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Dealing with this diagnosis would be massively disrupting to the best of relationships, founded on love, so what hope could they possibly have? Gabriel could delay the conversation for as long as he wanted, but ultimately Leonora knew this spelled the end of their marriage.
CHAPTER TEN
GABRIEL WAS IN his office, staring out of the window, which took in a spectacular view of Madrid. Sunlight bathed the city in a golden glow. But he didn’t see any of that. His thoughts were inward.
It had been two weeks now since Leonora’s operation, and physically she seemed to be fine. But emotionally...
Gabriel couldn’t begin to fathom what she was going through, and the feeling of helplessness he’d felt that day in the hospital when he’d heard her crying was still there.
Helplessness was totally alien to Gabriel. He was used to being able to influence things, events. And yet even he had to concede that this was entirely out of his control.
There was no amount of money he could throw at the situation to make it better. To restore Leonora to full health.
Unsurprisingly, she’d been withdrawn for the past two weeks. She’d been sleeping in one of the guest suites, in spite of Gabriel’s insistence that he would move rooms.
He hadn’t liked not having her in his bed. Not at all. It made him feel even more helpless as he watched her retreat further and further to some place he couldn’t reach.
There was a knock on his door and he turned around, irritated at the interruption. It was his secretary.
‘Sorry, I know you don’t want to be disturbed...but it’s Lazaro Sanchez.’
Literally the last person Gabriel wanted to see right now. But to his surprise, instead of issuing an immediate rejection, he heard himself say, ‘Send him in.’
Sanchez walked in. Familiar tension and something much more ambiguous mixed in Gabriel’s gut.
Leonora’s words came into his head. ‘Are you sure you’re not related?’
He said, ‘To what do I owe this pleasure?’
Lazaro walked over to the desk, and as he did so Gabriel noticed that he looked a little less cocky than normal. As if some of the stuffing had been knocked out of him. He almost felt compelled to say something, but then he noticed a padded envelope in Lazaro’s hand.
Lazaro put it down on the desk and tapped it lightly. He looked at Gabriel. ‘There is all you need in there to prove that we are related. Which we are. Again, I don’t want anything from you or your family—simply an acknowledgement that I am of your blood. It’s the least I’m due, I think. Also, I’ve decided to pull out of the bid for the market. I still think my bid was the better one, but it’s not my priority any more. And, yes, you’re right. A big part of my motivation was in going up against you. You’re a worthy adversary, Gabriel, but I’ve lost the appetite for battling with you.’
Lazaro was almost at the door before Gabriel had recovered enough to say, ‘What’s changed?’
Lazaro turned around and smiled. ‘I’ve just realised what’s truly important in life...that’s all.’
He walked out before Gabriel could get his wits back together. Very few people surprised him. But Lazaro Sanchez had just blindsided him. Rapidly, Gabriel tried to assess what Lazaro’s agenda might be...but he couldn’t come up with anything.
He walked over and picked up the padded envelope. Inside was a piece of paper with the information for a doctor who had a sample of Lazaro’s DNA in storage. All Gabriel had to do was provide his own sample of DNA for comparison and they would know if they were related.
But Gabriel didn’t need to do the test. He knew in his gut what the result would be. He’d known that day in the street, when he’d first seen Lazaro, that the possibility that he was his kin was very real. In fact, on the other side of the animosity that had played out between the two men, there had been a sense of affinity that he’d never wanted to acknowledge.
It was an unsettling revelation.
Gabriel put down the piece of paper and walked back over to the window. He should be feeling triumphant because he was going to be awarded the bid for the market. But he wasn’t feeling triumphant. He was feeling deflated. As if something had been taken out of his grasp.
He realised that he’d relished the fight with Lazaro. The chance to prove himself. Because it happened so rarely.
And then an insidious suspicion came into his mind. Had Lazaro found out about Leo’s diagnosis, somehow? Was this why he’d gone a step further in his claim to be of Cruz y Torres blood? Because he knew that if Gabriel didn’t have an heir, then any child of Lazaro’s would therefore have a claim on the Torres inheritance?
Gabriel shook his head. He was being paranoid. There was no way Lazaro could have found out. It was just coincidence...
But, the fact remained that without an heir, the family name would die out. Even if Lazaro was his half-brother, he might not want anything to do with the Cruz y Torres name. Especially after the way he’d been treated...
Gabriel thought of how only a couple of weeks ago he’d been almost hoping that Leo wouldn’t be pregnant, so they could have more time alone together. Fate was laughing in his face. Because now they had all the time in the world.
* * *
