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Chapter 31: Shattered Reflections
Last Updated:
2025-08-23 18:20:21
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The silence between us Chapter 35: Breaking the Pattern
The library doors had barely settled back into their heavy hinges when Gabriel barked orders in rapid Spanish. His voice echoed against the marble corridors, clipped and low but sharp enough to send three of his men scattering to secure every point of entry. The estate, already a fortress, suddenly felt like a trap. Lucy stood near the tall shelves, arms wrapped around herself, pulse still uneven from the faceless shadow that had watched them from the garden.She had never seen Gabriel like this cold, controlled, calculating. It was the kind of authority that could command empires, the same kind that had once terrified her. Now it frightened her for a different reason: it reminded her just how powerful he was, and how powerless she felt.“Elena will take you upstairs,” Gabriel said without turning toward her, his hand pressed to the earpiece he wore. “Stay there until I call for you.”“I’m not a child,” Lucy answered, her voice quieter than she intended but firm. “I’m not going upstai
The silence between us Chapter 34: Beneath the Surface
The Madrid estate felt different after Patricia’s departure, as though her perfume and venom had clung to the walls. Lucy wandered its echoing halls with a restlessness she couldn’t shake, her footsteps tapping against marble, always too loud in the silence Gabriel left between them.She told herself she wasn’t afraid anymore, but the truth was murkier. Fear still lingered only now it wasn’t of Gabriel or even Joana. It was of her family, of what else they might have done in the shadows.The grand library had become her refuge. It was where she had confronted Gabriel, where he had let her walk away without a word. Now, she returned not to argue but to think. The towering shelves of books felt like silent witnesses, their leather spines holding centuries of secrets. She traced her fingers along the gold embossed titles until she reached the heavy desk at the center of the room.Parchment. Ledgers. A box of fountain pens still carrying the faintest scent of ink. Gabriel’s world wasn’t j
The silence between us Chapter 33: Fractures and Resolve
Morning light spilled over the estate, softening the edges of its grand architecture, but to Lucy it felt cold. She sat on the stone bench in the garden where she had wept the night before, her hands folded in her lap, her eyes fixed on the marble fountain that caught the first rays of sun. Birds trilled above, their songs achingly cheerful compared to the heaviness pressing against her chest.Sleep had barely touched her. Every time she closed her eyes, she saw Gabriel’s face in the dimly lit study, saw the torment he’d tried to bury beneath his control, heard the way his voice cracked when he swore he couldn’t hate her. Those words clung to her like a fragile thread of hope, yet his final command Leave this room burned just as deeply.The contradiction tore at her. He wanted to protect her. Yet he pushed her away, blind to the fact that his silence only endangered her more.Lucy’s fingers brushed over the folds of her dress as if to anchor herself. I won’t sit idle any longer, she t
The silence between us Chapter 32: The Edge of Truth
The morning light in Madrid had a way of softening even the hardest edges, casting pale gold over the tall windows and marble floors of the estate. Lucy woke to that light slipping across the sheets, her body still aware of the warmth of Gabriel beside her even before her eyes opened. He was awake already, sitting on the edge of the bed, shirtless, his broad shoulders hunched as though he carried a weight he couldn’t set down.She lay still, watching him for a moment. There had been something in his eyes last night when he’d kissed her not out of hunger but out of apology that had unraveled her carefully held guard. Yet, true to form, he hadn’t spoken of it again. Now the silence stretched between them, the kind that was both comfort and threat.“Couldn’t sleep?” she asked softly, her voice half-lost in the morning quiet.He didn’t turn, only reached for his shirt draped over a chair. “Too much to think about.”“Business?” she asked, though she already knew the answer.A faint sound e
The silence between us Chapter 31: Shattered Reflections
The Madrid estate felt different after the confrontation like its very walls had absorbed Patricia’s venom and were now whispering it back into Lucy’s ears. The moment the heavy oak doors shut behind them, sealing out the night and the world beyond, silence descended. Not a peaceful silence, but the kind that pressed on the chest, suffocating, demanding something neither she nor Gabriel seemed willing to give.Lucy trailed behind him as they walked through the foyer, their footsteps echoing in mismatched rhythms. Gabriel didn’t glance back. He shrugged out of his jacket, tossed it across the arm of a chair, and strode toward his private study without a word.She watched him disappear into the shadowed corridor, the slam of his study door ringing like a verdict.Lucy gripped the railing of the staircase and closed her eyes. Patricia’s words replayed in cruel loops: You’ll never be more than a pawn… He’ll never truly trust you… You were only ever second choice.Her stepmother’s voice ha
The silence between us Chapter 30: The Gathering Storm
The morning of the meeting arrived with a heaviness that seeped through every corner of the Madrid estate. Rain drummed softly against the tall windows of the east wing, and the city beyond was cloaked in a gray mist, its vibrant chaos muted as if it too sensed the danger ahead.Gabriel stood in the grand library, his jacket draped over a velvet chair, eyes fixed on the documents spread across the desk. Names, figures, and coded notes lay scrawled across the pages proof of the tangled web his father had left behind and of the vultures circling now to tear at what remained. His hand tightened around the glass of whiskey he hadn’t yet touched.This meeting was inevitable. Neutral ground, they had called it, though he knew better. Nothing about tonight would be neutral.Behind him, the faint echo of footsteps made him glance over his shoulder. Lucy lingered in the doorway, her silk dress catching the dim light, her hair tumbling freely down her shoulders. She looked delicate, out of plac
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