Gabriel Cross was having an affair with my best friend, Sienna Price. After it came out, my dad beat Gabriel so badly he was blinded in his left eye.
My mother grabbed Sienna by the throat and choked her until she passed out.
When Gabriel threatened to press charges, I begged him to spare my parents. He gave me two conditions.
“First,” he said, “I’ll end things with her and come back to you. But you can never bring up divorce again.”
“Second, you can only see your parents once a year. No contact with them the rest of the time.”
I agreed. For the next three years, I only saw my parents at Christmas.
This Thanksgiving, Gabriel said he had to travel for work again.
I bought a pumpkin pie and planned to sneak over to my parents’ house in Bellevue.
I was standing just outside the glass door to their backyard when I saw my father playing chess with Gabriel.
“That punch I threw was too hard,” my father said, looking at Gabriel’s left eye. “It’s a damn shame about that eye.”
Gabriel just waved it off.
“It’s fine. Without you two running interference, a woman with Mags’s temper would have divorced me for sure.”
“This is much better,” he continued. “Your house has become our little safe house. A place for me and Sia to meet. No one suspects a thing.”
Just then, my mother appeared at the door, her arm around a visibly pregnant Sienna. She called the men inside for dinner.
They looked like a family.
Whatever hope I had left died in that instant.
Gabriel had probably forgotten. When we got married, he’d signed a postnuptial agreement. All it needed was my signature to be executed by a lawyer.
He Cheated With My Friend My Parents Helped Chapter 28 On the security monitor, I could see Gabriel sitting in his car. I did not go down. Last time, he had climbed from the neighboring balcony into my bedroom. My lawyer’s warning had only bought me a few months of peace. I opened the building
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He Cheated With My Friend My Parents Helped Chapter 27 The moment Sienna saw Gabriel, she shook off the security guards. “You followed me?” “My lawyer told me you were coming to find Mags again.” Gabriel walked into the lobby, but he kept his distance from me. “Sia, it’s been over between us for a
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He Cheated With My Friend My Parents Helped Chapter 26 Security immediately moved to block her path. Tears spilled down her face. “I’ve already lost the baby, and I’ve lost Gabe. What more do you want from me?” An old, familiar ache stirred in my chest, but this time, the wound didn’t break open. “You
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He Cheated With My Friend My Parents Helped Chapter 25 After the complaint was dismissed, I thought Sienna would finally stop. A week later, on the day of my project’s public presentation, she appeared outside the institute. I saw her through the lobby’s glass walls and stopped in my tracks. She was much thinner than
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He Cheated With My Friend My Parents Helped Chapter 24 After reviewing the posts, the HR manager closed the browser tab. “We will protect your privacy, Ms. Archer. And for the record, the materials we have on file do not show any violation of institute policy on your part or Dr. Hart’s.” The investigation ended
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He Cheated With My Friend My Parents Helped Chapter 23 I took a screenshot of the text, sent it to my lawyer, and blocked the number. A minute later, a new text came from a different number. [You already have Julian. Why can’t you just leave Gabriel alone?] [His company needs that money. You don’t
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He Cheated With My Friend My Parents Helped Chapter 22 My lawyer submitted the agreement from eight years ago along with the final judgment. Gabriel had no legal ground to stand on. He was silent for a long time before finally saying, “I’ll cooperate.” After the hearing, he called my lawyer again. “Please tell Mags
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He Cheated With My Friend My Parents Helped Chapter 21 “What are his conditions?” I asked. I was standing in the stairwell at the institute, my voice perfectly calm. My lawyer paused. “He wants one private meeting with you. If you agree, he’ll cooperate immediately.” I looked out through the glass at the Charles River.
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He Cheated With My Friend My Parents Helped Chapter 20 He looked at Julian, his hand stopping in mid-air. I saw his reaction and took a half-step back, moving closer to Julian. “You should all go home. I have my own life here.” As Julian and I walked away, I turned back one last time.
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He Cheated With My Friend My Parents Helped Chapter 19 I turned to leave. My mother hurried after me and grabbed my hand. “Mags, how have you been this past year?” “You never called. Not once. Your father and I have been so worried.” I pulled my hand away. “I’ve been doing very well since
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