All Chapters of One Shift, One Night : Chapter 21 - Chapter 30

He was the mirror image of Gabriel: the same towering height, the same unruly dark curls, the same sharp, angular jawline. But where Gabriel wore a suit and a mask of cold discipline, Lucas was wearing an expensive, relaxed shirt with the top three buttons undone, a pair of fine Italian trousers, and a mischievous, easy going grin that had spent the last six months making him a favorite of the European paparazzi. "Lucas," Gabriel said, his baritone flat as he turned around. "I thought you were permanently parading around Paris with that French heiress. The one who supposedly convinced you to buy a vineyard." "Oh, Chloe?" Lucas waved his hand dismissively, sinking heavily into the leather armchair across from Gabriel’s desk and throwing his leg over the armrest with total disregard for corporate decorum. "She turned out to be a massive bore, brother. Completely obsessed with macrobiotic diets and contemporary art. She dumped me in a cafe near Montmartre because I told her her favo

"I don't know her name, Lucas! My heart is right there in that frame. Victoria. I am a man of structure, of legacy. I don't do 'love' with a common waitress from a midnight diner. I am doing this because they are Kanes. They are my blood, and no child of mine is going to live above a commercial oven while I own all of this!" "Then think about your precious legacy for a second, brother," Lucas shot back, his voice rising to match Gabriel’s intensity. "Think about your untouchable reputation. The board of directors is already circling your chair because of the amnesia. Julian is looking for any excuse to paint you as unstable. What do you think happens to the Kane stock the second the tabloids find out the perfect CEO got a low income waitress pregnant out of wedlock four years ago?" Gabriel froze. The words struck him like a blow, his breathing heavy as the cold. "They’ll say she’s a grifter," Gabriel muttered. "They’ll say she hid the children for four years specifically t

I sat across from Leslie Vance, the daughter of a real estate tycoon and the latest woman my grandmother had forced upon me in her relentless quest to secure the Kane legacy. She has gotten tired of me sitting around harboring old feelings for Victoria who would be out there with her lover boy somewhere in London. Grandma hasn't forgotten about her grandchildren but she wanted this date to make me feel like a man again. Leslie was undeniably beautiful, but her beauty had a flaw. For the past thirty minutes, she had done nothing but complain about the humidity, the service, and the "lower-class elements" as she put it. Bleeding into the downtown district."Honestly, Gabriel," Leslie scoffed, waving a manicured hand dismissively at a waiter who had been a second too slow with her sparkling water. "I don’t know why your grandmother suggested this place. The ambiance is entirely compromised. Look at that family over there. Honestly, people should really control their children in publi

Beep! Beep!! The only sound cutting through the quiet of the private VIP hospital suite. The heartbeat monitor. I sat in the plastic chair beside the white bed, my hands trembling as I buried my face in them. My eyes burned from the tears that refused to stop falling. On the bed, Gabriel lay perfectly still, his powerful frame looking strangely vulnerable beneath the hospital blankets, a complete opposite of the cold, untouchable billionaire who had threatened me in the square just hours ago. Across the room, curled up together on a small velvet sofa, Maya and Leo were fast asleep. The exhaustion of the day’s trauma had finally caught up to them, their tiny faces still streaked with the remnants of dried tears. Seeing Gabriel collapse like that, watching the mighty Kane empire crumble to the floor in a split second had shattered something inside me. The anger that had fueled me for five years had evaporated, replaced by a suffocating, familiar guilt. The heavy door to the suite

The moment we returned to the hospital suite, I knew everything had changed.The atmosphere itself felt heavier.Dangerous.Outside the massive glass windows, flashes from reporters still lit up the hospital entrance like lightning. Even from up here, I could hear the distant roar of the media crowd.And it was all because of me.No.Because of what Eleanor had done.I still couldn’t process it.Secret marriage?What kind of insane woman announces something like that to the entire country?I turned toward her the second the doors shut.“You blindsided me.”Eleanor calmly adjusted the sleeve of her expensive dark dress. “You wanted to fix the situation. I fixed it.”“That wasn’t fixing it!”My voice cracked from panic and exhaustion.“You just trapped me in a lie!”Lucas sighed dramatically from where he leaned against the minibar. “Technically, Grandma trapped both of you in a lie.”“Lucas,” Eleanor warned.“What? I’m just narrating the family disaster.”I pressed trembling fingers ag