Chapter 1 - Andy

On the same day that she had saved her bully from drowning, Andy had promised herself that she would never see him again. But, after spending 10 years without having the displeasure of seeing Gabriel Ferrars' face again, she had discovered that, more than unfair, fate could also be extremely cruel.

"Excuse me." A female voice sounded behind her the moment Andy entered that huge building and as she turned around she saw a blonde woman smiling hopefully “Are you Andrea Vamcap?”

“Uh… Yes, I am.” Andy answered hesitantly.

"Thank God." the woman sighed, as if that was the best news she had ever received “I am Mr. Ferrars' secretary. Please follow me. He is waiting for you.”

Clenching her hands into fists hard enough to feel the pain of the nails digging into her palms, Andy managed to swallow the disgust of knowing that he'd apparently let everyone there on notice of her presence, and just nodded. Still, as the smiling secretary guided her to a nearby elevator, nothing was able to ease the growing knot in Andy's stomach with every step she took. The years and all the therapy she'd had after the episode at the Ferrars' country house had helped her to care less and less about what had happened in the past, to the point where even the memory of Gabriel's face had become something hazy in her mind. Perhaps that was why there was something even more unsettling about trying to imagine what kind of man he had become after ten years.

Had he had the decency to rethink his behavior? Or was he still the same childish, arrogant, cruel boy she had known?

Well, the fact that she was the one responsible for keeping them apart said a lot about who Gabriel Ferrars still was, probably. Her grandmother loved to say that all his efforts to contact her over the years, from giving gifts on holidays to all that insistence on sending an invitation to the Ferrars' parties, was his way of showing that he was sorry. But, Andy knew that Gabriel's mother was one of her grandmother, Adele, closest friends, so of course she would want to defend the family from them. For Andy, however, all that insistence of his was, in addition to incomprehensible, a great inconvenience and proof that, even if the two were now adults, he didn't seem ready to stop tormenting her.

"Please sit down." the secretary led her into a waiting room worthy of Adele's favorite interior design magazines.

As soon as the woman walked away, Andy practically collapsed into the nearest seat, pressing her temples to try to quell a looming headache. In her mind, the photos that had been emailed to her brother were still vivid, as if someone had burned them into her brain: her mother, Imogen, with Gabriel's father, Edgar. She didn't have the stomach to see them all, like Aaron did, but just four or five made it all too clear. Not only about what the nature of the secret relationship between the two was, but also when it had happened, since, in some of the photos, Imogen was without hair or wearing a scarf on her head, looking exactly the same as she had a short time before die, ten years ago.

Which meant, around the time Gabriel started making her life hell… Maybe the reason was that he was trying to use her to punish Imogen for getting involved with a married man.

If she hadn't seen those images for herself and heard more than three experts attest that they weren't montages or anything like that, Andy would never have believed that her mother had been capable of doing something like this. Everyone knew that there wasn't the slightest trace of love in Imogen and Alphonse's marriage, but no one could deny how much Andy's mother had suffered from her husband's betrayals and his mistress's humiliations... So why subject herself to to be the other woman in someone's life? Even if she didn't know her very well, Andy found Sienna Ferrars, Edgar's former wife, very nice, even with Imogen herself…

What had driven her mother to do something like that? Sadness, illness or pure and simple lack?

Or maybe she just hadn't thought about anything or anyone but herself, as Alphonse always did.

The only thing Andy knew for sure was how painful it was to discover that she didn't really know the person who used to be her best friend.

With a deep sigh, Andy tried to compose herself. Imogen's secrets were now resting with her and the only thing the Vamcaps could do was focus on what really mattered: how to prove that Alphonse was lying in the family inheritance court battle, saying that she and Aaron were not his children, having as proved only by the fact that Imogen had a lover. And even though the first paternity test Aaron had ordered had already proven that it was just another of Alphonse's lies to try to get more money, Andy knew that he wouldn't give up on his plans easily, now that he had the argument of his first wife's infidelity. So, if they really wanted to eliminate any possibility of his plan succeeding, she needed to present as much evidence as possible to the judge.

Even if she needed to face Gabriel Ferrars again for that. And she could do it.

The past was in the past and that scared, easily intimidated Andy was no more. She had been locked in that broom closet that dark night so many years ago. Now there was only Andrea Vamcap, a competent lawyer and part of a family that she would never allow to fall apart just because she hadn't had the courage to face her memories and meet with the only person who could save the Vamcaps from Alphonse at that moment. 

"Ms. Vamcap.” a female voice called and, as she turned around, Andy realized that she had been so deep in her own thoughts that she hadn't even noticed that the smiling secretary had returned and was now standing beside her “Mr. Ferrars will see you now. Please, follow me."

"Thanks." Andy groaned, her throat raw with nerves.

Biting the inside of her cheek to force her body to hold steady, Andy followed the woman into a wide hallway that certainly could have held an entire office, but apparently had only been reserved to highlight the massive door just ahead, which the secretary it opened in an almost hurried manner, as soon as the two finally finished traversing all those meters.

“Ms. Vamcap is here, Mr. Ferrars.” With a sigh that sounded almost like profound relief, the woman stepped aside to allow her entry.

For a moment, Andy's eyes were dazzled slightly by the glare of the sunny day outside the huge wall made of glass over there. However, once she got used to it and the soberly styled, masculine-smelling room was clear before her, Andy couldn't help but gulp. Because, standing out among all that gray and black was a pair of sapphire eyes that she had once hoped she would never have to see again.

Gabriel had grown even taller than she remembered. All traces of the 16-year-old boy who had tormented her throughout high school were gone to make way for a man's face with a sharp jaw, angular features, and an impossibly more attractive complexion than when he was a teenager. However, even if at that moment all he seemed to be feeling was apprehension, when looking at that face, all Andy could see was the evil look of a bully, which had stuck in her mind even after exactly 10 years.

"Andrea..." Gabriel finally broke the silence, swallowing hard, but whatever he wanted to say next didn't interest Andy, because she had only one purpose in coming here.

“You always knew my mother had an affair with your father, didn't you?” she asked sharply.

"What?" he froze in shock "How did you...?"

“I'm only going to ask this once, Gabriel Ferrars...” Andy took a step forward, but always keeping her distance from that huge room between them “Were you the one who gave the photos of the two of them together to Alphonse Vamcap?”

"Photos?" Gabriel echoed, looking genuinely surprised "No... I would never do that..."

“Not even to force me to come here and finally satisfy your sick urge to keep bothering me?!” Andy snarled, unable to contain the fury he had held inside for so many years.

“That's not why I wanted to see you, Andrea…” he sighed, at least having the decency to sound guilty, though she didn't mind “And no. I swear by all that is holy that I have no idea how those pictures ended up in this man's hands. I haven't touched them myself for years."

"Is there any possibility..." she cut him off, swallowing hard "That my brother or I are your father's children?"

"What?! No!" Gabriel practically yelled, as if this was the most absurd thing he had ever heard “Their affair started when you and I were in elementary school. They didn't know each other before that. Believe me, I can prove it.”

“Of course you can. You always knew all the sordid details, didn't you?" she laughed bitterly, trying to stop all those memories of her youth from coming back to haunt her "It all makes so much more sense now..."

"Andrea..." he tried to speak again, but Andy cut him off.

“If you have proof, then I want it.” she announced, taking shoulder bag to grab wallet “Name your price. No matter what it is, the Vamcap Bank is willing to make any kind of transaction or agreement, in exchange for you providing us with proof that the affair between my mother and your father does not give any reason for the paternity of the children of it be questioned.”

“Is your father doubting that you are his children?” Gabriel snarled and, even though she knew she shouldn't, Andy was surprised at how furious he actually sounded about the situation “That's ridiculous. You two clearly have Vamcap blood..."

“This will be proved before the judge with DNA tests. But in a court of law all evidence must be presented. So, say what you want, to provide me with the proof my family needs.” she crossed her arms over her chest, determined not to be intimidated, no matter what he said “It doesn't matter if it's money, stocks, property or some business deal. All you have to do is put everything related to my mother's affair in my hands and my brother and I will make sure you have anything you want.”

"Anything?" Gabriel repeated, after a moment of silence "No matter what my conditions are?"

"Of course you're going to want to impose conditions, rather than making this negotiation as quick and easy as possible." she ground her teeth in disgust.

"I am not..."

"It doesn't matter." she cut him off, coldly “State your conditions. No matter what they are, they will be answered.” Andy assured, knowing she would give him anything she wanted, to protect her family. After all, as strange and incomprehensible as he might be, as the head of one of the biggest steel companies in the world, he would certainly want to strike a deal that would earn him more money, power or both.

However, instead of answering right away, Gabriel came out from behind the long table where he had been standing all this time and began to slowly approach her, keeping those blue, unreadable eyes focused on Andy the entire time. As much as the expression on his face was very different from the one she had kept in her mind, still having his attention focused on her awakened feelings in Andy that she didn't want to revisit and made it even harder for her to stand her ground and pretend that his presence didn't affect her at all.

Finally, he stopped inches from her, still staring at her almost without blinking, and as much as her stomach was churning from the sheer tension at that moment, Andy held his gaze and kept her expression cool, refusing to give him the satisfaction of knowing that he still managed to intimidate her, since that seemed to be what Gabriel wanted.

"In exchange for the evidence about our parents' affair..." Gabriel finally broke the silence, although his deep voice was reverberating through those walls, making it even harder for Andy to believe what he said, right after "I want you.”