‘I didn’t let you take care of me because you couldn’t even take care of yourself,’ Gayle said firmly, back at a normal volume.
‘That might have been true when it happened. But what about now? Don’t you go there,’ he warned, jabbing his index finger in her direction when she lifted the tablet to point at Stone’s story again, as if to say that Marcus still wasn’t taking care of himself. ‘This is about you.’
Gayle’s jaw tightened. ‘Don’t you point your finger at me, Marcus O’Bannion.’
Marcus drew a breath, slowly let it out. He lowered his hand and calmed his tone. ‘I understand why you didn’t tell me nine months ago. Even eight months ago. Maybe even six months ago. But I am no longer injured. I am fine. You should have told me.’
Her eyes snapped fire. ‘You were shot just a few hours ago,’ she whispered fiercely, ‘and you can say that you are fine with a straight face?’
Marcus looked down at his desk, measuring his words. The personal approach was not cutting it. They were both too angry. He’d stick to business. He lifted his eyes, meeting hers squarely. ‘You suffered a heart attack, Gayle. And then you missed a week of work. In a normal situation, HR would have moved you to the disability roster until your doctor cleared you to return, ensuring you received disability pay for that week. But your doctor didn’t clear you. You came back prematurely, allowing another employee to fulfill at least some of your responsibilities. You gave that entry-level employee access to confidential company records for which she was not authorized. That is a violation of company policy.’ He drew a breath that hurt his chest. ‘More than that, it’s a violation of my trust.’
Her mouth fell open in shock. ‘You think I let Jill see confidential information?’
‘She’s been screening your emails, Gayle. So no, I don’t think you let her see confidential information. I know you did.’
Gayle paled. ‘She’s been screening my emails? I didn’t tell her she could do that.’
‘She’s been doing it anyway. She’s been tending the threat list.’
Gayle sat back in her chair in shock. ‘Oh no.’
‘Oh yes. She confronted me with it this morning. Told me that I was expecting too much from you, that my family and I have been taking advantage of you for years. That you would have retired and had your own life if it weren’t for us. That the threat list was what caused your heart attack to begin with. Is that true?’
Gayle pressed trembling fingers to her lips. ‘No. No one has taken advantage of me. I’m here because you’re my family, Marcus. You and Stone and Audrey and your mother. Jeremy, too, even though he doesn’t live with us anymore. You’re all my family.’
He exhaled abruptly, not even realizing he’d been holding his breath. ‘I’m glad. You’re our family too. I . . .’ The words trailed away under a wave of emotion. ‘You’ve always been there for me. I would never want you to feel like I didn’t appreciate what it’s cost you. You could have had a husband and children. A home of your own. Yet you stayed with us.’
Gayle leaned forward in her chair, her expression fierce. ‘I have a home. I have children – you and Stone and Audrey. And Mikhail.’ Pain flickered in her eyes. ‘And Matty too,’ she added in a barely audible whisper. ‘God, how I miss them.’
Marcus bowed his head, his chest suddenly too tight to breathe. Matty’s name was rarely spoken in his family. And when it was, it was always a whisper, as if speaking his name at a normal volume would . . . wake him up. Because to imagine him sleeping was so much easier than to imagine him dead. Of course, Marcus didn’t need to imagine. He’d seen Matty’s body close up and very personal. He still saw it in his nightmares and the occasional flash of memory while awake. Now the image of Mikhail’s body had become part of the nightmare too. He wondered if Mikhail’s name would soon meet the same fate as Matty’s. No, he thought. I won’t let it. ‘I miss them too,’ he answered, his voice cracking. ‘Both of them.’
They sat in silence for a long, long moment before Marcus finally looked up to find Gayle hugging herself tight, eyes scrunched shut, her body shaking with silent sobs. If she didn’t stop crying, she was going to give herself another heart attack.
He walked around his desk, crouching in front of her chair, a box of tissues in one hand. ‘Hey. Don’t cry anymore. Please. You’re scaring me.’
She glared down at him through her tears. ‘I’m scaring you? I’m scaring you?’ She grabbed a handful of tissues and dried her cheeks. ‘I could have been burying you, Marcus O’Bannion, and you don’t even seem to care.’
He’d lost two brothers. She’d lost two boys who’d been sons of her heart. Yet the tears she cried now? They’re because of me. Because she’d nearly lost him too.
It could have been different. The shooter could have finished me off with a shot to my head just as easily. Lying there with the breath knocked out of him, his face scraping the asphalt, he’d been a sitting duck.
Y’think, dumbass? It was Stone’s voice in his head, clear as a bell, and Marcus nearly smiled.
Fine. I can be taught. When two people who knew you best told you the exact same thing on the same day . . . Maybe it was time he listened.
He rose from his crouch to sit on the edge of his desk. ‘I’m sorry, Gayle. You’re right. I didn’t mean to upset you. I promise I’ll be more careful from now on.’
She sniffed, turning her face away. She was still crying, but the intensity had wound down. At least she wouldn’t have another heart attack sitting here in his office.
‘I, uh, noticed you didn’t include Keith as part of your family,’ he said dryly, trying to distract her from her tears. Gayle’s dislike of Jeremy’s husband was no secret.
Gayle sniffed again, turning back to glare at him. ‘I don’t like that man. He acts like he owns Jeremy, checking his watch every five seconds when they come over, sighing like a pouting three-year-old so we’ll know just how eager he is to leave.’
It was true. No one in the family liked Keith. It had nothing to do with Jeremy’s sexual orientation, and everything to do with his choice of partner.
‘Keith is the possessive sort, but Jeremy loves him,’ Marcus said with a shrug. ‘What can you say?’
‘Nothing. Not that any of you would listen to anything I say, anyway,’ she muttered. She placed her hands on the arms of the chair and started to push herself to her feet. ‘Well, I’ve got to get back to my desk. There’s no one at the front.’
‘Not so fast.’ Leaning forward, Marcus touched two fingers to her shoulder and pushed her back into the chair. ‘That you never answered my question hasn’t escaped me. What about the list causing your heart attack? Is that true?’
She shook her head, far too calmly. ‘No. I had a small arterial blockage just waiting for the right moment to announce itself. It could have happened anywhere I got stressed out. It’s actually good it happened here and not when I was in my car doing seventy on the interstate. Jill got me to the hospital quickly. No fuss, no drama. They put me on a beta blocker and that was it. No stent, no surgery. I’m good as new.’
‘Hm.’ Marcus studied her until her cheeks began to grow pink. ‘I never realized how very good you are at dodging my questions. What was the threat you were reading when Jill found you clutching your chest? She said she came back later and you’d hidden it.’
Gayle’s chin lifted ever so slightly. ‘It doesn’t matter. I took care of it.’
Marcus blew out a frustrated breath. ‘Could you just answer my goddamn question?’
She glared at him. ‘Fine. I’ll get you the letter. It’s in my safe at home.’
She’d found it credible enough that she’d kept it, he thought. ‘Who was it from?’