She Was Thrown Out Pregnant in a Storm... and the Man Who Found Her Was the One Her Fiancé Should Have Feared - Spotlight8

Back in Lake Forest, Clara knew nothing of Gregory’s final collapse.

For the first time in months, she felt close to peace.

Snow covered the estate grounds. Fires burned low in the library. Clara sat in an armchair with yarn in her lap, trying and failing to knit a tiny blue sweater. Gabriel entered near midnight, loosened his tie, and looked at her with the exhausted eyes of a man who had spent the day swallowing empires.

“You’re working too hard,” she said.

“So are you.” He nodded toward the crooked sweater.

“It’s supposed to be charming.”

“It looks like a trap for a very small animal.”

Clara laughed before she could stop herself.

Gabriel’s face softened.

He sat on the rug beside her chair, resting one hand gently against her stomach. The baby kicked immediately.

A smile broke across his face, startling in its brightness.

“He knows me,” Gabriel said.

“He knows you talk to him like he’s a board member.”

“I want him prepared.”

Clara touched Gabriel’s hair, smoothing it back from his forehead. The gesture came naturally now. So naturally it frightened her.

“Gabriel.”

He looked up.

“When this started, I was leverage to you.”

His expression stilled.

“And you were survival to me,” she continued. “I know that. I’m not pretending this began beautifully.”

“No,” he said. “It began in the mud.”

“But it changed.” Her voice dropped. “At least for me.”

Gabriel rose slowly, as if sudden movement might scare the confession away.

“What is it now?” he asked.

Clara’s eyes filled, but she smiled through it.

“I want this to be real.”

For once, Gabriel Falco had no immediate answer.

He only cupped her face in both hands and kissed her.

It was not gentle at first. It was fierce, restrained for too long, a vow made without witnesses. Then it softened, becoming something Clara had not known she still believed in.

When he pulled back, his forehead rested against hers.

“It has been real for me longer than I knew how to admit,” he said. “I did not save you cleanly, Clara. I saw a weapon before I saw a woman. I will regret that for the rest of my life.”

“You came back from it.”

“You brought me back.”