What Was Once Mine

I was stuck in the driver's seat and couldn't move. I didn't have to be a genius to know that Gabriel's rivals had pulled this stunt out of revenge.

My phone was shattered, and I couldn't get it to work.

At that moment, a familiar black Maybach cruised past the junction I'd been at earlier. It was Gabriel's car!

"Gabriel!" I yelled with all the strength I could muster, struggling to get his attention. The car slowed, and my heart nearly stopped.

He saw me!

But the next second, the car sped up again and drove away from the junction without hesitation. Through the car window, I saw Gabriel shielding Sonia's eyes, and I lost the strength to cry out to him again.

He wouldn't stop the car while Sonia was in it. His nemesis, whoever it was, was out for blood and revenge, and the scene of the crash was nothing short of disastrous. Of course Gabriel wouldn't want his precious Sonia to see any of this.

My consciousness began to slip, and my strength waned by half.

…

When I woke up again, I was staring at the snow-white hospital ceiling.

The door had been left ajar, and I heard Gabriel's subordinate speaking on the other side. "Mr. Fuller, what if Mrs. Fuller saw Ms. Westley? I doubt we'll be able to hide Ms. Westley's identity from her if she takes it upon herself to investigate."

Gabriel tossed aside what remained of his cigarette and snuffed it out with his foot. "Don't worry about that. Your only job is to protect Sonia. She's too pure, unlike us. Maeve is as cruel as she is cunning, and Sonia's too naive to outsmart her.

"Use Maeve's disabled younger brother as leverage if necessary. It'll make her think twice before she makes a move, considering he's the only family she has left."

I clutched the blanket tightly and bit the inside of my cheek. I remembered what Gabriel had told me when he proposed to me all those years ago. "I swear I'll protect you. No one will touch you as long as I'm around."

He was still protective, and he sang the same tune. But this time, his promise was to Sonia, not me.

I used to be the person whom he shielded from harm like a fussy mother hen. But now, in his words, I'd become a ruthless, dangerous person.

When I heard footsteps approaching, I closed my eyes again, only to slowly open them.

"Are you awake? I had someone look into the incident. The Winstons were behind the crash. Here's the waiver. They've agreed to hand over their land in Westport if you sign this."

Gabriel stopped before me. As I met his gaze, I found that I couldn't say another word to him. He'd turned my near-death experience into leverage for his business negotiations.

My heart grew cold. "When did you come up with that idea, Gabriel?"

Was it the moment he saw me get hit by the truck or when he realized the Winston family wanted to come after me?

Gabriel frowned, displeased by my probing. As perceptive as I was, I dropped the subject. Nothing good could come from hashing things out with him.

As if to placate me, Gabriel spent the next two days working in my hospital room—not that it made a difference since he used earphones all the time, occasionally revealing the smile I'd once found so familiar.

I handed him the divorce papers while he was on a call with Sonia. I thought he might notice, given how obvious I was being, but he barely glanced at the papers before flipping to the last page and signing his name.

He didn't even take his eyes off the laptop screen.

I took the papers back with a trembling hand and stared at the barely dry ink of his signature.

I suddenly had a flashback to our first meeting ten years ago. At the time, Gabriel had been on the run from his nemesis after they attacked him.

He'd been lying under an abandoned metal bridge, covered in blood. 18-year-old Gabriel's eyes had been so terrifyingly bright that he'd reminded me of a wounded lion cub.

I'd been on my way to piano class when I saw him. The moment I locked eyes with him, I'd felt moved. I'd turned toward him, unexpectedly and unwittingly taking my first step into a dangerous world.

Following that first meeting, Gabriel took a bullet through the chest to protect me and endured an 18-hour life-saving surgery. It was the first time I realized that being kind and naive couldn't protect anyone in his world.

In ten years, I'd grown from a young lady who would tremble at the sight of blood to Gabriel's missus, a woman who didn't even bat an eye at whatever filthy work I was handling.

I'd become Gabriel's equal, but he thought that made me no different from others. If anything, I'd become filthy.