All Chapters of The silence between us : Chapter 11 - Chapter 20

Lucy didn’t remember how she got back to the hotel suite. One moment she was standing across from Patricia in the café, her heart pounding with rage, the next she was in the gilded elevator, staring at her reflection in the mirrored walls.The woman looking back at her didn’t seem like herself. Her hair was tousled from the wind, her lipstick smudged, her eyes ringed with exhaustion. But it was the tension in her jaw that startled her most a hardness she hadn’t seen before Gabriel.When the elevator chimed, she stepped into the suite’s silence. The curtains were drawn against the late afternoon sun, casting the room in amber shadow. Gabriel wasn’t back yet. A single glass of scotch sat untouched on the table, a ring of condensation pooling beneath it.Lucy moved to the window and pushed the curtain aside. Madrid sprawled below, alive with movement, a thousand stories unfolding in streets she would never walk. For a fleeting moment, she wanted to disappear into that anonymity. No Gabri

The air between them was taut, as if a single wrong breath could shatter the fragile space holding their truce together. Gabriel’s eyes burned into Lucy’s, searching for something she wasn’t ready to name.Then a voice cut through the room like a blade.“Gabriel.”Anna stood in the archway, her expression too composed to be casual. She was dressed in slate-gray silk, her hair in a sleek twist, her eyes fixed entirely on Gabriel as though Lucy wasn’t even there.Lucy’s pulse stumbled. She didn’t know what she’d expected from Anna after all these years of absence, but this quiet precision, this unblinking calm it unsettled her.Gabriel’s jaw tensed. “You shouldn’t be here.”Anna stepped inside, the click of her heels sharp on the marble. “I have as much right to be here as she does.”“She’s my wife,” Gabriel said flatly.“And I’m your” Anna stopped, something flickering in her eyes before she smoothed it over. “Old friend.”Lucy rose from her seat slowly, refusing to shrink back. “You d

The engine’s growl echoed through the still night like a threat. Lucy froze at the threshold, her breath clouding in the cool air, her mind racing through possibilities. Joana was fast too fast.Gabriel didn’t hesitate. “Shut the gate!” His voice was sharp enough to cut through the marble halls. Somewhere down the corridor, Elena’s hurried footsteps rang out, followed by the slam of a heavy switch. The distant grind of metal told Lucy the gates were closing.“She’s already beyond the drive,” Lucy said, her pulse pounding.“Not if she had to get the car from inside,” Gabriel countered, striding toward the service wing. “The garage doors haven’t opened yet.”Lucy followed him into the shadows, the air thick with oil and steel. The garage smelled faintly of gasoline and cold metal, its rows of polished vehicles gleaming under low lights. A black coupe sat idling near the far wall, driver’s side door ajar.Empty.Gabriel scanned the space, jaw tight. “She left on foot.”“Where could she g

The grand library smelled faintly of cedar and old ink. Rows of towering shelves stretched into the shadows, each crammed with leather-bound volumes whose gold-stamped titles caught the flicker of the firelight. A storm rolled low outside, pressing gray light against the tall arched windows. In the center of the room, the fire snapped sharply, as if it, too, could sense the confrontation to come.Lucy stood near the hearth, the heat brushing her cheeks but not thawing the cold knot in her chest. Her fingers traced the carved armrest of the nearest chair, grounding herself as the echo of footsteps came from the corridor. She didn’t have to look to know it was Gabriel his stride was steady, heavy, certain. And behind him, the lighter, almost feline steps of Joana.When they entered, the library’s air seemed to tighten. Gabriel was in his dark charcoal suit, shoulders squared, his expression unreadable. Joana, in contrast, had dressed to conquer—emerald silk blouse, black tailored trouse

The first thing Lucy noticed was the silence.Not the usual peaceful stillness of the estate at dawn, but something sharper, heavier. The kind of silence that made you aware of every breath you took, every faint creak in the floor beneath your feet. Sunlight spilled through the tall windows of the east corridor, warming the marble tiles, but it couldn’t touch the chill curling at the base of her spine.Gabriel was nowhere in their room. His side of the bed was cold, the sheets already smoothed. She slipped into a silk robe, cinching the belt as she padded barefoot down the hall. A faint scent of coffee drifted through the air, but it wasn’t coming from the kitchen. It was older, bitter, like the dregs left untouched for hours.Her steps slowed when she reached the grand library.The heavy oak doors stood ajar, and inside, she saw him.Gabriel was at the far end, seated in one of the deep leather armchairs that flanked the library’s massive fireplace. The envelope from last night reste