do, and told the world I wasn’t her and Doug Anderson’s daughter.

Before I could ask Mills if she knew what had happened, my phone rang. It was my father.

“Hey, Da—Doug,” I tried to sound cheerful but it wasn’t working.

“Pepper, where are you?”

“I’m leaving Sea Lab. Mills is with me. What’s going on?”

He didn’t answer me right away. “Well, I didn’t know if you’d been watching the television or not. It looks like Evangeline made good on her threat. She’s definitely telling it all and some of it isn’t even true. I’m sorry, Pepper Ann. This isn’t what I wanted for you.”

“I heard already, Daddy. It’s okay.” I wiped tears away from my eyes. “I really don’t want to talk about that right now. I took Mills to the clinic this morning and she’s got pictures of the baby. Are you going to be home? We’re heading over there now.”

“No! Don’t come home right now. I’ve got the police on the way but it’s a madhouse outside the gates. Why don’t you wait a couple of hours? The police should get things cleared up by tonight. But, if you girls want to get a hotel room for the night and lay low, that might be best.”

“No, I know where we can go. Gabe’s boat is out of the city and no one will find us there. I’ll bring Mills back after dark and go in through the garage so they won’t even see us.”

“Can’t you stay with Gabe at his house? Or maybe go to Aven’s?”

“Uhm, no. I can’t go to Gabe’s right now and Aven isn’t home. She’s gone to see her boyfriend and I think Fallon is with his Dad somewhere.” I looked at Mills—she nodded in agreement. “It’s okay, Dad. Nobody ever goes to the marina except a few folks and they don’t bother me. I don’t think they even know who I am.”

“Even so, don’t go out in public right now. I’m going to call Gabe and tell him what’s happening.”

“No, Daddy. Gabe’s not—I mean, why bother him? We can handle it.”

“Nonsense. I’ll be in touch. Go straight there girls.”

There was no sense in arguing with him when he got like this. When he zeroed in on something—he had laser focus. That’s the way it was and I was too mentally tired to argue.

We got to the car as quickly as we could and drove to the marina. “Is he going to be okay with us going to his boat after your fight back there?”

“I hope so.”

“You know you were an ass, right?”

I looked over at Mills. I was a little shocked by her blunt words, but I had to admit, she had a point. “Yes, I do.”

We paused for a moment before I asked, “Still want to meet up with Evangeline?”

“Hell, no! I don’t want to talk to her or see her. She can read about the baby in the National Enquirer, as far as I’m concerned. That was totally wrong of her to do that. I’m so sorry, Pepper. I swear to you—I didn’t know about this at all. She didn’t tell me she was doing anything like this. You know I’d have told her off.”

“I know.” I climbed in the car and hugged her. She looked so young and trusting. I hated that all this was happening on her big day. “I’m such a jerk. Here it is, your special day and I’m screwing it all up.”

“Well, these things happen. I’m sure you didn’t wake up, saying ‘How can I mess up Mills’ day?’” She gave me a rueful smile.

“No, I didn’t and we’ll be fine when we get to the boat. Oh, crap! Will the water make you sicker? I didn’t even think about that. God! I have to be the worst sister on the planet.”

“Stop that. Let’s just get there and I’ll see how it goes. It’s so funny. I spent the morning throwing up but now I’m starving to death. Do you have anything to eat out there?”

“Yes, actually! I can cook something and I have a yummy salad already made up that you can munch on.” I put the car in gear and pointed it toward the marina.

After about ten minutes, Mills chimed in again. “You know your boyfriend is the nicest guy on the planet. I know I don’t know him all that well, but I can tell you Gabe would never, in a million years, cheat on you. You need to apologize to him, Pepper. The sooner the better.”

“I know. I don’t know why I got so nuts. That Sophie woman just brings out this primal rage. I promise I’ll talk to him. Soon, I swear.”

“Good.” She was quiet again, tapping away on her phone. “Oh, God.”

“What?” I snapped my attention to her for a moment. “What is it?”

“It’s Mom…” She slid one of her ear buds in. “I found the interview that girl was talking about.”

“Play it so I can hear it. I might as well know the worst.” I turned my attention back to the road and ignored the thumping beat of my heart that was frantically trying to leap out of my chest. This was not going to be pretty.

Mills hit a few more buttons and Evangeline’s voice piped out from the speakers: “Well, Oprah, it’s true. We did adopt Pepper but she needed us. You see, her mother had made some life choices and she needed to make some changes. I told her she needed to think about the baby and not just herself. Well, Doug and I managed to talk her into it—giving up the baby, I mean.” The audience applauded and I could picture dozens of women cheering on Evangeline for her brave and inspiring story. It turned my stomach to even imagine it. I groaned and gestured over at Mills to make it stop. I couldn’t digest another word.

“Ugh, just turn her off. That’s not even the same story she told me. She said I was her cousin’s daughter. She basically bought me in exchange for that woman’s college tuition. I might as well have been put on the black market or something.”

We drove in silence for a few minutes. I set aside the anger towards my mother, consciously deciding to no longer give her my energy. Somewhere along the route, my mind shifted back to thinking about Gabe. I mentally replayed the scene up in his office and wondered how in the world I was ever going to make things right again. Or, if that was even what I wanted.

I decided it was, and hoped Gabe would call me but my phone stayed silent. In all fairness, somewhere inside my heart I knew I should be the one calling him, but I couldn’t make myself take the phone out of my pocket. Not yet.

Besides, he wasn’t a hundred percent in the clear. A lot of what had transpired lay at his feet.

I was relieved when we reached the marina so I could put my energy into taking care of Mills and stop worrying about what would happen with Gabe. There were too many coulda, woulda, shoulda pieces to that puzzle right now.

“Here’s the boat.” I put the car in park and locked it up. We walked towards the dock. I hoped there wasn’t a sign hanging on it that said, “Pepper, please get out!” Gabe was too much of a gentleman to do that, wasn’t he?

“Ma’am?” I heard a voice calling to me. “Ma’am, I have a package for you.”

“A package?” I followed the harbor master to his office. I called to Mills, “Go ahead! I’ll be right there.” She waved back at me and walked towards the boat.

He handed it to me with a smile. “This came this afternoon.”

“For Mr. Gregory?”

“No, for you, Miss Anderson. It’s from Mr. Gregory, though. By the way, don’t worry about anyone bothering you here. Mr. Gregory called and warned me about those news folks. They might come around, but I’ll keep them out. I won’t let anyone know you’re here and if I see anything unusual, I’ll call the police. I promise you that.”

“My dad is supposed to stop by—and maybe Gabe, so those two can come in.”