Gabriel
Early take a ble gulp of my drink. “She did come to see me weeks later, and 1
“Don’t make excuses, she should have told you. That is need to know information.”
Texhale heanly.” know.”
“Oh my god.” Her eyes search mise. “You have children?” I nod sadly.
“Don’t be sad, this is wonderful.” She takes my hand over the table,
“What did Ariana say?”
“I didn’t tell her.”
“What?” she snaps. “Why not?”
“Because Seraphina doesn’t want me in their lives”
She stares at me, horrified. So?”
e her because I was in better and ”
“She’s told everyone that they were conceived using IVF and donec sperm and she asked that if I can’t be a devoted father then to step aside and leave them be. She doesn’t want them missing an absent father”
“Oh.” Her eyes hold mine. “How do you feel about that?”
1 shrug, “It’s for the best. I’m a workaholic who lives in New York. These children are eight hours away and My voice trails off. They can’t miss they don’t know”
She shumps hack in her chair and thinks for a moment. “What are they like?
“Thave photos.” I open my phone and swipe through to a photo I took of Lucia at the game she looks at it.
“Look at her, she’s beautiful,” she cos
“You’ve never seen a more gorgeous child, Claire.” I smile proodly. So smart and sweet.”
Claire smiles sadly. “And the boy?”
“This is Lucia.” I pass the phone over and Claire smiles as
I swipe through my phone again, I took a few photos of photographs that were in frames on the mantle, I knew I would want to look at them later. “This is Dominic.” I pass the phone back to her and she gasps and puts her hand over her mouth. Her eyes rise to meet mine. He’s so *
“Like me.” I finish her sentence. “A total little prick”
She piggles. “Really?”
“gh” I sip my drink. “Totally unmanageable. We fought the first time we met.
“Oh.” She puts her hand over her heart as the swins. They are so beautiful”
Isip my drink and put my hand up for another.
“Strong children need strong parents, Gabriel” she says. “If you want to be in their lives, don’t let Seraphina dictate what you can and can’t do.”
“No buts. They can come visit and vice versa. Why do you think it has to be all or nothing?
Seraphina said
DINATED LEM Hemavat tonë Faked My Death and Foul REAL FREEDOM
Tuck Seraphina” dhe splits, Tm sorry, you are the father, this bent all about her.”
“That it is.”
“What do you mean?”
I hesitate before letting the next sentence leave my lips cant see Seraphina and not want her. If I see them, I have to see her, and I cant be mart to one woman while wanting another.”
Her eyes widen as she finally begins to understand the full complexities of the situation.
“You still have feelings for her?” she whispers.
“It’s like she never left. She’s all I think about, I’m dreaming of her. I nearly called Arlina by the wrong name while having sex the other day because my head I was with Seraphina. I lie in bed beside my sweet, hearthd fanede while I think about a weeran who has been lying to me for seven years, Seraphina fucking Locke.”
“Oh fuck “She stares at me. “Oh hell. This is bad. This is to bad, Gabriel. Your wedding to Ariana is in three weeks.“
“Do you think I don’t know that? I whisper angrily. Tm the worst person on earth. I’m deserting my own children because I know I can’t not want
their mother.”
She holds her temples and then puts her hand up for the waiter. need wine for this conversation.”
1 steeple my hands in front of my mouth as 1 think. “Why would this happen now when I’ve been so happy? For the first time in my life, I finally have my shit together.”
She twists her lips as she thinks. “Tell me about Seraphina.”
I don’t even know where to start,” I fume. “She’s insufferable and a liar. A total smart–ass. She hates me, everything that comes out of her mouth is sarcastic and infuriating. Not to mention the worst cook, you have no idea how bad the food is, Claire, it would literally kill a dog. She has this terrible house in the middle of nowhere with knitted cushions and all kinds of random bullshit furnishings and she wears gym clothes around and you can see every single curve of her ass. She smells like a walking wet dream and I had to wank in her bed because I’m perverted and I’ve never met a more facking infuriating woman, “I blurt out in a rush.
Claire stares at me, horrified. “You’re still in love with her
“I am not in love with her,” 1 spit. T’m attracted to her, big difference.”
“You were in love with her when she worked for you.
“Yes you were. Remember you admitted it to me once, you said that you purposely paraded other women around in front of her so that she hated you.”
1 did not.”
“Because you knew that if the led you the same way that you liked her, that you stood no chance of resisting her.” I drag my hand down my face in disgust. “Tell me about Ariana,” she asks. 1 shrug sadly. “Ariana is a good person.” She listens
“She loves me.”
“If Ariana hadn’t proposed to you, would you have ever proposed to her?”
I clench my jaw, hating my answer. “Probably not
“Didn’t think so.” She continues Ver was Italian and you and her dated back then, would you have proposed to her?”
“Yes, but I don’t want to hurt Ariana. She is the nicest person I know; she doesn’t deserve this”
“You can’t marry someone because they are nice, Gabriel. You can’t marry sore to not hurt them. Marrying her while you have feelings for someone else is more painful. How can you possibly think that this marriage is going to work?”
“I get married in three weeks.” I whisper angrily. ” is too late to…” “Call in off?” She cuts me off.
Bound TEAL FREEDOM
Chapter 54
I stay silent as I think
Tell me this, Gabriel if you marry Ariana, ran you honestly tell this for the rest of your
that you will never think of your children
se? Are your going to regret
The thought of never seeing Lucia and Dominic again hurts my heart and her tillauette buri
We sit for a moment as we ponder over everything
“If you are calling off this wedding, you need to do it today. Do not put Ariana through being stood up in the week of the wedding. She deserves bem, than that
Tim not calling off the wedding,” I snap Ip my head back and drain my glass. Tma man of my word. I’m marrying Ariana jt like I said I wld.”
“Tine,” she snaps
“Tine,“Ifice back.
“I’m not coming to your wedding.”
“Why not?”
“Because I can’t watch you make the higgest mistake of your life.”
