Chapter 100: The secret
Gabriel’s body slumped into the chair as if the strength had drained from his bones. His hand instinctively clutched at his chest, trying to steady the sudden storm raging inside him.
That secret—buried so deep he had almost convinced himself it never happened—was now out in the open. And it hit like a punch to the gut.
His eyes locked on Dimitri’s, wide with disbelief. "Why now?" he grunted. "You promised... You swore you’d never speak of it."
"You brought this on yourself." Dimitri’s voice rang through the quiet room, hard and unwavering. "Your cruelty... your temper... it cost you your own child. Don’t pretend to forget. You were the one who came crawling to me, begging for help. Have you already buried that night too?"
The color drained from Gabriel’s face, and memories he had fought to suppress came flooding back with brutal clarity.
That night had been a blur of rage and alcohol. He had lashed out after hearing Gervis had been assigned the company’s biggest project—a move he saw as betrayal. His wife had tried to calm him down, but in a fit of anger, he had shoved her.
She had stumbled, hitting her stomach against the sharp edge of the table. Her ear-piercing cry seemed to still echo in his ears, haunting him.
Her water had broken. She had been rushed to the hospital, bleeding and in pain. As fate would have it, Gervis’s wife had also arrived at the hospital that same night, going into labor.
That night, life and death had played out side by side. Gervis’s wife delivered healthy twin boys, while Gabriel’s daughter... was stillborn.