son

ea' s condition. I sat by her bedside, holding her small, still hand, the fury a

ispered, her eyes flutte

y heart shattered into a million pieces. She

er forehead, the memory of Gabriel' s brutal slap like a fresh wound. I reached up and slapped myself, hard, across the cheek. It was a familiar ge

The bad news... the impact caused a ruptured eardrum. We' re hopeful for full recover

d done this. He had silenced her. My vibrant,

Gabriel' s heinous act. The next morning, Arnulfo rushed in, his face haggard,

r, as if Gabriel was still standing there. "That bastard! That ungrateful, despicable son of a bitch! Afte

his go, Allison. I' m going to press charges. I

oarse. "Do it, Arnulfo. I' ll su

y sum of money. "Mr. Perkins is deeply regretful of the misunderstanding. He' s prep

ssaulted my daughter! Tell your client th

. You know what I' m capable of. Kaia means everything to me. If her name is dragged through the mud b

ten-year-old girl, Gabriel! There' s no controlling that kind of evil! I

racts with Gabriel' s firm, was systematically dismantled. Gabriel froze their accounts, pulled all ongoing projects, and, with vicious precision, i

raled into a deep depression, his health deteriorating rapidly. He had a rare heart condition, and his life-savin

f. His hair, once dark, turned snow white overnight. The stress, the humiliati

a new, harder core had formed within me. The old Allison, the one who loved and grieved,

afternoon, his face pale, his eyes hollow. "Gabriel... he c

the waiting area, sipping coffee, a smug look on his face as h

mooth, "Are you ready to admit defea

ped him across the face, hard. The sound echoed in the quiet wait

hurt Bea. You destroyed Arnulfo. And for that, I swear, I will make you suffer a thousand times wors

shock. He had never seen this side

ia is a good person. And you' re just... hurting yourself with this bitterness." He paused, then added, his voice chillingly calm, "And

und out about Kaia, and I'd threatened to expose her to the media. He' d told me then, his voice cold and me

ced to this. My love, my trust, my loyalty, all meaningless. He saw me as an obstacl

h fear, but with an overwhelming sense of loss. "Why did you do

u were always so demanding. So... stifling. Kaia

ars of partnership, of intellectual and emotional e

f pure, unadulterated rage, unlike anything I' d ever felt, coursed

re not a man. You' re a parasite. And you' re the one who deserves to