Chapter 6 - THE MAN WHO LEFT ME PREGNANT
Gabriel Torres had been alive for six years.
And I had spent every one of those years mourning him.
I stared at the photograph until my eyes burned.
He looked older.
Thinner.
There were gray strands near his temples.
But there was no mistake.
It was Gabriel.
The man who once promised we'd raise our child together.
The man who kissed my forehead and said he'd be home before midnight.
The man I believed died in a warehouse fire.
My knees weakened.
Kieran moved toward me.
I raised my hand.
"Please don't."
He stopped immediately.
I appreciated that.
For several minutes, I couldn't speak.
Then I asked Rebecca the question burning inside me.
"Where is he?"
She studied the records.
"The photograph was taken during a banking appointment in New Jersey."
My heart pounded.
"Can we find him?"
"Investigators are working to verify his identity and location."
I nodded.
I wanted to believe the photograph.
But I'd learned how easily records could be manipulated.
Then Detective Brooks called.
A man matching Gabriel's description had been located.
He was living under his own name in a small apartment near Newark.
He'd agreed to speak with investigators.
My stomach twisted.
"Does he know about Elijah?"
Brooks hesitated.
"That's one of the questions being addressed."
I closed my eyes.
For six years, I'd imagined what I'd say if Gabriel ever returned.
I'd tell him about Elijah's first smile.
His first word.
The nights I held him through fevers.
The terrible fear of his first surgery.
The birthdays.
The hospital stays.
The moments I desperately wished another parent were beside me.
Now I didn't know what to say.
The following afternoon, Gabriel agreed to meet me in a controlled setting with our attorneys present.
When he entered the room, I stopped breathing.
"Saraphina."
His voice.
The same voice.
I stared.
For a moment, the years disappeared.
Then everything came rushing back.
"You're alive."
He looked ashamed.
"Yes."
I felt something inside me crack.
"Six years."
His eyes filled.
"I know."
"Six years, Gabriel."
He lowered his head.
"I wanted to contact you."
I laughed bitterly.
"Then why didn't you?"
A long silence followed.
"Because Sebastian told me you'd be killed if I did."
My stomach dropped.
"Kieran's brother?"
Gabriel nodded.
"He said someone was watching you."
I stared.
"And you believed him?"
"I was frightened."
"So was I."
My voice broke.
"I was pregnant. Alone. And someone told me you were dead."
Gabriel began crying.
"I'm sorry."
I wiped my eyes.
"Did you know about Elijah?"
He shook his head.
"Not until two years ago."
My heart stopped.
"What?"
He continued.
"Victoria showed me photographs."
I stared.
"And?"
"She told me he was being cared for."
My stomach tightened.
"By whom?"
"By her family's charity."
I could barely breathe.
Gabriel looked devastated.
"I thought you had remarried."
I laughed through tears.
"I worked as a maid to pay our son's hospital bills."
His face crumpled.
Then he whispered something that changed everything.
"Saraphina, Sebastian told me Elijah wasn't my child."
I stared.
May you like
"He said you'd had another man's baby."
And for the first time, I understood that someone had deliberately kept both of us trapped inside different lies.
