Divorce to Destiny: Reclaiming My CEO Husband by Anney GW

My CEO 372

372 A Parental Shadow (Jayden)

I sit alone on the back steps of the cottage, staring out at the garden Bobby worked so hard to restore. But it is so much more than this. Acres of woodlands and a play area being revealed that any kid would love to grow up in. A place I would have loved to grow up in.

The place is beautiful, almost perfect, yet I feel heavy, tinged with a past I'm only now beginning to understand. As a father myself, my perspective of the past and how I feel about my parents has changed.

Not all for the better, but I do have a new understanding of how strong a love for a child is.

This so-called cottage. Perhaps by Gus's standards it is. To anyone else it's a mansion. Eight bedrooms, five bathrooms. And living areas that are certainly roomy but also have the feel of a home. A place designed for kids to run about and parents to be able to watch. A place to be a haven, not just a building you live in.

Inside the living area is accented by a sprawling, handcrafted stone fireplace. Rooms connected by open spaces filled with light. Gus built all this with his family in mind, with me in mind.

I trace my fingers along the stone steps, wondering how he ever imagined a future like this-one where we could've all lived here together, peacefully.

If it had been up to Gus, maybe I would've grown up here. Maybe Winona and I wouldn't be here now as strangers to this place, trying to make it ours. But then, I would never have met Winona. I wouldn't have the family I have now nor be the man I am now.

It's like Gus set up an entire world for me, then left me to fend for myself in Judy's twisted version of one. And for what? His business, his double-agent life, this world in Europe he could never let go of.

In the end, I was left with Judy and Greg-Greg, who I thought was my father until Gus showed up at Brennan Industries that day and blew the lid off so many things.

has changed since then. Unbelievable changes no one could anticipate. But here we are. All together and killing

stomach churning. I spent years hating him, years feeling like

And he resented me for the love Judy had for Gus. Gus punished Judy for not choosing him and being over here. Judy punished Gus for not choosing

the casualty. In many ways, I still am.

as I try to let it go. I'm here now, with my

manipulations. But am I? She seems like she's toeing

372 A Parental Shodow

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pose a danger to

at my mind, dredging up memories I've tried to bury. I remember how she

cold and sharp, convincing me of things I never should have believed. She knew how to twist the truth, making it hard for me to see anything else but her version of reality. The accident, the one that nearly killed me and stripped me of any memories of Winona, flashes in my mind like a dark blur. She'd convinced me afterward that I'd loved

story began plecing itself together. In

onto for years. She said the accident was her fault-she hadn't meant to hurt me. She'd planned to get rid of Winona, thinking she'd be out of my life

no matter the cost.

own mother truly be that dangerous? Had she, as Gus

Greg's death?

that wants to believe there's something redeemable in

me because Judy

not my fault. Even now, it Isn't. What I choose to do is the only thing