I address Damien. “You may think what you want about me and God knows how wrong you are, but I will not allow you to take my son away from me.”

“And I will not allow him to stay with a woman who is a cheat and a liar.” He looks from me to Gabe. “You both are in this together. I only have to figure out what Jonathan had to gain from this entire atrocity.”

“None of us had anything to gain from this,” I tell him.

“Yeah, right!” He scoffs. His lips flatten and he turns to Gabe and Jonathan. “Step aside, right now.”

“Damien, you need to listen to her,” Jonathan pleads. “If you will just listen then this could all end nicely.”

“Bugger off, Jonathan!” Damien spits out. “And stay the hell away from my life. Maybe I left you out for five years because I didn’t really trust you.”

Jonathan’s face falls, while Gabe looks ready to throw a punch at Damien.

“What is wrong with you, Damien? I shoot back, flinging a nervous glance at Rian who thankfully is oblivious to the tension around him. He’s tucked his head in his father’s shoulder and has a delighted smile on his lips.

I face Damien again.

“Gabe and Jonathan have both put you first ever since they learned of your accident and memory loss, and they don’t deserve your revulsion and scathing remarks. Stop being nasty to your friends, and don’t forget Gabe has been with you...”

“Of course you’d stand up for Gabe!” Damien cuts me off. “For all I know Gabe and you have been having an affair all along, just like Celia insisted. Maybe I ought to have believed her in the first place.”

I flinch back as if he’s slapped me while Gabe expels a pained gasp.

Celia! That woman. I hate her. It’s because of her that Damien learned my truth the way he did and now she’s poisoned his mind with filth like this.

I take an irate step towards him. “I will let this comment slide for now because you are not thinking straight. But don’t you dare accuse me of being disloyal to you ever again.”

“And yet here we are at this point thanks to your lies,” he retorts. “So forgive me if I don’t believe you and want to believe Celia.”

Rage, black and blinding whirls inside me to hear him say that.

“Damien, if you take my son away from me, then the first thing I’m going to do is knock on the door of every media house and tell them your life is being threatened and the only reason you’ve not gone to the police is because you’re trying to cover up all the illegal and nefarious activities done by your father and brother that got them killed.”