Chapter 6 - The Shadows of the Past
The following morning, the sun rose over the Hudson River, casting a brilliant, golden sheen across the manicured lawns of the Westchester estate.
Upstairs in the newly decorated west wing, the boys were already awake, squealing with laughter as Mrs. Gable fed them pancakes smothered in maple syrup while showing them a massive indoor playroom that Gabriel had apparently ordered built years ago, secretly hoping for heirs he never knew he had.
I stood by the floor-to-ceiling windows of my old bedroom—the master suite where I had spent three years crying into my pillow before walking out into the rain.
The door opened silently, and Gabriel walked in. He had already showered, shaved, and changed into a crisp charcoal sweater and dark jeans. He carried two porcelain mugs of black coffee, holding one out toward me.
"You didn't sleep," he observed quietly, noting the dark circles under my eyes.
"It’s hard to sleep when your entire past has just been dug up and dumped back into your living room," I replied, taking the mug from his hand, our fingers brushing briefly.
Gabriel walked over to the window, standing beside me, looking out toward the river. "The federal attorney handling the remnants of the Vane syndicate investigation called me at 6:00 AM."
I turned my head, frowning. "What does the Vane family have to do with this?"
"Everything," Gabriel said grimly. "Serena wasn't just a socialite looking for a wealthy husband, Claire. Her father, Arthur Vane, was one of the primary financial backers pushing federal racketeering charges against Cross Freight three years ago. When I divorced you, Serena was planted in my orbit to infiltrate my inner circle, gain access to my corporate servers, and secure enough evidence to put me away for life."
The breath caught in my throat. "Are you saying... she was a federal informant?"
"She was worse," Gabriel said, his jaw tightening into a hard line. "She was a corporate spy working for my greatest rival. The night you walked into my office and caught us... she had just slipped a micro-surveillance drive into my private desk drawer. I didn't kiss her because I loved her, Claire. I kissed her to keep her from realizing I had already spotted the wire in her necklace."
The world tilted slightly on its axis.
"You... you knew she was a spy?" I whispered, staring at him in utter disbelief.
"I knew," Gabriel nodded grimly. "And the moment I signed those divorce papers, I did it to push you as far away from me as humanly possible. I knew the Vanes were coming for me. I knew a bloodbath was coming. If you had stayed in this house three days longer, you and any unborn life you might have been carrying would have been caught in the crossfire."
Silence fell over the bedroom, heavy and profound.
All these years, I had carried the bitter, crushing belief that Gabriel had discarded me simply because he grew tired of me, trading me in for a younger, shinier model. I had spent half a decade nursing a broken heart fueled by the illusion of his shallow betrayal.
And all along, he had thrown me away to keep me alive.
"Why didn't you tell me?" I asked, my voice cracking as tears welled in my eyes. "Why let me walk away believing you didn't love me?"
Gabriel turned, setting his coffee mug down on the windowsill, and stepped directly in front of me. His strong, calloused hands gently cupped my face, his thumbs wiping away a stray tear rolling down my cheek.
"Because a dying man doesn't get to drag his wife down into the grave with him," Gabriel whispered fiercely. "I survived, Claire. I dismantled the Vanes, I crushed every rival who tried to take my crown, and I built an empire that nothing can touch. But the only thing that ever truly mattered—the only thing I ever lost—was you."
May you like
He leaned down, pressing his forehead against mine, his breath warm against my lips.
"Give me another chance," he pleaded softly. "Let me prove to you that the man who let you walk out that door died five years ago. Let me be your husband again."
