Free Paris (Entangle Me Book 4) by Maggie Way Page A

I’m good. Next time give me some notice so I can afford to say yes to your whimsical last minute holiday plans!” I narrow my eyes at him playfully. “Seriously, have an amazing time. You deserve it after how hard we’ve been working lately. No doubt you will brush up on your German? Eat lots of sausages and sauerkraut?”
    “Well, I’d like to taste some German sausages and not just the meat kind.” He giggles. “Maybe I can meet some cute Germans for us. Ja ja ! But you’re not going alone, you’re flying with Tristan.”
    I roll my eyes again. “Actually no, he’s flying to London for work. So no, you suck for making me fly alone,” I tease. “It’s okay though. I think I’m getting the hang of flying now, just getting there. Lots of wine and flicking my wrists. If there’s a cute flight attendant I can always ask him to talk to me, right?”
    Gabe takes another sip and taps my forearm gently. “Are you and Tristan going to get together or what? I hope so!”
    I purse my lips, unsure of how to answer that. My stomach sinks at the thought that he is with Victoria, in her apartment suite. I decided to ignore the fact that he messaged me twenty minutes ago, giving me the room number and address of the hotel in case I changed my mind. No thanks. She’s staying on the 30 th floor of Résidence Jupiter , one of the tallest residential buildings in Paris. I’ll pass.
    “I’m not getting my hopes up, having Victoria in the picture has just put me off altogether.”
    “Jeez, she is not in the picture, she’s just some deluded woman who almost got Tristan fired,” he blurts out.
    Whoa. What did he say? Got Tristan fired?
    I raise my hand at him. “Back it up. She what?”
    Gabe clamps a hand over his mouth. “Shit, I blame the drink. Tristan is going to kill me but…you might as well know. I overheard them talking in one of the private rooms before the food was coming out, they were full yelling at each when I was going up to grab some extra glasses from the storage room.”
    I take another sip, dying to hear more. Why does the idea of them arguing make me secretly happy? “Yeah?”
    Gabe sighs, knowing that he has to spill the beans. “She kept apologising for ‘ getting carried away’ . He was saying ‘ you made up so much shit about me ’, umm and then something like ‘ you ruined my reputation ’.” Gabe takes a sip, stroking his chin in deep thought. “He said he was never interested in her, he always thought of her as a friend. And okay, this is where it gets juicy. So Victoria said she didn’t mean to threaten him with a lawsuit. She said it would was only so Tristan would agree to go out with her. Her exact words to him were ‘ I didn’t expect you to leave the company, I just wanted you to be mine. ’ Yeah, juicy shit right ?” 
    My jaw drops, completely speechless at his revelation. Through that incredibly long-winded and tipsy retelling of a conversation, I am starting to get the picture.
    “So she…was the reason why…?” I can’t finish my words, still stunned from this revelation. “You’re absolutely sure this happened?”
    Gabe stares at me in disbelief. “Come on, do you think I could make this up? Don’t you think it all makes sense? Like, why he came back half way across the world instead of working for another company. He probably wanted to get away from all that crap, run his own show.”
    I take another sip, the only thing that feels appropriate. “Wow. I…just—”
    Out of the blue, my clutch vibrates on my lap and I put my drink down to get my phone out of the bag. My eyes widen in pleasure at seeing Tristan’s name. He’s probably finished with his party, he’s here!
    I swipe the screen to the right to pick up the call. “Hey! What’s up?”
    “Hey, I’m about to leave. Just wanted to check where I’m meeting you guys? Still at Moulin Rouge, yeah?” He’s whispering, which doesn’t make sense because it’s completely quiet where he is.