Chapter 287: Carefully laid trap

Words : 1569 Updated : Oct 7th, 2025

Chapter 287: Carefully laid trap "You are awake," Tania said with an air of indifference as though nothing unusual had happened. She strolled to the cupboard, casually opening it to inspect her options. Then, without a flicker of hesitation, she let the towel fall from her body. Gabriel instinctively turned his head, his body tensing, but he couldn’t stop his eyes from catching the brief, provocative glimpse of her bare form. His pulse quickened with a confusing mix of shame and involuntary desire. ’This is wrong,’ he thought. ’So wrong.’ She was the woman his son had once been involved with. And yet, part of him looked again. When Tania turned to face him, he jerked his gaze away, feigning detachment. But her smirk said she had noticed everything. "No need to look so shy," she said with mocking sweetness as she slipped on an oversized top that barely covered her thighs. "You have already seen it all. Touched it. Took it. You were inside me. We had sex last night." The words slammed into him like a truck. His stomach lurched. "What did you just say?" he rasped with disbelief. "We... slept together?" Tania only arched a brow, amused by his unraveling. "You are lying," he muttered, anger rising behind his eyes. "This is one of your games." But she didn’t flinch. Instead, she began to walk toward him with slow, deliberate steps. Gabriel’s breath grew shallow. His gaze flicked down despite himself, landing on the curve of her bare legs, the sway of her hips. Knowing that she wasn’t wearing anything under that oversized top, his heart pounded in his chest, his body betraying him with heat he couldn’t reason away. He cursed himself silently. And yet, he sat frozen as she climbed onto the bed, inching closer. The mattress shifted under her. Gabriel’s throat went dry. His mind screamed for clarity. But Tania just smiled. She had him right where she wanted. "You don’t trust me," Tania said in a sultry tone as she leaned in, her damp hair falling to one side. "But I can prove it." She turned her shoulder slightly, exposing faint red marks along her skin. "See these? You left them." Gabriel’s breathing grew ragged, his chest rising and falling in uneven rhythm. She was too close, too composed. He wanted to pull away, but his body betrayed him, paralyzed by the sheer weight of what was happening. His eyes locked onto hers, dazed and searching, unsure of what to believe. "I have more proof," she whispered, her breath warm against his skin. Gabriel’s breathing grew ragged, his chest rising and falling in uneven rhythm. She was too close, too composed. He wanted to pull away, but his body betrayed him, paralyzed by the sheer weight of what was happening. His eyes locked onto hers, dazed and searching, unsure of what to believe. With a captivating smile, she picked up her phone from the side table and held it out, displaying a stream of intimate photos of the two of them together. Gabriel’s face drained of color as he stared at the images. In one photo, his face pressed against her chest, and in the other, their lips were locked. A wave of guilt and humiliation slammed into him. His skin went cold, and blood drained from his face. He looked away, unable to continue watching. "I have a video too," she said softly, watching his reaction. "Would you like to see that as well?" His expression twisted into something darker. He grabbed her by the throat with one hand and ripped the phone from her grip with the other. "You vile woman," he snarled. "You planned this, didn’t you? You followed me, lured me, and now you are threatening me with this filth. Is this your game? Is blackmail what you want?" His grip around her throat tightened. "Do you want to die?" But Tania didn’t flinch. She didn’t even look afraid. Instead, she met his fury with calm calculation. "I only helped you," she said, her voice strained from his grip, but her composure intact. "You were drunk, completely out of your mind. I couldn’t take you to your place. I am not allowed to step onto the Beaumont property. So I brought you here." She stared him down, her expression a crafted blend of innocence and pain. "I tried to undress you to get you comfortable, but then you pulled me down, kissed me. I was scared—scared you were going to rape me and throw me aside like garbage the next day." She gently clasped the hand around her neck. "But I didn’t want that. I wanted... to matter." Gabriel let go of her abruptly, recoiling as if burned. Disbelief twisted across his face. The revelation, the photos, the implications—they were too much. But before he could gather his thoughts, Tania moved even closer to him. "I started taking photos of us," she said casually. Her fingers traced a slow line down his chest. Gabriel shuddered at the contact, torn between disgust and an undeniable pull toward her. He knew he should push her away, should end this, but his body betrayed him. Her touch was electric, her closeness overwhelming, and his willpower was slipping with every second. "What... what do you want from me?" he asked, his voice low, thick with conflict and arousal. Tania leaned in until her lips brushed his ear. "I want you to take responsibility for me," she whispered. "I want you to marry me." Gabriel flinched. "What?" He was about to push her away, but the protest died in his throat as she reached beneath the blanket and took hold of his erection. His body tensed. He gasped, his thoughts shattering like glass. Logic evaporated. The heat surging through him drowned out every objection. "I can give you what your wife never could," she whispered, her lips grazing his jaw. "I can make you feel alive again." Her hand didn’t relent, and Gabriel, despite everything screaming in his mind, couldn’t move, couldn’t stop her. He loathed the weakness consuming him, but the pleasure was blinding. Still, part of him clawed for reason. "Why?" he managed. "Why do you want me? You were with Denis. Doesn’t it disgust you to be with his father? What are you really after? What’s your game?" Tania’s lips curled into a sneer for the briefest moment, her eyes flashing with cold intent. ’I want you all dead,’ she thought darkly. But when her gaze met Gabriel’s, her entire demeanor shifted in an instant. The venom vanished, replaced by a carefully crafted mask of sorrow. Her eyes glossed over as she tilted her chin down, the corners of her mouth trembling just enough to mimic genuine pain. "Denis hurt me," she said softly as if struggling to speak through grief. "He shattered my heart. I loved him. I gave him everything—my trust, my body, my soul. But he used me." She paused, giving him the image of a woman holding back tears. "Every time we were together... he whispered Anne’s name. It was humiliating." She let out a brittle laugh that quickly collapsed into a fake sob. Her shoulders quivered as she buried her face in her hands. Watched her cry like this, his expression changed. There was a flicker of sympathy, perhaps, or the faint stir of guilt in his chest. But it warred with suspicion. He didn’t move to comfort her, though part of him was tempted to. He just kept watching, scanning her, wondering if she was genuine. Tania lifted her head slightly. "I know I made mistakes," she said, wiping her fake tears away. "I shouldn’t have left Denis back then, but I was young, foolish. I wanted to focus on my modeling career, so I left for abroad. Was that so wrong?" Her misty eyes rose to meet his, glimmering with just the right amount of regret. "I met an old friend while I was away. We dated casually, but it wasn’t the same. Not even close. I couldn’t stop thinking about Denis. I realized I loved him deeply. I came back for him." She paused, her voice growing softer. "At first, he seemed happy to see me. But it was all an act. He just wanted revenge for what I had done." Her lower lip trembled as she pouted. "You don’t know what it’s like," she whispered. "To have a man whisper another woman’s name in bed. It crushed me. It humiliated me." She took a shaky breath. "I was angry. Desperate. I wanted him back, so I lied—I faked a pregnancy. I thought it would bind him to me. And yes, I hated Anne too. I wanted to ruin her, but only because I couldn’t stand the thought of losing Denis. I did everything out of love." She lowered her head again, letting more tears fall. Gabriel’s eyes narrowed as he studied her and reflected on her words. Her story sounded tragic, but he had heard too many lies from her before and couldn’t trust her readily. A bitter smirk tugged at the corner of his lips. "And what happened to that great love now?" He leaned in slightly, his tone thick with disdain. "You are here with me, seducing me like a whore. And you even slept with me. What happened? Are you now falling for me?"

Chapter 287: Carefully laid trap

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