Gabriel's Obsession

Echoes of Betrayal

Amelia's POV

The mansion's grandeur had shifted, its warmth and vibrancy drained, leaving behind a hollow shell of what had once been a place of celebration. The echoes of laughter and music had faded, swallowed by an unsettling stillness that clung to the air like a thick fog. It was as if the very walls had absorbed the tension, bearing silent witness to the fracture between Gabriel and me.

I stood alone in our bedroom, my heart a battlefield of emotions. The weight of our confrontation pressed down on me, each word exchanged replaying in my mind like an inescapable melody. Gabriel's absence was a ghost lingering in the air, a cold reminder of the storm that had erupted between us. He had left in anger, and though I didn't know where he had gone, I could still feel the remnants of his presence—the lingering scent of his cologne, the faint warmth on his side of the bed.

Moonlight seeped through the heavy curtains, casting elongated shadows that stretched across the room, mirroring the darkness that swirled inside me. My hand trembled as it instinctively found the gentle curve of my belly, fingers tracing the life growing within. A life I hadn't planned for, a life that had already intertwined itself with my soul.

A sigh shuddered through me, my throat tightening as the weight of uncertainty bore down. Fear gnawed at the edges of my resolve. What kind of world was I bringing my child into? What kind of father would Gabriel be? Could I trust him to protect us, or was I only setting myself up for more heartbreak?

Anxiety slithered through my veins, coiling around my thoughts, whispering doubts that refused to be silenced. I knew stress wasn't good for the baby, yet I couldn't stop the whirlwind inside me. My heart ached with a longing for the Gabriel I once knew—the man who had promised me the world, who had held me with tenderness, who had sworn he would never hurt me.

But that man was slipping further and further away, replaced by someone I barely recognized.

A shiver ran down my spine, and I wrapped my arms around myself as if trying to hold the pieces of my breaking heart together.

How much more could I endure before I shattered completely?

"Hello there," I murmured softly, my fingertips gliding over the small curve of my belly, feeling the warmth of the life nestled within me. "I hope you're hanging in there, little one."

A single tear slipped down my cheek, a silent testament to the storm of emotions raging within me. Fear, love, uncertainty—each emotion tangled together, leaving me breathless. This child, still unseen, still unnamed, had already become the anchor to my soul, a presence that both comforted and terrified me.

Motherhood had always been a distant dream, a quiet longing I had once nurtured in the depths of my heart. But reality was far more complex than my childhood fantasies of cradling a baby in my arms, rocking them to sleep while love surrounded us like a warm embrace. The world I lived in now—Gabriel's world—was nothing like the one I had imagined bringing a child into.

I lowered myself onto the edge of the bed, my mind drifting to the question that had lingered since I first discovered I was pregnant. A boy or a girl? I had deliberately chosen not to find out, much to the frustration of Gabriel's family, who spoke endlessly of their desire for a son. An heir. A successor to the Hamilton name.

But to me, it didn't matter.

My love for this child had nothing to do with legacy or power. Whether I carried a boy or a girl, they were mine, a part of me, a piece of my heart that would exist outside my body for the rest of my life.

A shadow of unease crept through my thoughts. What if I gave birth to a daughter? Would Gabriel love her the same way he would a son? Or would his family's expectations cast a shadow over the innocence of our child, turning her existence into a disappointment?