Chapter 10 Jessica's Painful Ordeal
Danielle's barrage of questions left Gabriel feeling agitated.
He tugged at his tie, attempting to speak calmly, "Mom, Jessica's handling it well. It's not as serious as you're making it out to be."
"Not serious?!" Danielle emphasized on it in her disbelief.
Danielle tried to compose herself before looking at Gabriel again. "Xavier doesn't know about this yet, and if he finds out, skinning you alive would be getting off easy. Just watch yourself.
"And don't think I can't see through you. If you're trying to hide something, you'd better do it well. Xavier's health is failing. He's not the man he used to be. If he suspects anything and something happens, I will show you no mercy, blood or not.
"Don't think I'll agree to a divorce just because you convinced Jessica to ask for one. You're my son, I know you better than you think.
"That Diana isn't as simple as you think. She left decisively and now comes crawling back. Do you have any idea what she's planning?" Danielly spoke, giving him some food for thought.
Although Gabriel appeared to be calmly drinking water, his mind was engulfed in a storm of thoughts, 'How did his mom know all this?'
On the drive home, Gabriel sat in silence, exuding an aura that kept even the driver in the front seat holding his breath.
Once home, Gabriel called out her name with a restrained anger enveloping him. "Jessica?" As soon as he finished the question, he spotted her on the couch. As he approached, Jessica stirred awake.
"I'm back," he announced, only to be greeted by Jessica's bleary eyes. "You're here? Oh, I have to tell you, Mom seems to have found out about the divorce."
"Did you tell her?" Gabriel snapped, a storm brewing in his voice.
Jessica, taken aback by his accusatory tone, took a moment to collect her thoughts. In disbelief, she stared at the man before her. "What do you mean? Are you suggesting I spilled the beans about the divorce?"
"Isn't that the case?" he said doubtingly.
"Of course not," she denied.
Gabriel let out a derisive chuckle, his deep-set eyes now piercing with a frosty edge. That coldness lanced through Jessica's heart, sharper than any knife.
"I've only discussed this with you. If it was not you, then who? If you don't want this divorce, just say so. Why play these games? I've already made it clear. I said I would agree to any settlement you want, even splitting our assets evenly," he said coldly.
For a split second, Jessica felt as if she'd forgotten to breathe, her mind blanking out. She parted her lips but found herself speechless, choked by his misunderstanding. Her heart ached unbearably.
"So, you have nothing to say?" Gabriel's scorn cut deeper.
Finally, Jessica managed to gather her composure. "So, you think all my efforts were scheming for your money, for your property?"
"What else?" Gabriel's cold gaze bore into her. "Or do you actually not want this divorce? Pretending to agree while secretly telling Mom and Xavier? Jessica, you've played your cards well. Even I can't help but commend the ruse."
"So, this is what you think of me?" A self-mocking laugh escaped her, as she looked down, eyelashes casting shadows on her cheeks. She was tired. Too tired to explain or defend herself anymore.
After all, once Xavier's birthday passed, they'd be divorced. They would go their separate ways, cutting all ties.
"How do you expect me to think of you?" he challenged.
"And you? Why did you marry me to begin with?" Despite already knowing, Jessica, as if possessed by a mad desire for validation, still stubbornly sought an answer from him.
"I want to hear you say it," she insisted, seeking the painful truth from his lips. His silence was a weight upon her already burdened heart. "Why won't you speak? Tell me!"
"You said it was your choice," she bitterly recalled, "Your grand act of "volunteering", sacrificing our marriage for an ex-girlfriend, turning yourself into bait to trap me. Gabriel, such noble volunteering. I'm truly in awe."
"Speak up!" she couldn't contain her outcry any longer.
The silence that followed was oppressive, stretching endlessly. The air between them was suffocating.
Jessica exhaled sharply, suddenly feeling as if even the air was painful, stabbing her throat like swallowing knives.
"Why won't you explain?" Jessica laughed, a tragic sound.
"Because you simply can't," she answered herself, feeling as if her heart had been hollowed out, bleeding profusely.
"I'm sorry!" were the only words that Gabriel could muster.
In the end, that was all she got – those few words.
"Ha... I'm sorry!" Jessica murmured, repeating the words as tears threatened to spill. ‘What a “sorry” excuse indeed.’
It seemed like such a universal fix. As if whatever wrong you'd done, you could just slap those words on it and be done.
She was in agony. It hurt so much.
Especially a deep, tearing pain in her lower abdomen, cramping excruciatingly. Then she felt it, a wetness beneath her, sticky and warm. A wave of panic washed over Jessica as she realized she was bleeding, and not just a little.
'Baby, please don't scare Mommy, you must be safe! Please be okay, you must be okay. I'm sorry baby, Mommy didn't protect you properly!' she spoke to her baby in her womb through her thoughts.
Jessica was riddled with guilt.
Seeing her ashen complexion, Gabriel quickly said, "What's wrong? You look terrible, let me take you to the hospital."
"Don't pretend to care." Jessica suddenly pushed his hand away with a swift motion. The pain in her abdomen intensified.
She recalled hearing that the first three months of pregnancy were the most precarious, prone to miscarriage.
That thought filled her with regret. Though she was angry with him, the baby was what mattered most. She shouldn't have let her anger endanger their child.
As she tried to form words, her lips trembled, and just as she was about to speak, a vast darkness swept over her, her body collapsing backward without warning.
"Jessica." Thankfully, Gabriel caught her with quick reflexes. "Jessica, come on, wake up!"
Holding her in his arms, he hurried down the stairs, commanding someone to get the car ready.
When Jessica came to, the car had just stopped at the hospital, and Gabriel was rushing her toward the emergency room.
Worry etched his face, sweat from the run forming fine beads, his usually composed and handsome features now appeared disheveled and desperate.
If only, she thought, ‘if only his concern was real, not just guilt.’
Upon her arrival at the emergency room, the harsh overhead lights snapped on, but Jessica didn’t close her eyes. Instead, she kept them wide open, allowing tears to stream down her cheeks in torrents.
The doctor walked in, and Jessica immediately grabbed her hand, pleading through sobs, "I'm pregnant, please, you have to save my baby."
As she watched the blood pooling beneath her, a stark red against the white of the hospital sheets, the doctor spoke with evident difficulty, "I’ll do everything I can, but you need to brace yourself; the odds are not in our favor."
