Chapter Ninety Eight

Chapter Ninety Eight
Gabriel
“Oh my gosh!” Kim gasped. “Is she okay?”

“She’s not doing well. I’m going to pay her a visit.” I turned off my laptop, zipped it into its case, pocketed my phone, and headed to the door.

“Please tell her I’ll drop by to see her after work.”

“I will,” I said with a nod and walked out.

At Gabi’s house, I parked, shut the car door, and walked to the front entrance. For the first time in years, I didn’t just walk in—I rang the bell. Belinda, the housekeeper, answered, surprised to see me waiting outside, but she didn’t question it and ushered me in.

“How is she?” I asked.

“Recovering better than anyone can imagine, sir,” Belinda said. “She’s upstairs in her bedroom.”

I nodded, thanked her, and hurried upstairs. Mom and Dad walked out of Gabi’s room just as I arrived, their surprise evident.

“Gabriel,” Mom breathed. “See, I told you we had to tell him.”

“When did this happen?” I asked, realizing I hadn’t even asked Simon.

“Two days ago,” Dad said.

Mom added quietly, “It was the night before the hearing. She didn’t want to tell you, but we made her husband do it.”

My chest tightened. The night before the hearing… while I had been consumed with Lucille, Gabi had been losing her child. And I hadn’t even known.

“She’s awake?” I asked.

“Yes,” they said.

I stood in front of the door, frozen. Six weeks since I had last seen her. Six weeks since I’d told her she was dead to me. But no matter what I said, I never let my daughter suffer for it; she still saw her aunt and cousins. I had drawn a line between us, but blood… blood never really let go.

“You can do this, son,” Dad said. “Let bygones be bygones.”

I looked at them. They would never truly understand the depth of her betrayal. We were twins—identical, inseparable since the womb. I thought nothing could break that bond until Arian came into the picture and Gabi showed her true colors.

I knocked, waited, then entered. She looked pale, her eyes dull, but when she saw me, she managed a faint smile.

“Hi.”

“Hi.” I cursed under my breath, realizing I had come empty-handed. “I’m sorry—I didn’t bring anything.”

“It’s okay. It’s a surprise you’re here at all,” she rasped. “Please, sit.”

I settled on the edge of the bed. “Simon came by the office,” I explained.

“I told him not to tell you,” she muttered.

“Why? Did you think I’d mock you?”

“No,” she whispered. “You said I was dead to you. I didn’t see the need to bother you.”

“I told Simon to tell you I forgive you,” I said. “You’re a pain in my ass, but you’re my twin. I can’t hate you. In spite of everything, I still love you, Gabs.”

Tears welled in her eyes, and then they fell, heavy and unstoppable. She sobbed, and I froze. Had I said the wrong thing?

“You can’t still love me after everything I did,” she cried.

“It’s all in the past. Staying mad at you is exhausting. I’d rather use my energy trying to convince Arian that it won’t be the end of the world if she loves me back.”

Her sobbing only grew harder, and panic clawed at me. I bolted from the room, calling for Mom. She appeared downstairs, startled.

“She’s crying buckets, Mom,” I said. “I think she’s broken.”

“She’s not a toy, you silly boy,” Mom said softly, climbing the stairs.

“She’s crying because I told her I love her despite everything,” I muttered.

Mom froze. “Say that again?”

When I repeated it, her face broke into a radiant smile. She rushed to hug me. “Thank you, my darling son! Thank you!”

“I could never stay mad at her too long,” I admitted as we walked back to Gabi’s room. “No matter what, I always come back to her.”

Inside, Gabi dabbed her eyes with a handkerchief. Mom sat beside her, asking if she was alright. Gabi insisted she was, then looked at me, fear clouding her features.

“I have something to tell you, Gabriel. I’m afraid it’ll be the last straw.”

My stomach tightened. What now?

“What is it?” I asked cautiously.

She fidgeted, lips trembling. My heart pounded. She only did that when she had done something truly terrible.

“What. Did. You. Do?” My voice was low, dangerous. “Start talking.”

“I… I was upset when you told me I was dead to you and you didn’t tell me about Hector. So I… went to Lucille’s house. I gave her the information I gathered about Arian and told her to break up your relationship with her. I told her I didn’t care how.” Her throat worked as she swallowed. “I’m sorry, Gabriel.”

Mom gasped, horrified. I just stared at my twin, betrayal slicing me all over again.

“Gabriel…” Mom pleaded.

But I was already storming out, deaf to Dad’s voice calling my name. I got into my car, hit the ignition, and sped out of the compound like a man possessed.

No matter how much I wanted to forgive her, Gabi always found new ways to tear open wounds I was desperate to heal.
\~~~~~
I left my car running, the automatic gear in Park and the door open as I raced up the steps to Lucille's front door and pressed the doorbell incessantly until the housekeeper appeared to open the door for me. I didn’t give her the chance to say anything as I marched into the house and headed straight for the living room.

She called my name but I didn’t answer until I walked into the living room and my steps faltered when I came face to face with my wife—soon to be ex-wife—having sex with an unknown guy on the sofa.

“Mr. Cruz!” Helen stopped beside me but turned her back quickly, unlike me, as Lucille and the guy broke apart.

“What the hell, Gabe?!” she snapped.

“I’m so sorry, ma’am. I tried to stop him but he barged in before I could,” Helen apologized.

Lucille picked up her discarded dress from the floor and put it on as the guy hastily dressed but didn’t quite finish and hurried out of the living room with his shirt and shoes. Good for him that he had the good sense to escape.

“You can go, Helen,” she dismissed the woman. “What do you want, Gabriel? What right do you have to barge into my house like that?”

“Gabi told me she gave you information on Arian and she wanted you to break us up. How do you intend to do that? Sleep with me or set Arian up with a man?” I arched a brow.

“That’s for me to know and for you to find out,” she shot me a secretive smile that bordered on being evil. “You should have fun with your little girlfriend. Don’t worry, I am not going to threaten your relationship.”

“I don’t believe you,” I hissed. “Tell me what you’re planning this instant, Lucille!”

“I’m not going to tell you shit, Gabriel Cruz, and you can’t make me,” she retorted. “Leave my house at once.”

“Isn’t it the house you bought with my money?” I reminded her. “I’d left this house to you and your friend because I wanted you to have a place to stay in the eventuality that we divorced. If you annoy me... I am going to throw you the fuck out.”

“I’m going to contest the divorce if you do that. I’m going to petition for an appeal and I’m sure another judge would take my side,” she threatened me.

I reached her in three strides and leveled her with an icy glare. She tried to hold my gaze but gave up and looked away from me. “I hope for your sake that you’re not planning anything crazy, Lu,” I growled. “Only God will help you if I find out that you are planning to hurt Arian.”

“I just told you that I am not going to hurt your stupid girlfriend, Cruz,” she looked irritated. “Do you think I don’t value my life?”

I searched her eyes for the truth but her face was expressionless and she smartly hid whatever it was she was planning. Her left eye kept twitching, though, so I knew she wasn’t being completely honest—if at all—but I didn’t push her.

“Let this sound as a warning to you so it wouldn’t come as a surprise. I’d slice, dice and pulverize you if anything happens to my girl,” I told her. “There wouldn’t be any part of you left to be buried after I am done.”

“I think you’re bluffing,” she scoffed. “You don’t have it in you to hurt me. How would your daughter feel when she finds out that you killed her mother?”

“I think she’d be ecstatic to know that her mother is gone forever,” I spat. “I’d wanted a reason to get rid of you completely for the past seven years, Lu, so... if you don’t care about your life... please, I beg you to do something crazy. I’d only be too happy to show you that the Gabriel Cruz you knew before you traveled isn’t the one you came back home to.”

I thought she realized how serious I was because she backed up immediately, giving me a wide berth. She wrapped her arms around her middle, trying to look like the victim here, but failing... miserably.

“You have my word that I am not going to hurt your girlfriend,” she said. “I’ve accepted my fate.”

“Your word means squat to me,” I said. “But that’ll be enough for now.”

“Now, you’ve scared that stupid guy away,” she griped.

“Find someone in your own class. He looked like someone who still lived with his parents,” I rumbled.

“That was Joshua Dwight. His father is the deputy governor.”

I snorted in derision. “Keep looking,” I imparted before walking out of the living room. I got back into my car, shut the door, ready to drive out of the compound but my phone chose to ring at that moment and I took it out of my pocket, checked the screen and answered the call.

“What?” I snapped.

“Gabriel... I’m so sorry.” Gabi’s broken voice pleaded in my ear. “I’m sorry.”

I breathed through my nose because I was busy grinding my teeth which prevented me from cursing my sister. She’d been right about this being the last straw because I didn’t know what Lucille had planned for Arian even though she’d promised that she hadn’t done anything and wouldn’t do anything in future. I knew my wife like the back of my hand.

“Gabe...”

“What did you hope to gain by going to Lucille? Why did you even...” I paused. “You know what? Karma is the kindest bitch in the whole world, sis. I’m sorry for saying this to you, but... maybe, losing your baby really was the only way to atone for everything you did to me. I loved you unconditionally, Gabi.”

“It was...”

“The work of the devil? Yeah, right,” I scoffed. “Blame it on him, why don’t you? Anyway, I don’t give a hoot about you anymore, Gabriella. Don’t force me to renounce my family because of you.”

I heard her sharp intake of breath but it didn’t faze me and I hung up on her before she could say anything else. I’d given her too many chances and I was all out of it. There wasn’t a soul on this earth that’d make me forgive her this time. Not one freaking soul.