Once Upon a Friendship

by Tara Taylor Quinn

  She nodded.

  “With a possible arrest in my near future, I’m afraid I’m going to do something crazy.”

  He needed her to speak. She just sat there, tapping her hand on the desk.

  “And then she’ll get hurt.”

  Marie’s hand stilled.

  “I need her,” Liam said. “I need you both, but her more at the moment because I need her representation.” He wanted to think that his new feelings for Gabrielle, after all this time, at this exact time, were because of the case.

  Marie wasn’t moving at all. And then she said, “I think, if we’re going to try to salvage something here, we need to be completely honest.”

  “I’m afraid I’m going to do something stupid. I can’t walk away. And I’m going to do something stupid. If ever there were a time I needed you, Marie, it’s now. It’s not fair to you. I don’t really even know what I’m asking, but please...don’t let Gabi get hurt. Watch me like a hawk. And if you get worried, come to me. Let me know. I’ll listen to you. I swear it...”

  He sounded like an idiot. A flaming idiot.

  “I think that what you’re feeling has been a long time coming,” she said. “Maybe the reason you’ve never been able to settle on another woman for any length of time was because, all along, in some place inside you, it was Gabi. I don’t think it’s the court case or needing Gabi as an attorney that’s brought your feelings to life. I think it’s moving into our world, leaving the persona of Liam Connelly behind, leaving appearance and responsibilities to the Connelly name behind, and just being yourself, Liam, that has done it.”

  He couldn’t listen to that. Couldn’t accept it...

  “You know I’m right.”

  “No.” He softened his tone. “No, I don’t. But if you were, where would that leave us?”

  “I don’t know.” Tears filled her eyes—something he was more used to seeing from her but was no less painful to him. “I’ve been worried for weeks,” she told him. “But I’ll tell you this. If this thing between you is as strong as it seems to be, there’s not going to be anything you two will be able to do to fight it. Not forever. At some point, sometime, it will get the better of you.”

  “And then what?”

  Marie shrugged. “Then we try to love each other through it, I guess.”

  It was a typical Marie answer. One he’d wanted.

  But that night, it didn’t give him much comfort.

  * * *

  SMILING AT A woman she’d never met but felt as though she’d known for years, Gabrielle took the cup of hot tea Greta handed her and set it on the small table between the armchair she was sitting in and the one next to it.

  Both were in front of a massive cherry desk in an office larger than any she’d ever seen before. Funny—she’d known Liam all these years, felt as if he was more family to her than her own mother and brothers, but she’d never been in his house before.

  “Thank you, Greta, that will be all.” Walter Connelly dismissed the older woman as though she were a stranger to him.

  He’d ordered Gabrielle off his property.

  She’d refused to go.

  He’d threatened her with a call to the police. She’d told him she’d welcome the opportunity to tell them everything she knew.

  He’d shown her to a room with a couch and chairs but no books or television and made her wait there alone for half an hour.

  And when he’d finally appeared and shown her to his office, he’d demanded that she wait for tea to be served. While he’d slowly sipped on a shot of something amber colored.

  Not one second, of any of that time, had dissipated her anger one iota.

  Or intimidated her, either.

  The man was beneath her contempt. He just didn’t seem to get that yet.

  “Are you ready now?” she asked with utmost politeness as she left her tea to cool untouched beside her.

  To her shock, Walter Connelly bowed his head to her. “Go on, if you must.”

  If she must? If she must? Oh, she must. He had no idea how much she must.

  She’d been planning to sit calmly, her hands in her lap, but Gabrielle jumped up and planted her hands on the edge of the older man’s desk.

  “What in the hell are you doing? The FBI brought Liam in for questioning today. They told him not to leave town. As I’m sure you know. They actually think he could have done this. How could you throw your own son under the bus like that?” she spat.

  His raised eyebrows didn’t slow her down a bit.

  “That’s right, Mr. Connelly. I have no class. No training or tutoring or manners or whatever else you want to call the behavior that allows you to smile at a man while you stab him in the back.”

  The words were deeply satisfying. More so than she’d ever imagined they could be. They weren’t what she’d come for.

  “I just want to know why. What’s Liam ever done to you? What’s happened in your life to create this monster that would stab his own son in the back?”

  Nope. Not what she’d come for, either. Well, except for wanting to know why. But the rest of it...

  She took a deep breath. Sat down. Put her hands in her lap.

  “Liam’s a good son to you.” She tried to get a sir out but couldn’t do it. “He majored in finance as you wanted him to. Joined the family business and worked hard at every job you’ve ever given him, no matter how menial. He’s done his best to respect you. He’s also become the type of man you taught him to be. One who is finally able to stand up for his right to have his own place in the world.”

  She loved him, this man she was describing to his father. Had probably always loved him. In some place deep inside herself where she knew her love would be safe. Some place that would allow her to love him from afar, without hope of ever having him for herself.

  And then he’d gone into business with her and Marie. Given them a legal tie. He’d moved into their building.

  He’d been in trouble and needed her in a way he’d never needed her before.

  He’d touched that place deep inside her, reaching into it and exposing her feelings for him...

  “And because he dared to want what he wanted...” She shook her head. The truth was, if Liam had ever wanted her, his father would have put a stop to it. Or sucked the life out of Liam until he finally gave in.

  The man had yet to say a word. Or take another sip of his drink. She’d made another blunder. But it wasn’t as if she could hurt Liam’s chances with the man. They couldn’t get any worse.

  “I believed in you.” She shook her head. “All these years, even that first night in the dorm room, when I overheard the despicable way you were manipulating Liam into going home with you, I thought your motives were good. All these years...” She shook her head again as she repeated herself. And then she looked him right in the eye.

  “I’ve always thought you loved him.”

  Walter didn’t blink. Just stared at her as though he was seeing right through her.

  Gabrielle stood.

  Turned her back on the man.

  And left.

  * * *

  STANDING AT THE WINDOW, looking down to the street below, Liam waited. Marie had talked him into coming upstairs with her to have dinner with her and Gabi.

  She hadn’t had to twist his arm as much as he figured she should have. Nor had she agreed to watch out for Gabi for him. She’d just told him they’d find a way to love each other through what came and then asked him to dinner.

  That was what he called a good friend.

  One he wasn’t the least bit attracted to. Which was how it should have been with Gabi, too. So they could all be together, family, forever.

  They’d been laughing when they arrived upstairs. He couldn’t even remember now what about. He just rememb
ered her opening the door, calling out to Gabi and getting no answer.

  Her frown concerned him, but he hadn’t been truly alarmed until they’d both searched the whole place and seen no sign of her. Marie was fairly certain she’d never come home from work.

  He’d been certain she had gotten off the elevator at her floor. He’d watched her do it. Watched her walk away from him with a pang in his gut.

  While Marie was taking a second look around, he was on the phone with Tanner, who knew nothing about Gabi leaving their apartment.

  His next call was to the police, to report a missing person. A report they couldn’t take on an adult unless she’d been gone far more than a couple of hours.

  Marie was the one who did the logical thing.

  She texted Gabi.

  And had a text back almost immediately. Gabi was at a spa nearby. She was sorry she hadn’t texted sooner.

  She’d stopped in for a pedicure. Something she’d done in the past, when things upset her. A way she dealt with tension. Or figured out a tough case.

  Odd that she hadn’t let them know. Especially now, with Tanner and security guards looking out for them. Or maybe not. Maybe all of the ‘watching over’ was what was getting to her.

  Gabi was a private person. Used to be anonymous. Liking it that way.

  Obviously she’d needed to be left completely alone.

  She’d text him when she got back. He felt certain of that.

  Thing was, he waited all night.

  And never heard from her.

  * * *

  AFTER THE PEDICURE Gabi had driven straight home. She’d had no place to run. She never had. She was who she was. Who she would always be. Not in a way that would ever stop her from bettering herself, or get in the way of her success, but in the way she was meant to be.

  Who she was born to be.

  A too-serious woman who had to do what she thought was right.

  A woman who cared deeply. Who was loyal to death.

  Who’d been in love with a man for more than ten years and had never let herself admit it.

  She was scared to death of being hurt, so she worked herself to death.

  The thought of Liam actually going to jail was almost more than she could bear. Living without his kisses was something she could endure. But a world without Liam at all? Knowing that there was no way there’d ever be a knock on her door in the middle of the night?

  Her reaction to the reality that had hit her at the FBI office the day before had finally opened her eyes to the truth.

  She couldn’t stop herself from being in love with Liam Connelly.

  No matter how much her head needed their little family to be just what it had always been, her heart needed something more.

  Her resolve firmly in place Saturday morning—being honest with herself about the fact that she was in love with Liam—she was not clear yet on what that meant for her daily life, where the demands of professional ethics would collide with a woman’s need to do all she could to protect the man she loved. Where friendship stopped and pain began.

  Marie was down at the shop by the time she came out of her room. She wasn’t ready to face her best friend. She’d escaped to a hot bath the night before, claiming too much stress. Marie hadn’t said a word.

  In the twelve years they’d known each other, that was a first.

  She hadn’t woken her that morning, either. Gabrielle had made it to the kitchen to think about eating, when her phone rang.

  Not recognizing the number, she let it go to voice mail. And then listened to the message the second she was notified there was one.

  She still had on sleep pants and a T-shirt. No way to present herself for a command from Walter Connelly: “Ms. Miller. If I could impose on you to bring your client to the front of the Connelly building at ten o’clock this morning, I would be grateful.”

  The request itself, coming from the man who hadn’t so much as acknowledged her words the night before, was odd enough. The politeness with which it was offered made Gabrielle too nervous to think any more about eating.

  She called Liam instead. Told him about the request and asked him how he wanted her to handle it.

  When he said he wanted to be there and wanted her to be with him, she showered, dressed in a brown business suit Marie’s mother had bought her for Christmas the year before and waited for her client to arrive at her door to escort her down to his car.

  She didn’t bother to tell him she thought it was a bad idea. He already knew that.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

  WHEN LIAM SAW all of the media representatives swarming the front steps, the curb and the curb across the street from Connelly Investments, he almost turned and left.

  “What’s he doing?” he asked Gabi. Dressed in a newer silk suit and shiny leather shoes, he stood back a full block and surveyed the situation.

  A podium with a microphone was set up on the top of the steps leading into the ornate building. Cars, trucks and vans bearing various television and radio station logos and call letters took up every available parking space. Some were even parked on the lawn.

  For a man who’d spent most of his life avoiding the circus of gratuitous publicity, Walter Connelly had certainly managed to make up for lost time.

  “Where’s his security?” Liam asked, drawn to the scene even while he wanted to turn his back and drive away.

  “Based on that podium up there, I’m guessing his security is doing what he told them to do—allow the press to congregate.”

  She sounded so calm. “Did you come home last night?”

  “Of course. Where else would I go?”

  They were walking slowly toward the crowd. He intended to stay on the outskirts. And hope that he wasn’t recognized. He wanted to loop his arm through hers. But didn’t want to expose her to any more fodder for the gossip columnists.

  Not that it really mattered at this point. The press would be far more interested in him going to jail.

  “I’d suggest you don’t get any closer.” Liam heard the voice behind him and turned to find Elliott Tanner there.

  “You knew about this?” he asked. He hadn’t called.

  “I called him,” Gabrielle said. “I knew I couldn’t stop you from coming, but I had to do what I could to make sure you were safe.”

  Didn’t matter to Liam one way or the other. He was ready to take whatever the old man had to hand to him. Crucifixion would almost be a relief after all the hours of hanging out alone in his apartment waiting.

  Even if he believed Marie, even if he dared hope her cockamamie idea that he’d always been in love with Gabrielle were true, he had nothing to offer her as a man in jail who hadn’t known his own mind until he was past thirty.

  If what Marie believed about him was true, Liam had wasted ten years living in his father’s shadow.

  “What do you know about this?” he asked the bodyguard.

  “Absolutely nothing.”

  Liam didn’t believe him and turned back to face the crowd.

  If the old man thought that he was going to teach Liam some insane lesson, show him who really had the power—because that’s what Walter’s life with Liam was really all about—he was going to be disappointed.

  Let Walter hang him out to dry.

  He almost wanted it to happen. So that he could finally fight back.

  And somehow, someday, he’d win, too.

  Because he was the man’s son.

  He’d been raised to stand up to adversity. To keep pushing forward until he tasted victory.

  Gabi moved into his peripheral vision. A step in front of him.

  And he was reminded that in the fight for his freedom, proving his innocence was not the biggest battle he had ahead of him.

  * * *


  THE FRONT DOORS of the impressive Connelly building opened and Walter Connelly, dressed in a suit and tie, came out alone. His attorney wasn’t with him.

  The crowd pressed forward. A couple of shouts rang out, questions, Gabrielle thought, but she couldn’t make them out. Gabrielle stood next to Liam, her shoulder pressing up to his, with Elliott behind her. She tried to stay calm.

  From her distance, she couldn’t read the expression on the evil man’s face. And feared that the day’s debacle was a direct result of her visit to him the previous day. No one crossed Walter Connelly and got away with it. He was all-powerful. Or wanted the world to believe that, apparently.

  He was actually going to throw his son to the wolves.

  Before the grand jury had reached a decision.

  He was going to show her and Liam and the world that he was right.

  Walter moved straight for the podium. Surveyed his crowd.

  “He’s called a press conference to express his sorrow as he confesses that he feels he has no choice but to hand me over to the wolves,” Liam said. “He’s right now feeling supreme satisfaction that one phone call from him would garner this much attention.”

  Gabrielle didn’t put it past the man.

  And didn’t trust herself to know any better.

  And then she saw Tamara. And Missy. Standing in the shadows on the other side of the step, behind a pillar. Not far from Walter.

  Tamara wiped her eyes as though she was crying. Liam didn’t appear to have seen her. Gabrielle didn’t have the heart to point them out to him.

  “Ladies and gentlemen of the press, I come to you this morning a different man than you know me to be. A weak man. And, if you will, a frightened man. I come to you, not for myself, but because of myself. I come to you with one purpose. To hand you a story that every single one of you will run out and distribute. You have power, ladies and gentlemen. The power of the press. Today, more than ever before in history, this great country is influenced by your words. Brought together by your words. Called to action by your words.”

  Gabrielle didn’t want to be impressed by the man’s eloquence. It was clear by the stoic look on Liam’s face that he wasn’t.