Divorce to Destiny: Reclaiming My CEO Husband

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.

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

I can't even think of Greg without my stomach churning. I spent years hating him, years feeling like I was never enough. No amount of academic or personal achievements made a difference.

I could never be what he wanted because, deep down, he knew I wasn't his. 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 her over Europe. Greg punished Both Mother and I because of everything and though he never wanted a divorce, he found happiness in Cuba in secret.

I was the casualty. In many ways, I still am. At least my emotions are.

I breathe deeply, the fresh air filling my lungs as I try to let it go. I'm here now, with my own family, far

from Judy's manipulations. But am I? She seems like she's toeing the line, but honestly, I'd be a fool to believe that.

372 A Parental Shodow

The question is...does she pose a danger to me? To Winona? To our kids?

The question scrapes at my mind, dredging up memories I've tried to bury. I remember how she never thought Winona was good enough for me, how she said Winona would only bring me down.

I can almost hear her voice now, 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 Ashlyn, that I'd married the wrong person.

But it wasn't until recently that the real story began plecing itself together. In my mind. Not from the words of anyone else.

I remember overhearing her talking to Gus before I went into a coma, just bits and pieces that my mind refused to hold 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 for good. She'd wanted me to herself,

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CITY own mother truly be that dangerous? Had she, as Gus hinted at the time, even had a hand in

Greg's death?

And yet, despite all of it, there's still a part of me that wants to believe there's something redeemable in her. She raised me, she looked after me, even if it was in her own twisted way.

And now, here I am, sitting in the middle of Gus's dream-a dream he could never fully give me because Judy would never let him. A life that would have made me into an entirely different person.

But it didn't happen. I can't let that get to me now. What they chose to do was not my fault. Even now, it Isn't. What I choose to do is the only thing that defines me.

But as much as I've hated Gus since he turned my world upside down, I'm seeing a new way to look at him by being here.

I try to make sense of it all. Gus is the one who held the real loyalty, even from a distance. He never interfered directly in my life, not in the way Judy did. But he never actively stopped her either.

He's the one who's protected us now, the one who's given me the strength and the space to keep my family safe. I want to hate him for leaving me with Judy all these years, but... I do see his sacrifices as a father more clearly now. Will I ever understand or like the choices those three made around my life? No.

But I do see I need to play the hand I'm dealt and not dwell on what might have been.

I will do what it takes to make sure my family is safe and happy.

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373 Stop Staling

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