Find me in your labyrinth (Stella and Jonathan) novel Chapter 2951

Gabriel’s deep, dark eyes locked on hers. “We’re not of the same generation. I never asked you to call me ‘brother.’”

Sylvia bit her red lip, suppressing a laugh. Resting her chin on his shoulder, she whispered in his ear, “At that family dinner, when Grandpa had me call you ‘brother’—honestly, I felt so embarrassed. My mind was full of things I shouldn’t even be thinking.”

She arched a brow, her tone teasing and inviting. “And you?”

Gabriel gave her a sidelong glance, calm and collected as ever. “The same.”

Sylvia collapsed against his shoulder, shaking with laughter.

After a moment, she looked up, her smile gently fading as she gazed at his chiseled profile. In a soft voice, she asked, “I’m leaving soon. Shouldn’t we make the most of the time we have left?”

Gabriel turned slightly, his eyes fixed on hers, which looked impossibly soft in the moonlight. His voice dropped. “Sylvia, do you really think that every time I come back to you, it’s only for this?”

Sylvia’s alluring gaze softened further. “Then tell me—if not for this, then for what?”

The answer was obvious, but before parting, she still wanted to hear him say it aloud.

Gabriel countered, “Why do you sleep with me, then?”

Was it habit? Dependence? Need? Or something else?

Or maybe, all of the above.

Sylvia’s long lashes fluttered. She lowered her eyes and nestled against his shoulder, her cheek brushing against the fine black fabric of his shirt, her voice barely audible. “Do you really want to know?”

“I do.”

But Sylvia said nothing more.

Some things, perhaps, are better left unsaid before saying goodbye.

*

The following morning, Old Mr. Jarvis finally learned that Gabriel had returned.

*

Because of Mrs. Winters’s troubles, the entire Winters family was thrown into chaos.

Eugene ignored his mother’s predicament entirely, pouring all his energy into containing the fallout to the company. Mr. Winters, afraid his family’s reputation would be destroyed, hired the best lawyers to fight for Mrs. Winters’s acquittal—but with the driver’s testimony, it was certain she would be convicted of intentional assault.

Eugene never visited Evelyn in person; he simply had someone deliver her a sum of money, which she refused.

The baby was gone. And with it, all of Evelyn’s lingering resentment and ambition seemed to fade away.

Before this, it was as if she’d been trapped in a mire of greed and vanity, struggling forward beneath a crushing burden, feeling anxious and lost with no end in sight. Now, at last, she could stop and breathe.

A few days later, Evelyn was released from the hospital and returned to the Quintin family estate to pack her belongings.

As it happened, Estelle and Sophia were both there. When Evelyn came downstairs with her suitcase, embarrassment and shame weighed on her so heavily that she could barely look up.