Chapter 2
Gabriel looked at Vanessa as if she had become a stranger in front of him.
“What did you mean?” he asked.
Vanessa’s lips parted.
“I didn’t mean anything.”
“Yes, you did.”
People around us had started pretending not to listen, which meant everyone was listening.
Oliver took Finn’s hand.
Leo clung to my dress.
I wanted to run.
That had always been my mistake.
When Gabriel’s family cornered me, I ran.
When threats came, I ran.
When I found out I was pregnant, I ran further.
This time, my children’s eyes kept me still.
Vanessa forced a laugh.
“This is not the place.”
Gabriel stepped closer to her.
“Did you know?”
Her face tightened.
“Know what?”
“That I had sons.”
She looked at me.
Hatred burned beneath her polished smile.
“I suspected.”
The word hit the room like a dropped glass.
Gabriel went still.
“You suspected?”
She touched his arm again.
“Gabriel, you were destroyed after the divorce. I was protecting you.”
He pulled away.
“From my children?”
The pain in his voice almost broke me.
Almost.
Then I remembered why I had left.
His mother, Eleanor West, standing in the nursery I had started decorating.
Her hand on my stomach.
Her voice soft enough to be deadly.
A child ties families together, Claire. Or destroys the wrong people.
Back then, I thought she meant she would destroy me.
Then my brake lines were cut two days later.
And I stopped thinking it was only a threat.
I left before the pregnancy showed.
Gabriel had been overseas handling a company crisis.
By the time he returned, I had filed for divorce from a private address and refused every call.
Cowardly.
Necessary.
Both.
Gabriel turned to me.
“Why?”
One word.
Five years inside it.
My throat burned.
“Not here.”
He laughed once, raw and terrible.
“You hid three children from me, Claire. You do not get to decide the comfortable room.”
Oliver flinched.
Gabriel saw it.
His face changed instantly.
He crouched again, but farther back this time.
“I’m sorry,” he said to Oliver. “I’m not angry at you.”
Oliver studied him.
“Are you angry at Mom?”
Gabriel looked at me.
“Yes.”
Oliver lifted his chin.
“Then don’t yell near Leo. He cries when people yell.”
Gabriel’s face crumpled.
My brave boy.
My serious little protector.
Gabriel nodded.
“You’re right. I’m sorry.”
Leo peeked around my dress.
“You have eyes like us.”
Gabriel pressed a hand over his mouth.
Vanessa whispered, “Gabriel, this could be a trap.”
He stood so fast she stepped back.
“A trap?”
“She disappeared for five years and now arrives with three boys who look like you at a public event.”
“I didn’t know he would be here,” I snapped.
Vanessa smiled coldly.
“Of course.”
Gabriel looked between us.
“What is going on?”
Before I could answer, an older woman’s voice cut through the crowd.
“Gabriel.”
Eleanor West walked toward us in a black gown, diamonds at her throat, face composed like a judge before sentencing.
My body reacted before my mind did.
I moved the boys behind me.
Gabriel saw.
So did Eleanor.
Her eyes swept over the children.
For one second, satisfaction flickered there.
Not surprise.
Satisfaction.
My skin crawled.
She knew too.
Gabriel’s voice dropped.
“Mother.”
Eleanor stopped beside Vanessa.
“What a scene.”
He stared at her.
“Did you know?”
Eleanor’s smile did not move.
“Know what, dear?”
“That Claire had my sons.”
The room seemed to shrink.
Eleanor glanced at the boys.
Then at me.
“Claire made her choices.”
Gabriel’s face hardened.
“That is not an answer.”
“It is the only answer appropriate for a public gala.”
I stepped forward, shaking.
“You threatened me.”
Eleanor sighed.
“There it is.”
Gabriel turned to me.
“What?”
I swallowed.
“Your mother told me if I stayed pregnant in your family, my children would not be safe.”
Eleanor’s eyes sharpened.
“Careful.”
Gabriel looked at his mother.
His voice was barely above a whisper.
“What did you do?”
She smiled.
“Nothing that mattered.”
That was when Finn spoke for the first time.
Small voice.
Clear.
“Grandma knows us.”
Everyone froze.
I turned.
“What did you say?”
Finn pointed at Eleanor.
“She came to our school.”
My heart stopped.
Gabriel looked like the floor had vanished under him.
Eleanor’s smile finally disappeared.
May you like
Finn squeezed Oliver’s hand.
“She said we had our father’s eyes.”
