Oblivious to what emotions my eyes are demonstrating, I only hope the betrayal and hurt are well secured because under no conditions am I going to waste any tears on that inhumane being.
“Gabriel, what are you doing here?” My father asks.
Gabriel steps further into the house followed by Adrien and his wife- Gina- before replying confidently, “My secretary informed me about an email you sent me in order to meet up today at your house at eight pm and although my wife and I have a business-related flight tomorrow morning, I decided to come since you claimed it was urgent.”
Apparently, Gabriel hasn’t spotted Adam up until this moment. His eyes roam around the faces present in the room, and once his gaze falls on his son, millions of emotions flash across his eyes, but they disappear as fast as they came because that’s just how Gabriel is- emotionless, or maybe that’s how he likes people labelling him as.
“Why are you here, Adam?” Gina asks surprised.
“Hello to you to Gina.” He nods stiffly before clenching his fist tightly, averting his eyes to his father and saying, “Gabriel.”
Suddenly, the temperature in the room dropped severely, and the tension in the room became very tight. Lexi’s the only person looking unaffectedly normal which kind of made her seem out of place, but I’m the one who dragged her along with me to end her dilemmas with my parents and brother. Despite how I was well aware that Adam’s parents disowned him, I didn’t think thoroughly of how much difficult it might be for them to be trapped under the same roof.
What was I thinking?
Did I truly believe that the minute Gabriel lays his eyes on his son for the first time in five years he’ll pull him into a fatherly hug and apologize for his unfair fatherly behaviour, claiming that he deserves better than them?
Who was I kidding?
Gabriel is the last person on Earth that thinks things through when it comes to anything out of his business world, but what about Gina? Here she is looking like she might faint any upcoming minute at the sight of her son, yet she’s still standing still- fixed in her place like a statue. Chains to her husband’s orders have her fight the urge to get down on her knees and beg for her son’s forgiveness. I can see it. Everyone can see it.
Her soul is like an open book that everyone can peek into except for one person- Gabriel.
My father’s confusion is what breaks the ice. “Wait- wait a minute; what email? I didn’t send anything.”
“I did.” I admit.
“You mean you hacked into my account and emailed Gabriel?” My father’s jaw drops.
I simply nod.
“Why would you do that?” Both Gabriel and my father ask at the same time.
“Okay.” I take a slow breath before I calmly tell them, “I know the truth, okay? We are no longer immature teenagers, so we are going to sit down and have a civil conversation like adults. This is why I set you up.”
My dad spits out the words like they’re venom, “What conversation are we having? As far as I remember you are the one who left this house on her own terms just because her best friend was so envious of how she’s getting married before her that she decided to destroy your life with a bunch of sick lies you believed!”
I have to say that my father is one hell of an actor.
Too bad he didn’t sign up for a trial in Hollywood.
“Stop it, dad!” My voice starts getting louder as I continue, “I know the truth now, so stop denying it. I’m here to talk things out with you, mom, Gabriel and Gina okay? I came here to tell you that I know about the contract you signed with Gabriel; I know that you pushed Adrien into Oxford just to make me fall for him, and I know that you took advantage of my memory loss.”
Their reactions says it all really.
Gabriel is expressionless, but he didn’t ace covering his emotions fast enough, for I spotted this spark of fury passing through his body. On the other hand, my dad’s anger is crystal clear since he always found it difficult to control his emotions. Adrien’s eyes widened an inch or so before offering me his annoying careless smirk. My mom and Gina, however, looked like they wanted to either run away and hide or bury themselves alive.
My mom lays a hand on her chest as if in severe pain, and a few tears slip onto her cheeks as she whispers softly, “Evie, I know that what we did was wrong. It was stu—”
She’s interrupted by my dad. “We didn’t do anything wrong.”
Gabriel supports my father’s statement as he says, “Listen to your father, Evangeline. Whatever wrong you think we did, which we didn’t, is for the sole reason for both a better life and your happiness.”
“What better life? Are you living the best days of your life, Gabriel? Is this how your life is ‘better’? By disowning your son because you couldn’t watch him marry the woman he loved? And what happiness? Are you that delusional? Do you really think forcing me to marry someone I don’t have feelings for counts for my ‘happine—”
My dad gives my mom a warning look as if asking her to ‘shut up’ before he interrupts me. “Don’t do this again, Evangeline. Whatever this bitch
