Updated Oct 29, 2025 • ~8 min read
They didn’t go straight back to the farmhouse.
Jane couldn’t face Clara yet. Couldn’t walk into that peaceful nursery still vibrating with adrenaline and rage and triumph.
So Gabriel drove them to the Meridian instead. Their old suite. The place where they’d planned everything.
The place that now felt like a lifetime ago.
Jane’s phone buzzed as they checked in. Unknown number. She almost ignored it, then saw the voicemail notification.
She listened while Gabriel dealt with the front desk.
Vivienne’s voice, shaking: “Celeste. I know you probably deleted my number. I know you don’t want to hear from me. But I—” A long pause. Crying. “I saw the news. About the gala. About David being arrested. And I keep thinking—what if you’d died in that car? What if he’d succeeded? And I did nothing. I knew something was wrong and I did nothing because I was—” Her voice broke completely. “I’m so sorry. I know sorry doesn’t fix anything. But I need you to know—I see it now. What he is. What I helped him do to you. And I—” The message cut off.
Jane deleted it. Felt nothing.
Gabriel finished checking in, turned to her. “You okay?”
“Vivienne called.”
“What did she want?”
“To apologize. To confess. To—” Jane shrugged. “I don’t know. Absolve herself of guilt maybe.”
“You don’t owe her forgiveness.”
“I know.” Jane pocketed her phone. “Come on. Let’s go upstairs.”
They took the elevator in silence. But Jane thought about that voicemail. About the genuine anguish in her sister’s voice.
Not enough to forgive. But maybe enough that Vivienne was finally seeing clearly.
Jane stood on the balcony overlooking the city, still in her emerald dress, heels discarded somewhere inside. The night air was cold against her skin. She didn’t care.
Behind her, Gabriel was on the phone with the babysitter. Confirming Clara was asleep. That everything was fine. That they’d be back in the morning.
Jane heard him end the call. Heard his footsteps approaching.
He stood beside her at the railing. Close but not touching.
“Hell of a night,” he said quietly.
“Hell of a life.” Jane looked out at the lights. “Somewhere down there, David is sitting in a cell. Vivienne is probably calling lawyers. And I’m—” She stopped. “I’m free.”
“How does it feel?”
“I don’t know yet. Ask me when it sinks in.” She turned to face him. “Thank you. For everything. For being there tonight. For protecting me. For—” Her voice caught. “For believing me. When no one else would have.”
“I’ll always believe you.”
“You can’t promise that.”
“I just did.” Gabriel moved closer. “Jane, I need to tell you something. Something I should have said months ago.”
Jane’s heart started racing. “Gabriel—”
“Please. Let me say this.” He took her hands. Held them gently. “I’m in love with you. I have been for years.”
Jane went still.
“I know that sounds impossible,” Gabriel continued. “I barely knew you when you were married to David. We never had real conversations. But I watched you. At family dinners, at holidays, at all those awful events. I watched you try so hard to make him happy. Watched you disappear into yourself year after year.” His voice roughened. “And I fell in love with who you were underneath all that pain. The strength you were hiding. The goodness he was destroying.”
“Gabriel, you can’t—”
“I can. I do.” He stepped closer. “And when I found you on that beach, when I realized you’d survived, that you’d escaped—” His eyes were intense. Honest. “It felt like I’d been given a second chance. A chance to actually know you. To help you. To be there in the way I should have been before.”
Jane pulled her hands back. Wrapped her arms around herself. “You don’t love me. You love the idea of saving me.”
“No. I love you. The real you. The woman who rebuilt her entire life from nothing. Who gave birth to Clara with me holding her hand. Who walks into galas like a queen and destroys her enemies with the truth.” Gabriel’s voice was fierce. “I love your strength. Your fierceness. The way you love Clara. The way you refuse to stay broken.”
“I am broken—”
“You’re healing. That’s different.” He reached for her again. She stepped back. “Jane—”
“Don’t.” The word came out sharp. Desperate. “Don’t do this. Don’t make me feel this when I can’t—” She pressed her hands to her face. “I can’t do this.”
“Can’t do what?”
“This. Us. Whatever you think this is.” Jane’s voice was rising. Panicking. “You’re David’s brother. You’re—you’re supposed to be temporary. A friend. Someone who helps and then leaves. You’re not supposed to—”
“To what? Love you?” Gabriel’s expression was pained. “I’m sorry if that’s inconvenient. But I do. And I think—” He stopped. “I think you love me too. You told me you did. Two weeks ago. Do you remember?”
Jane did remember. After the truth bomb. After learning definitively that David had tried to kill her. She’d kissed Gabriel and told him she loved him.
And she’d meant it.
But that was before. Before the gala. Before David’s arrest. Before her old life and new life collided so spectacularly.
Now, standing here with Gabriel looking at her like she was his whole world, Jane felt terror.
“I can’t,” she whispered. “I can’t love you.”
“Why not?”
“Because everyone I’ve ever loved has destroyed me!” The words exploded out. “My husband tried to kill me. My sister betrayed me. My mother chose his side over mine. My father told me to be grateful for the abuse.” Tears were streaming down her face now. “Everyone I love hurts me. And I can’t—I can’t survive you hurting me too.”
Gabriel’s face crumpled. “I would never hurt you.”
“That’s what David said. On our wedding day. ‘I’ll never hurt you, Celeste. I’ll protect you always.'” Jane laughed bitterly. “And then he systematically destroyed me for five years before trying to murder me.”
“I’m not David.”
“I know that! Logically, I know that. But there’s this part of me—” She pressed her hand to her chest. “This scared, broken part that doesn’t trust it. That’s waiting for you to turn into him. To start with the small criticisms and the subtle control and the making me doubt myself until I can’t breathe without permission.”
“Jane—”
“And the worst part?” She looked at him. “The absolute worst part is that I do love you. So much it terrifies me. Because if I let myself love you completely, if I trust you with everything, and then you leave or change or hurt me—” Her voice broke. “I won’t survive it. Not again.”
Gabriel stood there. Just breathing. Processing.
Jane could see the hurt in his eyes. The pain. But also understanding.
“Okay,” he said finally. Quietly.
“Okay?”
“Okay. I understand. You’re scared. You have every right to be.” He stepped back. Giving her space. “I won’t push. Won’t ask for more than you can give.”
“Gabriel—”
“But I need you to know something.” He looked at her directly. “I’m not going anywhere. Whether you love me or not. Whether you trust me or not. I’m here. For you. For Clara. For as long as you’ll let me be.”
“That’s not fair to you.”
“That’s my choice to make.” His voice was gentle. “You get to choose whether to trust me. I get to choose whether to stay. And I’m choosing to stay.”
Jane felt like she was breaking apart. “Why? Why would you do that to yourself?”
“Because loving you is worth it. Even if you can’t love me back. Even if you never fully trust me. Being in your life—being part of Clara’s life—that’s enough.”
“It shouldn’t be enough.”
Gabriel smiled. Sad but true. “Maybe not. But it’s what I want. So—” He moved toward the door. “I’m going to sleep in my room. Give you space. And tomorrow we’ll go home. And we’ll keep doing what we’ve been doing. Partners. Friends. Co-parenting Clara.”
“Gabriel, wait—”
He turned back.
Jane wanted to say it. Wanted to tell him that she did love him, that she did trust him, that she wanted everything he was offering.
But the words stuck in her throat. Choked by fear.
“Nothing,” she whispered. “Just—thank you. For understanding.”
Gabriel nodded. Walked into his room. Closed the connecting door quietly.
Jane stood alone on the balcony.
And cried.
For the love she was too scared to accept. For the trust she couldn’t give. For the fact that Gabriel deserved someone whole and she was still so fucking broken.
She eventually went inside. Changed out of the emerald dress. Washed off the makeup. Climbed into bed.
Lay there in the dark, listening to the silence from Gabriel’s room.
“I love you,” she whispered into the emptiness. “I’m just so scared.”
No response. Just silence.
Jane closed her eyes. Let exhaustion take her.
And dreamed of Gabriel’s face when she’d pushed him away. The hurt she’d caused because she was too damaged to accept what he was offering.
She woke up thinking: I’ve destroyed the best thing that ever happened to me.
And didn’t know how to fix it.
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