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It wasn't until I received several photos that I realized my husband Gabriel had not only cheated on me but also formed a happy family with his mistress and their illegitimate child.
Gabriel, his son and the boy's mother were eating dinner together at a pizza place, and then another showed the three of them walking together, the woman's hand curled around Gabriel's bicep.
In his coup de grace, Gabriel was smooching the woman on the lips, his hand gripping the back of her head.
As he did with me.
————————
"How's the head?"
Shaking my head to try to clear the fogginess, the man in front of me started to come into focus. When he did, everything in me froze.
He smiled, revealing two dimples that made him even more attractive in an evil villain kind of way. Something I suspected he knew. Had I not known him to be a horrible man, I would have said he was charming. But this was Gabriel's worst enemy and if Gabriel was aware that James had me, I knew he would be going out of his mind and there would be bloodshed.
"Are you going to kill me?" I choked out.
Jerk grinned at me then, chuckling softly. "No. I'm merely going to provide you with some information and then let you go. There are other ways to destroy a man than by killing someone he loves."
I swallowed and said nothing.
"Does the name 'Garrett' mean anything to you?"
I shook my head.
"Interesting," he said. "Especially considering that it's the name of your man's son."
"He doesn't have a son."
Reaching to the table at my side, he grabbed a manila envelope. "Handsome little boy. The resemblance to dear old dad is amazing."
He tapped some pictures into my hands and I was looking into the face of Gabriel's son, no doubt about that. No more than three, the little boy had the same brilliant green eyes of his father, the same exact shade of dark brown hair, even the same curve to his eyebrows. The next picture showed Garrett in Gabriel's arms, Gabriel pressing a smooch to his son's cheek. In the third picture, Gabriel was pushing Garrett on a swing, and father and son were laughing.
I knew the pictures were recent. Just a month ago, for his birthday, I'd given him that very same Black Sabbath T-shirt. And three weeks ago, he'd worn it for the first and only time so far on a day when he said he had club business to attend to and had disappeared until the next day.
That he'd lied to me was bad enough, but the last three pictures were what killed me.
Gabriel, his son and the boy's mother were eating dinner together at a pizza place, and then another showed the three of them walking together, the woman's hand curled around Gabriel's bicep, her head on his shoulder, Garrett in his other arm.
"I'm so sorry to cause you such pain," James said, placing the last picture into my hand.
In his coup de grace, Gabriel was smooching the woman on the lips, his hand gripping the back of her head.
As he did with me.
"No, you're not," I said, refusing to give in to the tears.
With a bark of laughter, James continued to destroy my happiness. "He found out about the boy a year ago. Moved them right into his house. Did you know he had a house? I believe he's been with you for seven months? He spends three or four nights a week with them. Apparently, he doesn't think enough of you to let you into his life fully or to even be faithful to you, and from these pictures, you obviously shouldn't trust him. All those nights he told you he had business, he was with them, spending the night with his other woman. Making a happy little family."
Looking James straight in the eye, I forced myself not to give him a reaction. "Is there anything else?"
He looked taken aback. If James was waiting for tears and anger, he'd be waiting a long time as I'd been raised in the most stoic of families and emotions in front of others was just not done.
"No, my work here," he gestured to the pictures, "is done. Feel free to keep them. A little souvenir of our time together. Maybe you can frame them."
I had plans for those pictures, no worries.
"Harry will return you to your car. But I'm afraid," he said, standing up, "that you'll need to be out for that little ride. No worries – I'll let Gabe know where I've dropped you so he can get to you as fast as possible."
And so fast I barely saw it coming, he gave me a shot in my arm and knocked me out.
Another voice was calling my name, this time a familiar, deep one. The fog surrounded me again, and I found it hard to get past it to the surface.
"That's it, that's my girl. Open those beautiful eyes and let me see them." I felt his lips press against my forehead and he inhaled deeply, as if he was pulling my essence into him. "God, sweetheart, you scared out of me. Now open your eyes for me."
I struggled to obey at the same time something was poking at my mind. That voice, those lips should not bring warmth to me for some reason, but at that moment, I couldn't focus on the why.
"Come on, sweetheart. Wake up, Breah."
My eyes slowly focused on those beautiful green eyes I loved so much.
Those beautiful, concerned eyes. Those smiling, handsome lips.
For a moment, I allowed myself to just look at him as snippets of my conversation with James came trickling back.
Those beautiful, lying, cheating eyes.
Those beautiful, lying, cheating lips.
"Hi, sweetheart," he said, his voice lower than usual, his eyes bright with...tears? My mind rejected that because this was Gabriel, after all. Tightly controlled emotion? Definitely. Stoic? Always. Blank expression? Almost always. Tears? Never. Clearly my eyes weren't working right yet. I became aware that he was holding me in his arms as he pressed a smooch against the palm of my hand. "I've been going out of my mind. Did he...did he hurt you?"
Just my heart, I thought, but nowhere near as much as your lies are hurting me.
Lies.
I told him they hadn't hurt me, but my heart cracked as it all came rushing back to me, the last few hours.
"I want to go home."
"I know, sweetheart. We're going to the clubhouse as soon as Colt gets here with the truck."
Shaking my head, I protested. "No. My home. My apartment."
"OK, we can go –"
"No. There is no we, Prez. I'm going home alone."
His brows snapped down ominously over his eyes. "Prez?"
"We could go to your house, but it'd be a little crowded there, wouldn't it, what with your son and other girlfriend living there?"
His face shut down of all emotion, closing himself completely off from me, something he'd never done to me before. "I know everything, and I'm not feeling much like pitching a fit, but I will. Colt will take me home and you will not be going with us."
I could hear him swear softly just as I heard Colt's deep voice. "Hey, there pretty lady."
"Colt, I need you to take me to my apartment."
He shot a look at Gabriel, and I snapped. "For once can you just do what I'm asking without waiting for orders from on high like a well-trained bimbo?" I shot a nasty look at Gabe. "You at least owe me that."
"You got three hours to rest and settle, then I'm coming over and we're talking this out. I can explain –"
"Spare me the clichés," I snapped at him. "There is no explanation for what I just found out, so save yourself the trip to my place. We're over and done."
His hand clamped behind my head and held me in place as, fast as a snake striking, he smooched me hard on the lips. "You got three hours to calm down, baby, then we're talking this out."
He gave a chin lift to Colt, growled, "Get her home safe," and stalked away.
I had to work this. I had three hours to decide how to handle this mess. My mind was racing so fast I was surprised steam wasn't coming out of my ears.
We didn't speak one word as Colt drove me home, but I felt his constant worried glances. All the MC brothers knew how much Gabriel meant to me...and apparently how little I meant to Gabriel if he was keeping his family hidden from me.
"You're not coming up," I told him when he parked the truck, feeling a little bit bad I was treating him to my anger – until I remembered that he knew Gabriel had been playing me the entire time.
Colton shot me a glare. "Prez would kill me if I let you walk up to your place alone and not check to make sure it's safe."
"I'm sure it doesn't matter now that it's out that I'm just the backup piece." I snapped bitterly. "You can just drop me here."
"You need to talk to him," Colton told me. "And I'm coming up to check out your place." Without arguing further with him, I slid out of his truck and he chased after me as I stomped to my condo door and opened it. He moved past me to go inside as I pulled the pictures from my back pocket and rifled through them again. Yep, still enough to turn my stomach. What an idiot I was to blindly accept "club business" all those nights. Now the term had a whole new meaning.
When Colton finished his sweep of the apartment, he came back to me in the hall.
"You OK?" he asked softly.
"I've been drugged twice, kidnapped and received some life-altering news. All I want to do is crawl into bed and sleep for a couple of hours until the cheating jerk arrives for a talk."
"When he explains –"
"It's still not going to change the fact that he's a liar and a cheater," I interrupted him.
Shooting past him into the apartment, I turned and shut the door in his face, not feeling bad in the least. These men who had pretended to like me, to respect me...it had all been lies. They knew about Gabriel's secret family, they covered for him, they helped him lead his dual life. And they did it without blinking because I wasn't their MC brother...just one of their president's pieces who needed to be kept in the dark.
I was devastated. I'd fallen in love with Gabriel – with who I thought Gabriel was – and now I had nothing. My heart was in shambles and the way in which I'd found out added to the pain. But James had misplayed his hand. Instead of hurting Gabriel, he'd only shattered me. This wouldn't hurt Gabriel at all. He still had his family. I was secondary. I was...nothing.
That was ending tonight.
I'd thought about meeting him somewhere, I'd thought about going out of town for a few weeks, but decided I needed to show him strength. This was ending tonight, on my terms, on my turf.
-
Gabriel knocked on my door exactly three hours after he'd told me he'd see me. I'd since showered and washed, dried and styled my hair. I never wore much makeup, but I'd ensured a light application left me looking my dewy best. I had on a pair of jeans that fit me tight and well, doing amazing things for my a-ss, and I paired the jeans with a square-neck, lilac T-shirt. It was one of the best colors on me and, subtle though it was, I felt like I had on my armor.
With the man I was about to face, I needed all the reinforcements I could muster.
With a fortifying breath, I opened my door and came face to chest with Gabriel. Refusing to look at his face, I once again found myself rejoicing in our height difference, this time so I didn't have to face him. I stepped back to allow him inside my apartment, but I should have known it wouldn't fly with this man.
"Breah, give me your eyes."
"No," I said softly. Never again, I thought, not able to bear the thought that the eyes I so loved were lying eyes.
That huge hand gently came to my chin and tipped my head up. Before I could look into his eyes, I stepped away from him and gave him my back. "Let's get this over with," I said as I stomped over to my living area. I put the couch between us and refused to look at him.
"Breah, we're not talking about this while you look at the floor. Have the guts to look at me."
That achieved his aim and my eyes snapped up to his, sparking anger. "You're one to talk about guts when you're nothing but a gutless liar and cheater."
"I have never cheated on you, Breah."
I pulled the picture of him smooching his baby mama, for lack of a better word. "So if I wanted to smooch another man on the lips, you wouldn't be bothered? It's not cheating? Good to know."
His green gaze flicked to the picture and he winced slightly.
"Let me guess. It's either not what it looks like, she smooched you, or you can explain?"
"There are reasons I couldn't tell you about Garrett and Heather."
"I'm sure it would have been hard to explain why you were spending three or four nights a week with the family you never mentioned to me in seven months."
Suddenly in front of me, his hands framed my face and I looked up at him. His face was ravaged, regretful. "Would you have stayed if you had known?"
"No."
"And that's the main reason I couldn't tell you, sweetheart. I can't tell you what's going on and you wouldn't stay if you'd known about them."
"You should have told me and given me the option." I tore my eyes from his, unable to bear the emotion in his. "You have a child, and a...a...girlfriend who live in your house, a house I've never been invited to. You lied to me for seven months about having club business when, in fact, you were going to be with your girlfriend and son."
"My son, Bree. His mother was with him. I never went to see her. She was a byproduct of seeing my son. Where he is, she is."
"So this picture must have been when you accidentally tripped and fell on her mouth? How clumsy of you."
"No, I smooched her, but it wasn't what you think."
"I know you think I'm stupid, but exactly just how stupid do you think I am? Plain and simple, you didn't trust me or care about me enough to tell me about your secret life and the reasons behind it."
"Breah, I don't think you're stupid and you know it. It had nothing to do with trusting you."
"Then why didn't you tell me?" I hated that my voice quavered.
"Sweetheart, I couldn't and still can't even tell you why I can't tell you."
Shaking my head, it was hitting me all over again why I had to end this.
"Are you married to her?"
"No. I drilled her for a week, and that was it. Or I thought that was it until she showed up a year ago."
"With Garrett."
"With Garrett. I had a DNA test done. He is my son."
"And you moved them into your house where you live with them more often than not."
"I spend three or four nights a week with my boy. She happens to be there."
I produced the other two incriminating pictures. "Yeah, having dinner with her, her cuddled up to you...sure looks like she just happens to be there, and you look so broken up by it that you put your mouth on her."
He stared at me.
"I just hope, unless you want another child, that you're wrapping it up with her since you've been bare with me. Lying to me, apparently, about me being the only one. Oh, god, I need to have an STD panel run."
"I haven't been with anyone but you since we began."
I brandished the pictures. "All evidence to the contrary. Forgive me if I don't believe you."
"You going to believe me or some pictures?"
"All those nights these last seven months when you said you had club business...were you really spending the nights with her?"
"No. I was spending them with my son, and Heather is where he is. He's too young to take away from his mother."
"OK, we won't even address that absolute bullsh-it about him being too young to be away from his mother. You can check the statistics on young children, toddlers and babies whose parents have split custody, where the father has them without the mother from infancy. So, you admit you lied about what you were doing those nights."
He hesitated, then gave a grudging, "Yes. I had to."
"Well, that's where we disagree. You didn't have to. You chose to."
"No, for reasons I can't explain, I couldn't tell you."
"And how many other times, other than the one recorded for posterity, did you accidentally smooch her or, I don't know, accidentally have intercourse with her?"
"Never drilled her. Drilled her every time we were out in public together."
I wasn't expecting that confession.
And it cut me so deeply that I had to concentrate on breathing for a moment.
"Well, that's unexpectedly honest, even if I don't believe you about the no s-ex bit. Sure doesn't look like you were pushing her away in any of those photos."
"Breah, I need you to trust me for a while longer –"
"That ship has sailed. I don't trust you at all. James told me about things I had no idea about because you didn't tell me and that shattered every bit of trust I had for you. You're either with her or with me. And you chose to be with her. Congratulations. I sincerely hope you'll all be happy together. It's probably better since you have a son to consider."
"No, sweetheart, that is not how it's going to be. I'm not letting you go."
"You have no say in this. I'm done with you, with the us that wasn't even an us at all, I discovered."
"Not happening."
"Again, you're not hearing me. I'm ending whatever this farce was between us."
"We are not ending, Breah," he growled at me.
"You can growl at me all you like, but we already ended, the minute I found out you've been lying to me from the very beginning." I took a deep breath. "Now, it's Tuesday, so I'm sure you have to run home to your girlfriend. Better get going. I'm sure she'll be waiting for you with open arms."
"I'm not leaving until we settle this."
At that point, I lost it. "There's nothing to settle! We. Are. Done. Our whole relationship has been built on lies and secrets, and I'm not playing your games anymore. Your brothers may have multiple women in their lives, but I am not going to be one of many for you. She can have you, no contest. I'm tapping out and walking away."
"You are not walking away. You love me."
"Sometimes love doesn't matter. It's not enough. Especially when it's one sided. And especially not when what I did have, thought I had, at least – trust – is shattered."
He said nothing for a moment, just staring at me with his hard eyes. And he didn't refute my claim that our love was one-sided. "Breah, I'm telling you –"
"You don't get to tell me anything!" My voice was getting louder and louder and I knew I was on the edge of losing it.
He started to open his mouth to argue but I just shrieked at him as I flung open my front door. "Get out! Now! GET OUT!"
I felt his stare and then he moved to the front door. "This is far from over, sweetheart."
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