Chapter 23
He looked down.
“Elegant.”
“I have been elegant for four hours. My contractual obligation has ended.”
“There was a contract?”
“I drafted it.”
“Of course you did.”
The car pulled away.
I leaned back against the seat.
For several minutes, neither of us spoke.
Manhattan moved outside the window.
My phone buzzed again.
I ignored it.
Then Gabriel’s phone buzzed.
He looked at the screen.
His eyebrows rose.
“What?”
“You may want to see this.”
He handed me the phone.
Julian had issued a statement.
Not through anonymous sources.
Not through a vague publicist.
Under his own name.
It was short.
Comments made tonight about my former wife were inappropriate.
Khloe Bennett does not deserve the speculation that has surrounded the end of our marriage.
Our pregnancy losses were private tragedies, not her failure, and I regret allowing any other impression to stand.
I made choices during our marriage that caused her pain, and responsibility for those choices is mine.
I wish her peace, happiness, and every good thing in the life she has built.
I read it twice.
Then a third time.
Gabriel watched me.
“How do you feel?”
I handed the phone back.
“I don’t know.”
That was the truth.
Vindicated, maybe.
Sad.
Angry that it had taken this long.
Relieved.
Grateful.
None of the feelings cancelled the others.
Gabriel put the phone away.
“You don’t have to know tonight.”
I rested my head against the seat.
The baby moved again.
Stronger this time.
I grabbed Gabriel’s hand.
“Wait.”
His eyes widened.
“What?”
“Give me your hand.”
I pressed his palm against my stomach.
For a second, nothing happened.
Then—
A kick.
Small.
Sharp.
Undeniable.
Gabriel froze.
His entire face changed.
There was no billionaire then.
No principal benefactor.
No investor whose name could change the atmosphere in a ballroom.
Just a man feeling his child move.
“Was that—”
“Yes.”
Another movement.
He laughed.
It was quiet.
Almost disbelieving.
I watched him.
And suddenly I thought of Julian standing in the ballroom asking, Is it his?
The question felt absurd now.
Not because biology was irrelevant.
Because the most important difference between the two men had never been biology.
It was presence.
When I was frightened, Gabriel stayed.
When I challenged him, he listened.
When I succeeded, he said my name.
When I was pregnant, he did not treat the baby as proof of his masculinity or my worth.