Chapter 22
GAbrIELLA
I continued to watch on in detached fashion as the mystery woman jogged up to her front door, yelled something inside her house, then pivoted towards me.
My arms automatically raised to wrap around myself, as if trying to hold all my broken pieces together.
Opp. Oh, no. I don’t think I can do this.
That didn’t matter, because I had no choice. My faculties barely clicked back online when she opened the passenger side door and slipped inside.
Just. Like. That.
“Drive,” she said, clicking on the seat belt. “I don’t want my son to see.”
Her voice was calm and direct, the complete opposite of my frazzled state. Yet, her directive must have penetrated enough to resonate, since I listened. Flipping the vehicle into drive, I pulled away from the curb, mindlessly following the road out of town.
My fingers gripped onto the steering wheel so tightly my knuckles were painted white. Where is all my bravado? The pent-up anger I have cultivated over hours, days? I knew where… Every last drop fucking evaporated when I had come face to face with my husband’s son.
I thought I was on a mission to confront Leonardo’s mistress. Instead, I was thrust into a complicated situation I never could have predicted—or had any idea how to navigate. Any plan I had vanished like smoke, leaving me scrambling for answers only she could provide.
I inconspicuously side-eyed the woman in question, who was staring out the passenger window, rhythmically rubbing her knuckles over her sternum.
“Pull into here,” she said, taking me by surprise.
I took the turn off and naturally came to a standstill in a random parking lot when she released a disbelieving breath, her attention trained on the botanical gardens entrance sign.
She cleared her throat. “Would you be so kind as to walk with me, Gabriella?”
It was weird, the whole fucking thing. Her voice was soft. Even the way she called on me was gentle, placating.
I couldn’t sense any serial killer vibes from her, but what the hell did I know? My husband didn’t give off cheating scumbag energy, either, though I’d been wrong before.
“Lead the way, Alexis,” I said with an added edge, using her name to get even.
Her mask flashed in surprise, yet she didn’t linger, exiting the car and veering for the communal pathway. I followed on autopilot, my pulse and thoughts racing. Where do I start? What do I say?
“He told me he’d tell her,” Alexis whispered underneath her breath to herself. “Of course, the stubborn asshole waited too long.”
“Tell me what?” I blurted, half in terror, half in desperation.
That’s when Alexis abruptly turned, staring straight into my eyes. Hers bled sincerity, whilst mine swam with doubt and insecurity.
Whatever she read there solidified her resolve. She surrendered everything without my having to ask.
“It’s not what you think… Leonardo and I met once, more than a decade ago.” Her words threw me out of sorts. Hearing her say his name in such a familiar way made my chest ache with a particular wrongness.
Still, with that statement released, Alexis had found her courage, and in doing so, poured the rest of her confessions out to me, despite the threat of me drowning beneath the overbearing weight.
“It was one night only. Never more. We didn’t exchange names or identities…
To be honest, we were strangers, searching for comfort in one another since we couldn’t have who we truly wanted.
But, despite being responsible”—she cringed—“that night resulted in the creation of my eleven-year-old boy, Austin. When I found out I was pregnant, it was too late. I didn’t know who Leo was or how to track him down… Not that it hindered us in any way.”
As we continued to stroll down the path, Alexis stared off into the distance, reliving a history I was not privy to.
“My son found a father in my husband, Owen, who adopted him at the age of six. All this to say we moved on with our lives, built a loving family… It was never my intention to blow up yours.”
Her revelations were both shocking and surprisingly welcome. I lapped up every word, bathed in each syllable, searching for the truth of it all, and God help me, I believed her. Though there were still some missing gaps leading to where we were now.
“When did you find out about Leo? Who he was?” I managed to croak.
“At the medical convention… where I met you.”
I was stunned, my mind flashing back to our brief interaction outside that conference room.
Now that I had a few seconds to recollect myself, I remembered Alexis.
She had affectionately discussed her kids, and I also met her husband in passing.
Even then, I clocked their genuine affection for one another.
She sighed and ran a shaky hand through her hair.
“Please don’t take my approaching you that day as disingenuous or playing some fucked-up game.
I was anxious and had just identified Austin’s biological father after so long.
I-I thought he had made me into the other woman—had made me into a cheater.
I couldn’t stand the thought of being a part of something like that, even unintentionally. ”
In some fucked-up, roundabout way, I could understand that. But that still didn’t mean I had to like it.
“I wanted to gain some insight,” Alexis continued. “To see what I was getting myself into if I chose to tell Leo.”
“You weren’t going to tell him?” For some reason, that had my back up, which she immediately sensed in my tone.
Alexis chuckled, unabashed. “In all honesty, I was on the fence. Austin isn’t a little kid anymore.
He is happy, his life fulfilled in all ways.
I questioned how beneficial it would be to introduce a stranger into our world.
I tried looking you up to get some background, but I couldn’t find anything. ”
And she never would. After what happened with Nico, we had sought the help of our close hacker friend, Weeds, to scrap our online identities.
Alexis then raised a fist to rub against the centre of her chest again, as if she was in discomfort.
“Since I couldn’t source info that way, I was left with the short conversation we had.
And based on that interaction, I at least gathered that you were happy too.
To tell Leo… The risk was high, and I was reluctant to take that gamble. ”