3
“What is he doing here?” Mom whispered urgently. “Tell him to leave. Your father doesn’t want to see him.”
Gabriel’s gaze swept over us, his tone laced with disapproval. “Vivi, why did you bring your mother here? Cora needs to rest. You two shouldn’t be disturbing her.”
I glanced at the bags in his hands. Boxes of premium supplements, prenatal vitamins, specialty teas. It clicked. He wasn’t here to visit my father.
He was here to dote on Cora.
I held my mom’s shaking shoulder. “Don’t worry,” I said, loud enough for him to hear. “We’re not here to see Cora.”
As I turned to lead my mom away, Gabriel’s voice stopped me. “What did you say just now? Who is it you don’t want anymore?”
The last thing I wanted was to fight with him in front of my mother. I spun a quick lie. “A puppy,” I said breezily. “My mom saw one she liked, but I was afraid it wouldn’t train well. So I said no.”
Gabriel frowned, seemingly oblivious to the barb in my words.
“Just take your mother home,” he said dismissively.
Chapter 1
06.32
Gabriel frowned, seemingly oblivious to the barb in my words.
*Just take your mother home,” he said dismissively.
My mom, worried about me, insisted I go home and get some real sleep. But instead of sleeping, I found myself wrapped in my duvet, my thumb hovering over Cora’s profile. I opened her Instagram.
She’d posted a photo of a signed contract for a luxury postpartum recovery suite, a bouquet of white roses placed artfully beside it. I’d only seen that place in celebrity magazines; a famous actress had spent hundreds of thousands on her stay there.
The caption read: [All the panic, all the helplessness… you ended it in a single moment. With you here, what is there to be afraid of? 】
Gabriel had certainly spared no expense.
I scrolled down through the comments, a flood of congratulations from friends and relatives. And right at the bottom, a comment from Gabriel himself: [I’ll always be here.)
He’d never made a promise like that to me.
I remembered a time I had the flu, my fever spiking to 104. Delirious, I’d called him on his business trip. A few hours later, he was there, having caught the first flight back to take me to the hospital.
After my fever broke, he’d scolded me, his face tight with annoyance. “You’re a grown woman, Vivi. You have to learn to take care of yourself. I can‘ t always be by your side.”
At the time, I thought he was just worried, speaking harshly out of concern.
Now I understood. He was just telling me the truth.
His promises were meant for someone else.
