Chapter 106

“That’s not right, Mrs. Sinclair!” Anastasia cut in, her tone cold as ice as she watched Gabriel waver under Nora’s words. “If I recall correctly, when my mother bought the house, your family hadn’t even arrived in Fairhaven yet, had you?”
“She bought the place because she loved the neighborhood, not to lend it out to your family,” Anastasia continued, her voice sharp and unyielding. “So how could she have possibly said those things you claim?” For origınal chapters go to.net
“Was she supposed to be psychic? How could she have predicted your family would suddenly move to Fairhaven and need a place to stay?”
Nora’s heart skipped a beat. “Anastasia, you were just a child back then-what could you possibly remember?”
Julian quickly chimed in, “Exactly! You must be confused.”
But Anastasia’s gaze was steely, her words as precise as a surgeon’s scalpel. “My mother bought the house first. The Sinclairs didn’t arrive in Fairhaven until a week later. Only after that did she decide to let them stay. If you really want to know whether I’m mistaken, check the old records. It’s all there.”
“I might have been young, but my memory’s sharp. I remember clearly-on the very first day your family moved in, Delia broke her leg and had to be rushed to the hospital, didn’t she?”
She sat there, radiating quiet authority. “Pull up the purchase date and the date Delia was admitted to the hospital. If there’s a week between them, I’m not the one lying, am I?”
Nora and the Sinclairs’ faces drained of color.
She actually remembered all that?
Anastasia turned to Gabriel. “Dad, think back. Do you remember?”
Over the years, even after marrying Nora, Gabriel had never let go of his memories with Cecilia. He’d replayed every moment in his mind, savoring them. Now, with Anastasia’s prompt, he recalled it clearly: when Cecilia decided to buy that house, she’d talked only about the beautiful setting and the layout-never about letting anyone else stay.
She’d bought the house first. Letting the Sinclairs use it came later.
So how could she possibly have told Nora from the start that she was buying it in Julian’s name out of concern for Nora’s family? That made no sense.
Seeing Gabriel’s expression shift, Anastasia knew he was finally remembering. She gave a cold, dismissive laugh and pressed on.
“And even if—just for argument’s sake—my mother did say all that and allowed you to use Julian’s name for the house, what have you been doing all these years since she died? Why haven’t you given the house back?”
“She said—very clearly-it was a temporary arrangement, didn’t she? Your family arrived all of a sudden. You had nowhere to go, so she offered you a place to get your footing. But after all this time, you’re still here. Over a decade has passed, and you haven’t even thought about moving out. What’s the deal-do you all just conveniently forget things? Or is ten years somehow not enough time to find a place of your own?”
Anastasia’s words landed like open-handed slaps, each one sharper than the last, leaving Nora reeling.
Suddenly, Gabriel snapped out of his daze. Rage and shock twisted across his features as he raised his hand and brought it down hard across Nora’s cheek.
“Were you scheming to steal Cecilia’s house all along?!”
Nora shrieked, stumbling back onto the couch.
Clutching her burning cheek, she stared at Gabriel in utter disbelief.
He had never hit her before-not once in all these years.
But now he had—and in his eyes, there was no trace of the warmth she’d once known, only a coldness she’d never seen before.
And Gabriel felt it, too—the strangeness, the distance. All this time, he’d thought
of Nora as pure and kind, but now, he realized he’d never truly seen the person lying next to him in bed.