“Please,” said Julia, taking a step closer to the hearing officers. “You have to believe me. Let him go!”
“We will ask you and all other parties to sign a confidentiality agreement that is as much for your protection as for the integrity of these proceedings. Once again, if you have further difficulties, you are to inform Professor Martin.” The Dean nodded at Soraya.
“Come on, Julia.” Soraya tugged on her arm, in vain. “Let’s go before they change their mind.”
“Gabriel, what happened?”
Julia took a step in his direction, but the pointed toe of her boot got caught in the carpet and she tumbled to her knees.
Finally her eyes connected with Gabriel’s as he looked down on her. She inhaled slowly as she realized that his dark blue eyes were cold and empty. He lowered his head.
In an instant, the fire in her veins turned to ice.
Chapter 26
“Something is rotten in the state of Denmark.” Soraya leaned back against the vanity in the ladies’ washroom while her client sat crying softly in a chair. She pulled her BlackBerry out of her briefcase, scrolling through her emails before returning the cursed device to its former resting place.
“I know John. His plan would have been to say nothing, then file a lawsuit. He would have tried to show that everything was your fault, setting the groundwork for Gabriel’s defense. He never would have agreed to this kind of outcome.”
Soraya fixed her client with a stern eye. “Do you know something? Some secret that Gabriel might worry would come out? Something extremely damaging?”
Julia shook her head vehemently. Gabriel’s drug use was in the past as was his rampant promiscuity, including his encounter with Professor Singer. Of course, there was the small matter of the black market Botticelli prints, but she would never reveal their existence to anyone, least of all to Soraya.
“Are you sure?” The attorney’s eyes narrowed.
“There’s nothing.” Julia sniffled, wiping her nose with a tissue.
Soraya tossed her long, dark hair. “Then he must be keeping secrets from you too. I can’t imagine what would be more damaging to him than confessing to having an inappropriate relationship with you. I thought you told me you didn’t sleep with him until December?”
“That’s right.”
“Then why would he tell them you were together while you were still his student?”
“Do you think they fired him?” Julia changed the subject.
“No.” Soraya exhaled loudly. “Emerson is tenured and from the body language in the room, he has the support of his Chair. But who knows? David is a self-righteous bastard.”
“You don’t think Gabriel was lying to protect me?”
Soraya smothered a patronizing smile, for really, it would have been inappropriate to smile at that moment. “Human beings are selfish. He was protecting himself—hiding some secret that he didn’t want to come out or trading a confession for leniency. Gabriel went rogue and refused to let John fight the charges. Otherwise, we’d still be sitting in the hall, waiting.”
Julia stood at the sink and washed her face and hands, trying to make herself appear presentable.
Soraya shook her head. “I don’t mean to be callous, but I really don’t think you should be wasting your tears on him.”
“What do you mean?”
“I’m sure you were an intriguing diversion, in comparison to his other women. He probably said pretty things so you’d screw him and keep your mouth shut. But men like him can’t be trusted. And they never change.” She continued hurriedly as she saw the horrified expression on Julia’s face.
“I wasn’t going to mention this, but a friend of mine hooked up with him a couple of times. They met at a club about a year ago and ended up f**king in the washroom.
“One day last fall, he called her out of the blue. One more hook up and she never saw or heard from him again. It was as if he’d vanished.” Soraya measured Julia’s reaction. “Why would you want to be with someone like that? He was probably screwing other women the entire time he was with you.”
“You don’t know him. Don’t judge him.” Julia’s voice was quietly aggressive.
Soraya simply shrugged and dug around in her briefcase for her lipstick.
Julia closed her eyes and took a deep breath, trying to process these new revelations.
Gabriel and I started getting close last fall—was he sleeping with someone else when he was sending me flowers and emails?Was he lying to me about Paulina?
Julia didn’t know what to believe. Her heart told her to believe Gabriel, but she couldn’t deny the fact that Soraya had planted a seed of doubt.
They walked into the hallway and headed for the stairs, hoping to make their escape.
John and Gabriel were doing the same thing. Neither of the men looked happy.
“Gabriel!” Julia called.
John glared in her direction. “Let’s go, Gabriel. You can’t be seen with her.”
Julia looked over into conflicted blue eyes. He didn’t look disgusted anymore; he looked sober and anxious.
“Haven’t you done enough damage for one day?” spat his attorney as Julia took a hesitant step in their direction.
“Don’t speak to her like that.” Gabriel moved to stand in between them, shielding Julia with his body. He still wouldn’t look at her.
“Listen, you two, David and his minions are about to come through that door, and I’d prefer to be gone before that happens. So whatever conversation you need to have, make it quick,” Soraya snapped.
“Over my dead body.” John glowered. “We’re in enough trouble as it is. Come on.”
Gabriel shot his lawyer a look of warning and gritted his teeth, turning around to face Julia.
“What’s going on? Why did you tell them our relationship was inappropriate?” Julia looked up into dark, tormented eyes.
“You were not sensible of your own distress.” Gabriel leaned forward to whisper in an urgent tone.
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“It means that he just saved your ass, that’s what it means!” John interrupted, pointing at Julia contemptuously. “What, exactly, were you trying to accomplish by emotionally vomiting all over the proceedings? I knew you were naïve, but just how stupid are you?”
“John, take your finger out of Miss Mitchell’s face or I will separate it from your body.” Gabriel’s voice dropped, his tone quiet but chilling. “You do not speak to her like that. Ever. Do I make myself clear?”
John closed his mouth.
Soraya used this as an opportunity to put him on the defensive. “My client is better off without the theatrics of either one of you. Don’t pretend you weren’t going to blame her for everything to save your client. Bloody coward.”
John muttered an oblique curse in response, but said nothing.
Julia turned to search Gabriel’s eyes. But his mask was firmly in place.
“Why did the Dean say that they were going to protect me from you?”
“We need to go. Now.” John tried to separate the couple as a noise inside the meeting room alerted them to the fact that the hearing officers were about to recess.
“Did they fire you?” Julia asked tremulously.
Gabriel gave her a pained look, then shook his head.
“Well done, John. I’m sure you’re proud of yourself,” Soraya hissed. “Did you have to sell your soul to David? Or maybe your body?”
“Blow me, Soraya,” said John.
“So you kept your job, but you can’t talk to me? What about last night, Gabriel?” Julia reached out a trembling finger toward his hand.
He pulled out of her reach and glanced sideways at John and Soraya, shaking his head.
“You promised you’d never f**k me. But what about last night? No words, no I love you, not even a note or a text this morning. Is that all it was to you? A good-bye f**k?” Julia’s whisper caught on an involuntary sob, and she raised her voice. “Who’s the Angelfucker now?”
Gabriel flinched.
It was more than a flinch; actually, it was more like a reel backward from a punch. He closed his eyes and groaned softly, shifting his weight to his heels as his fists clenched at his sides.
Everyone watched as his skin took on a ghostlike pallor.
“You wound me, Julianne,” he whispered.
“You keep your job, but you won’t talk to me? How could you do this?” she cried.
His eyes flew open, and they were a brilliant, livid sapphire.
“You think that I’d just show up, f**k you, and that would be how I would say good-bye?”
Julia watched his fists shake as he fought to maintain control.
“That was good-bye?” Her voice caught on the last word.
Gabriel’s eyes lasered into hers as if he were trying to communicate something wordlessly. He leaned forward so his nose was only inches from hers and dropped his voice so it was almost inaudible. “I did not f**k you. I’ve never f**ked you.”
He pulled back slightly so there was some distance between them. He drew a long, unhurried breath. “You were throwing your life away for nothing—all those years of hard work, everything you dreamed of and ever wanted was going to be taken from you and you would never be able to get it back.