Page 85 of Bared Betrayal

“No, and I don’t need one.” I brush past him, almost knocking the old fart on his ass.

“Sir, I am going to ask you to—”

“It’s okay, Gregory.” Elenor appears at the top of the stairs, her hair pinned up in a bun, her white, floral-printed cardigan buttoned up, making her look like the uptight version of Mary fucking Poppins. Older, too. “Gabriel, how lovely to see you. As always.”

“Spare me the bullshit, Elenor. When have you ever been happy to see me?”

“On the contrary,” she starts as she reaches the bottom of the stairs. “I’ve been the one sending you invitations to your son’s pre-wedding events, after all.”

A huge fucking aha moment strikes me, and I narrow my eyes at her as I square my shoulders. “You’ve been inviting me behind Sebastian’s back, haven’t you?”

She shrugs nonchalantly. “Just doing my part to reunite father and son.”

“After you took him away from me in the first place.”

She purses her red lips, wrinkles crinkling around them. “What do you want, Gabriel?”

“Are you trying to get rid of Kallie?”

“What? Of course not.”

“You sure?” I taunt. “It wouldn’t be the first time you stooped fucking low to get rid of someone.”

“Gabriel, I don’t know what you’re insinuating, but I—”

“Does Kallie not meet your standards?” I cross my arms in front of my chest. “Is she not good enough for the Stone name, either?”

“My standards?” She gives me a look of indignation, her heavily penciled brows slanting inward. “I like Kallie. She is a sweet, sweet girl.”

“But?”

“But nothing,” she snaps. “I have been working night and day planning a perfect wedding for her and Sebastian. Why would I want to get rid of her?”

For most people, you can tell if they are lying by their eye contact. When it’s shifty, when they never look directly into your eyes, they’re hiding something. Unless, like Elenor, they loathe you and find your mere existence insulting to their superior species. It’s the people who feel justified in their actions who can lie to your face without so much as fucking blinking.

I step toward her, sizing her up, studying every twitch on her face, every single eye movement. To straight-up accuse her of being the one stalking Kallie and leaving her notes would be stupid. If, by that one damn percent chance I’m wrong, and she’s not behind it, I’ll blow Kallie’s secrets out into the open, and even if I think Sebastian deserves to know, it’s not my place to tell him.

“Why are you inviting me to the wedding when Sebastian doesn’t want me there?”

“Well, I know I don’t look my age…”Gag“…but I am not going to be around forever.”

“Don’t make any promises you can’t keep, Elenor,” I say, smirking.

Her lips curl at the edges. “And then you wonder why I didn’t want you in my daughter’s life.”

“Yet I’m suddenly good enough to be in your grandson’s life.”

“Someone is going to have to be around to take care of Sebastian when I’m not here, and I think it’s high time you step up and be the father figure in his life.”

“You made sure his grandpa was that father figure for years.”

“But he’s dead now,” she snaps, her eyes wide and shimmering. It’s the first sign of emotion I see through the layers of makeup she has plastered on her face. “His grandfather’s absence has left a hole in both my life and Sebastian’s. It’s time for you to be a goddamn father.”

I roll my shoulders, lifting my chin. “You’re the reason I never had the chance to be his father. You took him away from me, Elenor. Remember that?”

“I did what I thought was right for my little girl and grandchild.”

“And now?” I press. “You suddenly had a change of heart and think I’m good enough? What is your game, old woman?”