To see Gabe and Aaliya so cozy when I entered her house drove a dagger through me. And now they don’t even have the decency to acknowledge the truth when I have caught them red handed. Were they in an affair that resulted in a child? Have they broken up? Are they still involved? Is that why Gabe was always so protective of her? Where does Jonathan fit in? None of it makes any fucking sense to me.

“Damn you, Damien,” Gabriel roars in anger. “The kid is not mine. He is yours. Yours and Aaliya’s.”

I blink and stumble a step behind. But then I shake my head and laugh because it’s too absurd to be true. “Wow, Gabe! You are no longer the man I knew and respected.”

My sentence is met with silence as Aaliya and Gabe look from one to the other. Aaliya wipes a tear that has fallen from her eye.

“It is true,” she accepts, raising her chin. “I am your wife and you spent the last five years with me in India. And we have a son.”

“Fucking hell!” I yell, absolutely livid now.

“If what you say is true then why did you not tell me that the first time we met outside the coffee shop,” I ask her. “The two of you have lied to me about everything from that moment forward, especially you Aaliya. You’ve had ample opportunities to come out with the truth, but you haven’t. We were living together, for God’s sake!”

I take an angry step towards her, but Gabriel steps in between us. “She didn’t tell you Damien, because I told her not to,” he says. “Aaliya was going to confront you that day outside the coffee shop. But I stopped her because you and I both know that your life is in danger. What if you hadn’t believed her? Reporters followed you everywhere in those days. What if someone heard her talk to you and you rejected her? What if all that got printed in the papers and the people after you found out about her and your child? Then what? I couldn’t take that chance. You told me in that phone message to protect someone.”

He splays a hand towards Aaliya. “Well, this is whom I was trying to protect, her and your son. Everything she has done is because I asked her to do it so that we could get her to be a part of your life once again so she could tell you the truth once you fully accepted her.”

I shake my head. “This is ridiculous!”

“It’s true,” Aaliya steps in front of me. The tears are freely flowing down her cheeks now. “I am your wife and we have a son. This exact reaction of yours is what I feared the most.”