Beating the Sidewinders that night took Laurel’s mind off everything personal. They’d done it. She’d done it. The Alaska Blizzard was going to the playoffs for the very first time and it was partially because of her. They were in high spirits after the game, and Laurel admonished them not to party too hard as they headed out.
“What are you going to do?” Dani asked her, stopping by Laurel’s office before she left.
“Going home.” Laurel smiled. “You should enjoy some time with your brother-in-law.”
“Sergei, Toli, and Vlad are going to sit around and talk in Russian. I’m probably just going to bed. Where’s Gage?”
“I don’t know… Isn’t he here?” Laurel picked up her phone and saw a text from him. She frowned as she read it.
Hey, babe. Had to go out of town. Have an emergency stockholder meeting in New York. I’ll call you in the morning since we’ll be flying most of the night. I didn’t want to bother you during the game. Love you—will explain when we talk.
She put down the phone. “He had to go out of town.”
“How come? Is everything okay?”
“I have no idea. He didn’t say.”
“That’s kind of…weird.”
“Yeah.” Laurel got up and grabbed her bag. “I guess he’ll tell me in the morning. He said he’ll be flying all night.”
“He’s actually traveled a lot less since you’ve been here. Usually, he’s gone a few days a week, always jetting off to meet with this business associate or his lawyers in L.A. or whatever.”
“His lawyer’s in New York,” Laurel said, half to herself.
“Oh, I don’t know. According to Whitney, he’s got one in L.A. He helped her with something a few months back and I know the guy was in L.A. But he’s a billionaire, he’s probably got them everywhere.”
“Probably.” Laurel agreed, but this didn’t make sense. Gage and his family had used the same attorney for many years. She knew this because his attorney had been at all of their separation and divorce proceedings. Adam Healey had been Gage’s father’s attorney as well, and Laurel knew him well.
Dani was right, though. He wasn’t just a multimillionaire anymore. He was a billionaire who most likely had quite a few lawyers, not just Adam. Adam had to be in his seventies now anyway, so it made sense there were others. She’d just wait until morning to find out what was going on.
Gage was pissed. Carol’s message had been urgent and though he’d tried to get out of flying to D.C., she’d pleaded, promising it would be the last time. There was a formal party at the home of a prominent U.S. senator and Carol had even offered for him to take Laurel. Unfortunately, she couldn’t get away from hockey right now so he’d been forced to sneak out like he was doing something wrong, without even telling Laurel where he was going. The biggest risk was that someone would get pictures of the party and he’d be busted. He’d been awake for most of the flight trying to come up with a plausible reason for attending a high-profile party like that with no notice and without Laurel.
A car picked him up at the airport and took him straight to the address she’d given him. He’d been hoping to see a message from Laurel but there wasn’t one and he figured she was either mad about him leaving without warning or busy celebrating with the team. Or some combination of both. He glanced at his phone again and stuffed it in his pocket as he walked into Carol’s office.
“I know you’re mad,” she said immediately, standing up. “I promise this is the last time, but Stefan Havlek is in town.”
“In D.C.?” Gage stared at her. Stefan was a terrorist on the most wanted list in almost every civilized country in the world.
“Yes. And we think he’ll be at Senator Hasting’s party tonight. He knows you as a billionaire playboy, so you can get close to him, maybe find out what he’s doing here. If you can get invited to hang out…something, he might have valuable intel.”
“Why don’t you just pick him up?”
“We both know why. Last time we tried, he killed the agents and disappeared. It would be far more helpful for you to find out why he’s in the U.S. He likes you.”
“Lucky me.” Gage tapped his foot. “This is the last time, Carol.”
“I know.” She flashed a grin. “Thank you?”
“Text me the information.” He got up and headed back out to the car. It was only nine in the morning here, which meant five in the morning in Anchorage. He’d wait another hour before calling her, and hopefully by then he’d have something to tell her that wasn’t totally lame.
Laurel was up before six after a restless night tossing and turning. She’d gone over to Sergei and Dani’s for a few drinks and to keep Dani company while Sergei, his brother and a few guys from the Sidewinders talked hockey. It had been nice but in the back of her mind she kept thinking about Gage and why he’d left without warning during such an important game. Especially after taking a phone call that had made him visibly uncomfortable.
Now that she’d worked up her nerve, she dialed his number, almost surprised when he answered right away.
“Hey, beautiful.”
“Hi. Where are you?”
“At my attorney’s office. You remember Adam, don’t you?”
“Of course. He was at our wedding and all of our separation and divorce meetings as well.”
“I’m sorry I had to leave with no notice, but I needed to sign some things and meet with some shareholders. There’s an issue with one of my companies here in Manhattan and I have to handle it. Adam is going with me.”
“At some point you’re going to have to tell me about all these businesses. I thought you’d sold your software company and were just focusing on the team now?”
“As soon as hockey season is over, I’ll fill you in on everything. Now tell me about last night.”
They talked for another ten minutes and he promised to call after his meetings, but Laurel couldn’t shake the feeling that something was off. Adam had power of attorney for all of Gage’s personal and professional dealings, so it made no sense he’d flown to New York in the middle of the night. Did it? She wanted to believe him but one minute he was assuring her she was the most important thing in his life and the next he was mysteriously jetting off across the country. Her woman’s intuition was screaming red alert, and it rarely steered her wrong.
Was it possible he had a girlfriend somewhere that he now had to dump because Laurel was back in his life? Rich men kept women in apartments in places like New York. A supermodel. Or a fashion designer. An actress. Holy shit, he was probably ending things with a hysterical twenty-something.
She sank onto the bed and squeezed her eyes shut. Gage wouldn’t. She refused to believe it. There had been other women but not while they were together and no one serious. He wouldn’t lie about that.
He’d lied about his entire military career, though. And other things.
Shit.
She stomped into the bathroom and got into the shower. The self-doubt served no purpose. She had a team to get ready for the playoffs. When he got home, she’d either confront him or convince herself she was being stupid. In the meantime, she would put it out of her mind.
Yeah, right.
Gage got home well after midnight two nights later. Laurel was already asleep, but she stirred when he got into bed beside her.
“Sorry,” he whispered. “I didn’t mean to wake you.”
“I thought you were coming home tomorrow,” she said, her eyes still closed.
“I couldn’t wait to see you.”
“Did you break up with her?” she murmured sleepily.
“Break up with who?” he asked, kissing the side of her face.
“Whoever she was.” Her eyes fluttered open. “You promised not to lie to me, Gage.”
“Is that what you think?” He kissed her again, this time on the mouth. “Never. Not in a million years. I would never do something like that.”
“Promise?”
“I swear. Now go back to sleep.” He pulled her up against his chest and wrapped his arms around her. “We’ll talk in the morning.”
“Okay.” She was already asleep again, but he stared at the ceiling for a long time. Lies always had a way of coming back to haunt him and he couldn’t take that risk again. Somehow, he had to make this right, make her believe in him. It frustrated him that she’d thought he had a girlfriend somewhere. What did that say about their relationship? Hell, what did that say about their future?