Safe from Harm (Protect & Serve #2)(76)
“Elle?”
She glanced up to her office doorway to see Gabe standing there, his expression so forlorn and haggard he looked far older than his thirty-six years. “Looks like I might be reconsidering that job at the foundation after all.”
He closed the door and came toward her, his hands balled into fists at his side. “They fired you?”
She shook her head, still trying to process it all. “No. Well, not yet anyway. I’m being put on paid administrative leave and have been given the option of resigning in order to save face. But odds are good that even if we’re cleared of any wrongdoing, this will follow me wherever I go.”
Gabe ran a hand over his hair in agitation, his frustration and anger at the situation a palpable force in the air around him. She hadn’t asked what he’d encountered when he’d arrived at the department, but the fact that his strong, proud shoulders had bowed under the weight of the situation was a pretty good indication his morning had been as sucktacular as her own.
She wanted to go to him, put her arms around him and comfort him, feel his arms around her and know a little comfort of her own, but her shock was quickly edging toward anger. “God, Gabe,” she said on a dejected sigh. “Why didn’t you tell me you ran into Sandra Monroe last night? When confronted about it, I’m sure I looked like a deer in headlights. I couldn’t defend you against something I had no knowledge of. The only thing I could give my boss was the truth about us being together all night. And let me tell ya, that led to quite the interrogation!”
“I’m so sorry, honey,” he said, coming around the desk and reaching out to her, but she held up her hands, avoiding his touch. His face fell at her reaction. “I fucked up, Elle. I get that. But I was trying to protect Sandra, protect you.”
“Protect me?” she repeated, pushing back from her desk and getting to her feet. “How is keeping me in the dark protecting me? We had a deal, Dawson! We were supposed to be in this together. You were supposed to keep me in the loop on everything. And yet you decided this would be a good little tidbit to keep from me? Great idea!”
Gabe clenched his jaw, averting his eyes. Then his shook his head before turning his gaze back to hers. “Yeah, Elle, I decided to keep this one from you. Sandra is convinced that you’re in danger, and that little ‘tidbit’ has me scared shitless, okay? The thought of anything happening to you…” His words trailed off, and he abruptly looked away again, his jaw clenched so hard she could see the muscle twitching in his cheek.
“Well,” she said quietly, “I guess you were right about Monroe making a move. I’d say this certainly qualifies.”
“I don’t think this is the end of it,” Gabe told her. “Something tells me that trying to ruin our careers, our reputations, by claiming I assaulted his daughter wasn’t part of the plan.”
“Jeremy was following me. He saw us together at the fair,” Elle reminded him. “You don’t think he told his father?”
Gabe shook his head. “He might’ve had something up his sleeve regarding our relationship, but Sandra running into me was a coincidence. It wasn’t planned—she was at the pharmacy buying condoms from what I could see in the bag she had. She had no idea I’d happen to be walking by just then. I think he pounced on our encounter and used it to cover his own ass.”
“He beat his own daughter just to pin it on you?” Elle said, not bothering to hide her doubt. Any decent prosecutor would shoot that theory full of holes in an instant. “Seems a bit extreme even for Monroe.”
“No, I don’t think he beat her just to make me look bad,” Gabe spat. “I think he beat the shit out of her for whatever reason and then decided to use it to his advantage. And he has her so fucking scared that she’s willing to come in and give a statement supporting his bullshit story.”
“What the hell are you going to do, Gabe?” Elle asked, finally coming toward him, closing the gap between them, her concern for him trumping her anger at that moment. The thought of him losing his job as a deputy, his entire future in law enforcement potentially destroyed, was heartbreaking enough. But the possibility that he could end up being convicted of a crime he didn’t commit had her barely holding her panic and dread in check.
“I’m not taking this shit lying down, I can tell you that,” Gabe assured her, a dangerous edge to his voice.
She eyed him warily, her dread taking on a new slant. “Please tell me that by that you mean allowing your father and brothers to conduct a full investigation and clear your name.”
The look Gabe gave Elle made her stomach drop, and his words pretty much confirmed her fears. “I’m not letting that asshole destroy us, Elle.”
“Gabe, this is not the time to confront Monroe,” she insisted. “Don’t talk to him. Don’t talk to anyone he knows. If you see him or any of his family on the sidewalk again, you cross the street and don’t so much as glance in their direction.”
“Like hell,” Gabe spat. “I’m not just going to slink off with my tail between my legs like I’ve done something wrong. I refuse to let that bastard win!”
“I’m not telling you this as just the woman who loves you and wants to have a future with you, Gabe,” Elle hissed through clenched teeth, damning that stubborn Dawson pride. “I’m telling you this as an attorney. You confront him and you’ll just give him more fuel for the fire. You know that!”