Chapter 21
GAbrIELLA
It didn’t take a genius to know Leonardo was hiding something.
Subtle was not a word associated with my husband, and the past two weeks had proven it with his obtuse lies and blatant segways in conversation.
Not to mention his latest side quest into bumfuck nowhere the day before.
He had been weird ever since—well, more so than usual.
I sat at the kitchen bench, fiddling with my keys as a knock came from the front door. I checked the security system, confirming Daisy at the entrance before I let her in.
“Thanks for looking after Celeste. If I’m not back by two, can you—”
“Pick up Angelina from school. Yes, I’ve got it,” she interrupted. “Don’t worry about the girls. Just focus on yourself, please. Make sure you’re safe.”
I huffed. “I’ll be fine. I can’t say the same for this Alexis though.”
After some light rummaging through the deleted files on Leo’s phone, I managed to find a name: Alexis. With that single clue, I was able to find her details through his work software system. The mobile number linked to hers was saved in his contacts under the title Mercy Health Clinic.
My instincts were flashing on high alert, and the reg flags were flying high. There was no way I could ignore the signs, nor did I want to.
I had already been through hell with Nico. I was loath to be fed another lie again, especially from the man I loved, who claimed to love me in return.
Anger and rage were my closest confidants as I drove the torturous hours to Acacia Falls. My mind and heart were in turmoil at the mere thought of what I would find, knowing that whatever it was, it couldn’t be good.
As I pulled off the highway, turning for the township, I tried to grasp onto what was important and vital in my life—my babies, the gorgeous girls I had wanted and dreamt into creation.
They were my anchor, the solid force that kept me on the path of this inevitable collision course. I deserved the truth; they deserved a present, honest father.
I’d be damned if I settled for anything less.
When I left, Daisy asked, “What about Leo? What if he finishes early and finds you gone?”
I shook my head. “For weeks, he’s been coming home well into the evening. Tonight will be no exception.”
“Fuck. Are you sure you have to do this now? Why don’t you wait so I can come with you? Or I can do some digging—”
“I hate it,” I blurted. “I can’t stand another second, let alone another night.
He’s always late, always looking at me with those guilty eyes.
He doesn’t say a word, but I can hear him screaming, Dais.
Screaming so loud I can’t fucking think straight.
He won’t give me the answers I seek, so I have to find them for myself. I need to go.”
“I’m sorry, Gabs,” she said, her tone dripping in sincerity.
“Don’t be. I’m going to find out the truth.”
And that’s what I intended to do.
I parked up on the suburban street, a couple of houses down from my destination. The address had brought me to a modern two-storey home. Just from a glance, I could tell it was well loved and lived in.
My fingers tightened on the steering wheel as I bolstered my courage to bang on that door and demand an explanation. However, destiny had other plans as a red sedan drove past my stationary one and pulled into the driveway of the very abode I was spying on.
I didn’t bother hiding, pressing my face closer to the windscreen to get a closer look. My gut churned as I watched a woman slip out of the driver’s side and open the boot.
I was speechless, utterly flabbergasted at the abrupt feeling of déjà vu.
My senses tingled with recognition as I scoped her face, trying to pinpoint our connection…
Aha. At the medical conference, the beautiful stranger had approached me after Leonardo’s presentation, and we talked about my marriage, our kids. God, how could I have been so blind?
And just when I thought I had hit rock bottom, I was proven that I didn’t know jack shit when a preteen came running out of the house, bumping into his mother as he grabbed some groceries out of the car.
Anguish swept through me, so brutal and thorough, I was left comatose, my eyes bleeding from the scene playing out before me.
Dark, thick hair.
Stunning grey eyes.
The perfect, symmetrical smile from a child that so reminded me of my husband’s.
My mind was barraged with unanswered questions, one flitting into another, not letting me settle on one.
Does Leonardo have another family? Does he live a double life? How long has he been seeing this woman? Do they know about us? Does he stay there and play father of the house when he’s not home with me?
I didn’t know where to begin. Or how to sift through each harrowing thought.
But there was one irrefutable fact that could not be denied.
Leonardo had a son. And he hadn’t told me.
I had only experienced that kind of pain once before, and even then, that felt minuscule to what I was suffering at that moment.
After so much hurt, I had actively chosen to bare my heart again. To give love a second chance and open myself up to Leonardo in all ways.
And he had just managed to smash that to smithereens. No matter the circumstances, my husband had betrayed me. He knew what I had been through in the past and chose to lie to me anyway.
What was that saying again? Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me.
Well, it didn’t take much to turn that shame inwards, internally chastising myself for ever trusting another man again.
I was the fool.
And because fate decided it hadn’t fucked with me enough, that moment of confusion, self-doubt and heartbreak was the perfect moment for the young mystery woman to sense something was off.
Rolling back her shoulders and straightening her spine, she slowly turned her head towards me. Those stark green eyes pierced through my dark windows and stared directly into my soul—my crumbling soul. She was a voyeur to my pain and the shattering of my world.
I didn’t know what I looked like, but it must have been ghastly, as her expression first morphed in recognition, then pity for me.