Chapter 31: The Demand, The Advantage, The Duel

My words dropped like stones in still water, rippling out until the whole room felt suffocated.

Gabriel’s throat tightened. Choose? How could he choose when half his life was a blank canvas and the other half was smeared with contradictions? His pulse hammered in his ears.

Emily’s smile blossomed, slow and deliberate, like she’d been waiting for this exact moment. She stepped into the silence, her voice syrupy-sweet. “Yes, Gabriel. Tell her the truth. Tell her where your heart really is.”

My eyes never left him. They burnt—not pleading, not begging. Demanding. Daring him to see her, remember her, trust her.

Gabriel’s chest rose and fell, his mind spinning. I was his wife, his anchor. But Emily—Emily’s voice, Emily’s presence—dug at something buried in the fog of his memory. A whisper. A fragment. Was it real? Or just her?

His lips parted, but nothing came out.

Emily tilted her head, watching him struggle, savouring it. “See, Eve? He doesn’t even have to answer. His silence says everything.”

I stepped forward, my voice cracking with fury. “No. His silence means you’ve poisoned him, twisted him until he doubts his own soul. But I won’t let you win, Emily. Not again.”

Gabriel’s hands shot up, his shout ripping through the air. “Stop!”

The word echoed, bouncing off the walls. His chest heaved, his hands trembling. He looked at both of us, his voice rough, broken. “You want me to choose? How the hell can I choose when I don’t even know who I am anymore?”

My heart shattered at the raw truth of it. Emily’s smile widened, triumphant at his collapse.

And Gabriel—Gabriel turned away from us both, dragging his hand through his hair, leaving them in silence.

Gabriel’s back was to them, shoulders taut, head bowed as though the weight of their war was dragging him down.

Emily’s eyes glittered. She smelt blood in the water.

“Gabriel,” she said softly, stepping toward him, her voice dripping with practised compassion. “You don’t have to torture yourself like this. You’ve always come to me when things got too heavy. Let me help you. Let me carry this with you.”

Her hand hovered inches from his back.

I lunged forward, grabbing Emily’s wrist before it could land. “Don’t.” Her voice trembled with fury. “Don’t touch him. Don’t pretend you’re saving him when you’re the one drowning him.”

Emily wrenched free, her tone sharp now, the mask slipping. “And you think you’re any better? Look at him, Eve. He’s breaking under your pressure. You’re suffocating him with your desperation to make him remember something he can’t.”

Gabriel spun, his eyes flashing, his voice raw. “Enough!”

They both froze.

His gaze swept between us—my defiance, Emily’s poison—and for the first time, there was something new in his eyes. Not confusion. Not a weakness. Anger.

“You want me to choose?” he said, voice low and shaking. “Then stop fighting like I’m a prize to be won. Stop talking about me like I’m not standing in this damn room!”

My breath caught. Emily’s lips parted in surprise.

Gabriel’s voice cracked, thick with something dangerously close to despair. “I don’t know who I am. I don’t know who to believe. But I do know this—I can’t keep living like this.”

He shoved a hand through his hair, his chest heaving. “One of you… one of you is lying to me. And I’m going to find out who.”

The silence that followed was a storm waiting to break.

For a moment, Emily’s mask cracked. Her jaw tightened, her eyes narrowing just enough for me to see the venom beneath the gloss.

But then she softened, blinking quickly, letting tears well at the corners of her eyes. “Gabriel,” she whispered, voice trembling. “You don’t have to do this to yourself. I’ve never lied to you. Not about us. Not about the baby.”

The word ‘baby’ detonated in the air.

My chest constricted, my nails digging into my palms. “Enough with that lie!” I spat. “We both know there is no child.”

Emily whirled, her face twisting with mock outrage. “You dare say that? You dare stand there and deny an innocent life? What kind of woman are you, Eve?”

Gabriel’s hands clenched at his sides, his jaw grinding. The storm inside him was visible, tearing him apart.

Emily pressed forward, desperate now, her words quick, sharp, and deliberate. “I can prove it. Doctor’s reports. Ultrasounds. Gabriel, I’ll take you to the appointments if you want. You’ll hear the heartbeat yourself.”

I stepped between them, fire blazing in my eyes. “And when he finds nothing but forged papers and lies? What then, Emily? What will you cling to when your web finally snaps?”

Emily leaned closer, her smile sharp, her whisper venomous. “By then, it won’t matter. Because doubt is all it takes. Doubt destroys marriages faster than truth ever could.”

My stomach dropped. Because I knew Emily was right—doubt was already hollowing Gabriel out, piece by piece.

And Gabriel— Gabriel turned toward the door, his voice low, final. “Both of you… leave me the hell alone tonight.”

He stalked out, the door slamming behind him, leaving them in the wreckage of silence.

The echo of the slammed door vibrated through the house.

Silence followed. Thick. Suffocating.

I turned slowly, my chest heaving, to face Emily.

Emily smiled. A slow, curling thing that didn’t reach her eyes. She dropped the pretence of tears, the fragile quiver in her voice. Now it was just steel and venom.

“Well,” Emily said softly, “that went better than I expected.”

My fists clenched at my sides. “You’re disgusting.”

Emily’s heels clicked against the wood as she circled the room, slow and predatory, like a cat savouring a cornered mouse. “Funny. He didn’t seem to think so. Not when he was in my bed. Not when he told me you bored him, Eve. That he wanted someone alive, someone who could keep up.”

The words sliced, but I refused to flinch. I held my ground, my voice steady. “You think breaking me will make you real? You’re nothing but a shadow. A placeholder. Even with his memory gone, he doesn’t see you. That must kill you.”

Emily’s eyes flashed, her mask cracking for just a second before she laughed, sharp and bitter. “Does it? Because right now, I’m the one with the sonogram. The lawyer. The truth in my hands. And you? You’re the desperate wife begging a man who can’t even remember you.”

I stepped forward, close enough that our faces were only inches apart. My voice dropped, low and dangerous. “You can forge papers. You can spread lies. You can play every dirty trick you know. But you can’t erase me, Emily. Not from his life. Not from his heart. Not from his blood.”

Emily’s smile vanished. For the first time, something flickered in her eyes—uncertainty.

I leaned in closer, my whisper a blade. “I’ll burn your empire of lies down brick by brick. And when it’s gone, when everyone sees you for what you are, you’ll have nothing left. Not even his pity.”

Emily’s jaw tightened. Her nails dug into her palm. But then her lips curved again, slow and sharp. “We’ll see.”

She grabbed her bag, swung it over her shoulder, and walked toward the door. Before leaving, she turned, her eyes glinting like shards of glass.

“Round three will be mine.”

The door clicked shut behind her, leaving me alone with the echo of her promise.

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