Chapter 80

When Gabriel returned, a switch seemed to flip in him. His eyes were distant, cold, and angry.

“If I hadn’t come here today, I would never have known about my kids?” he demanded.

“Your kids?” I raised my eyebrows. “I carried them for eight months, and they’re suddenly your kids?!”

“You know what I mean.”

“No, actually, I don’t,” I scowled. “You chose to give me divorce papers. I left you a voicemail telling you I’m pregnant and that you’re welcome to be a part of the children’s lives. I didn’t want anything from you if you didn’t want to be around for them.”

“What voicemail?” he asked, cutting off my rant.

I tried ignoring his clenched fists. “The one I left you, about a month and a half after I left.”

“I didn’t get any voicemail, Sophia.”

I flinched at the coldness in his tone. “I called you, and you never picked up. I thought maybe it was because I called from an unknown number, so I left a voicemail, but I never heard back.”

“One voicemail! That’s how you chose to inform me?”

I scowled. “You should be thankful I did that, because I didn’t owe you anything after you served me divorce papers, and when I called, your ex picked up.”

He took a deep breath, as if exasperated, as if it took every ounce of his willpower to lean against the wall across from me and not cross the distance between us. “I ran into Lily at a local café the day before you came home. We accidentally exchanged phones, and I didn’t realize it until I was at my grandfather’s, who told me you were home. When I rushed home, you were gone!”

If I hadn’t been manipulated by him before, I might have believed him. “Why are you lying to me? What do you gain from it?”

“Freckles… what?” His lips parted, and the way he called me Freckles in that surprised gasp hurt. “Why… why would I lie to you?”

“I don’t know.” I shrugged wearily. “I saw her call. At my grandfather’s house, I saw her call you. You left me there and had to return because she called. You lied to me about it being a work emergency, and you continued lying to me the whole time I was there. And you’re lying to me now, giving me this bullshit story about how you and Lily accidentally exchanged phones.”

“Sophia…” He took quick steps toward me, stopping when I squeezed myself further back into the chair, unwilling to be near him. He took a deep breath. “I didn’t… I wasn’t…” He stuttered.

I shook my head.

He continued, “You’re right, I did get a call from Lily. The only reason I didn’t tell you was because you were grieving your grandfather, and I didn’t want to upset you more. But I didn’t lie to you about returning for her. It was my grandfather on the other end, calling from Lily’s phone. He called me back. He was diagnosed with colorectal cancer. I spent the three days you were gone flying to the best oncologist in America and then meeting Lily’s uncle, Dr. Michael Grant, at that café. If the paparazzi had snapped me at his clinic, it would have been a PR disaster. That’s why I met him at the café, and that’s where I met Lily. She just wanted to know if I was leaving you to go back to her, and I told her no. She left. That’s all.”

I blinked, processing his words. Unable to find a proper response, I settled on, “Alister has cancer?”

Chapter 80 (Continued)

“A contract marriage,” he corrected. “A means to an end. But you became so much more than that to me, Freckles.” His trembling hands held mine.

I ignored the burning sensation of his touch, the fire it ignited within me—a fire I thought long extinguished. “I will never leave you,” he promised.

“It’s too little, too late, Gabriel,” I shrugged. “I spent our entire marriage terrified that I would fall for you and you would leave me for Lily. I was so terrified of you leaving me that I didn’t realize leaving you was an option, too.”

“You lied to me from the start, Gabriel. You became everything I ever dreamed of in a man, while there was another woman waiting for you. You knew it, and you let me fall for you anyway, the consequences be damned. And I was so crazy about you by the time I found out, I clung to whatever scraps you offered. You didn’t even tell Lily that you wanted to stay with me until our six months were up. I was insecure all the time. I was left feeling foolish and betrayed.” Tears I had been holding back fell silently. “So, Gabriel, I don’t care if you don’t want to leave me now; because I’m leaving you.”

I pulled my hands away, stood up, and walked away, just as he had done to me six months ago at my grandfather’s house.