Gabriel's Obsession

A Mother's Strength

The dimly lit room bore down on me, its silence a suffocating force, pressing against my chest like an unbearable weight. The walls, once indifferent, now felt like prison bars, closing in with each ragged breath I took. Tears cascaded down my cheeks, each drop carving a path of sorrow down my face, carrying the weight of betrayal and regret.

How had I allowed myself to love Gabriel? How had I been foolish enough to believe that his love for me was stronger than his family's grasp?

Lies.

Lies were the one thing I could never forgive. And yet, Gabriel had spun them around me so seamlessly, so cruelly, that I had unknowingly walked into the web of my own downfall. How could he claim to love me, to want me, and still allow them to announce his engagement to Anna?

"Engaged to Anna."

The words replayed in my mind like a cruel jest, a wicked echo taunting me. The same man who had whispered to me in the dead of night that I was his forever, the same man who had looked into my eyes and sworn I was the only one he wanted. My fists clenched as I struggled to reconcile the man I once believed in with the monster who had stood by and let his mother humiliate me in front of an entire crowd.

Had I ever truly known him?

Had I ever truly been free?

The confrontation earlier had stripped away the illusions, leaving me exposed to the harsh reality I had been too blind to see. Gabriel wasn't the man I thought he had become. He hadn't changed. He had only been waiting—waiting for the perfect moment to pull me back into his grip, to remind me that I was his, whether I accepted it or not.

I curled into myself, sobs wracking my body. The pain was unbearable, but nothing compared to the ache in my chest—the ache of knowing my daughters were out there, possibly crying for me, needing me. I needed to be with them.

My daughters. My innocent, beautiful daughters.

Would he discard them just as easily? Would he look into their eyes, the same shade as his, and tell them they were unwanted?

A fresh wave of anguish coursed through me, my body trembling with a mix of sorrow and rage. I had spent hours locked away in this room, banished from my own home, separated from my own children, as if I were nothing more than a misbehaving pet.

Desperation surged within me as I scrambled to my feet, staggering toward the door. I pounded on it with all my strength.

"Let me out!" I cried, my voice raw with anguish. "I need my daughters!"

The walls swallowed my pleas, offering nothing in return. No footsteps. No voices. Nothing.

I slumped against the door, my breath hitching as memories of my past life flooded my mind. Before Gabriel. Before this nightmare. Before I was stolen.

I had a home once. A family who loved me. A brother who would have burned the world to find me if he only knew where I was.

And now?

I was trapped in a mansion where love was a lie, where my daughters were deemed useless, where I was nothing more than an inconvenience.

My fingers curled into fists.

No.

I refused to be powerless.

Just as my resolve hardened, the faint click of the door handle turning made my breath still.

My heart lurched. I expected Gabriel. Expected him to storm in, to twist the knife deeper into my wounds.

But instead, it was her.