Lock You In My Heart novel Chapter 369

Westley could tell that Gabrielle was trying to change the topic, but he didn't pay it any attention. Instead, his eyes softened.

"Well, I did go back to the Morris' Mansion. I took Bonnie, my sister-in-law, and Tammy back." Westley held her gaze and he told her honestly. His eyes searched her features.

"Did you just say sister-in-law?" Gabrielle almost choked on the word. She was so surprised that her jaw hung open.

The woman Westley mentioned was most likely the one with blonde hair, and Tammy must be the little girl.

Gabrielle knew that Westley was the second son of the Morris family and that his elder brother was already married. However, his elder brother's family lived abroad, so she had never seen them before. Unsurprisingly, Gabrielle had no idea what Bonnie looked like.

"Yes. Bonnie, Wilson and Tammy have been living abroad for years, so you haven't met them yet. But they're back now, so it's great if you finally get to see them. I'll take you back to the Morris' Mansion later and let you get to know each other." Westley held her hand as he said this. Then, he brushed his thumb lightly over her cheek.

Shame and guilt flooded Gabrielle's veins. She was at a loss what to say, and she couldn't even begin to describe what she felt in that moment.

She didn't know who that woman was, but Gabrielle instantly got jealous of her. Gabrielle just wanted the floor to swallow her whole.

She was so ashamed that she wished she could disappear or evaporate. She hung her head low and couldn't look Westley in the eye.

The only bright side was that she didn't rush to them at the airport to question or accuse Westley when she was at the height of her jealousy. If she did that, she would have been embarrassed in public.

"So, the people you picked up at the airport today were Bonnie and Tammy?" Gabrielle immediately regretted asking the question. She clamped her mouth shut and silently admonished herself.

If she didn't ask, Westley might not have known what she had seen at the airport.

She basically just exposed herself.

"Airport?" Westley heard the word, and something tickled at the back of his mind.

"So you were also at the airport when I picked them up?" Westley's eyebrows were drawn, and he was staring hard at her with an unreadable expression.

"I..." Gabrielle looked around as if she could find a way to escape the hole she just dug herself in. She felt her face burn red with embarrassment.

"So Melissa arrives in Antawood today?" It suddenly occurred to Westley that Melissa was coming to Antawood today. Gabrielle mentioned it before, but he didn't pay too much attention to it.

Melissa was an important figure in the jewelry industry, but Westley had no interest in her. She had no business with him, she didn't directly influence his personal life or his business—that was why Westley didn't bother knowing anything about her.

"Yes. When I went to the airport with Jackson to pick up Melissa today, I saw you..." Gabrielle's voice trailed off, and she gnawed on her lip.

"Did you think I had another woman and daughter when I picked them up and carried Tammy in my arms? Did you then hide yourself? Afraid that I might spot you?" Westley knew what was on her mind. Besides, it was written all over her face.

She must have found a place to hide after she saw him with Bonnie and Tammy. No wonder Westley had a weird, unexplainable feeling at the time—that someone was staring at him. He even felt the small hairs on the back of his neck stand up.

So now, he found out that it was Gabrielle. He didn't see her because she hid—all because she thought he had another family.

"I didn't want to bother you at that time, so I hid myself." Gabrielle looked at a spot on his chin because she still couldn't bring herself to meet his gaze. What she didn't admit was that she didn't have the courage to question him.

It hadn't been that long since they realized their true feelings for each other. For Gabrielle, it was heartbreaking to see him fetch another woman and child without telling her.

Gabrielle had always felt like happiness eluded her for most of her life.

Once she became happy, she would be abandoned by her loved ones. The day she was born, her biological parents left her in

an orphanage. Then, she was adopted by the Jones family. There, she fell in love with her foster brother—and it resulted to humiliation and indifference. In the end, it was Bryce who essentially pushed her towards Westley, who was the devil's spawn—at least at the beginning.

She and Westley naturally hated each other at the start of their marriage. As the days passed, however, they got to know each other better. For Gabrielle, she found out that he wasn't as vicious as other people made him seem. He did have his moments, but he also had soft spots—all of which made her fall in love with him.

Their actual relationship only began recently, and then, she saw him with someone else. How else would she react?

"Gabrielle, you still don't want to believe me, do you?" He had an intense look on him, as if he was tamping down his anger.

"Westley, it's not that I don't trust you. I just don't want to trust myself. I was abandoned on the day that I was born, and I never thought of myself as someone who was lucky. I always feel like I'm a disaster waiting to happen and that I will never be happy. Whenever I encounter any form of betrayal or misfortune, I'm always convinced that it's somehow my fault." Gabrielle finally raised her eyes to meet his.

There was so much bitterness and pain in every word, which made Westley's heart ache. He felt a lump in his throat at the helplessness in her voice.

"Gabrielle, you're not a disaster. Don't say that again. Do you understand? If it wasn't luck that brought you to me, then what is it? You're not a disaster." Westley wasn't superstitious. He was a realist, and he never believed that the universe dictated what people deserved or not.

Of course, in his opinion, what Gabrielle said didn't make sense. She had a different way of looking at her life and at fate.

The past twenty years had been tough for her, which made her feel inferior and even think of herself as the cause of the catastrophes. Westley understood why she felt that way.

"Westley, what I said is true. I've been living like this for the past twenty years. Whenever I'm close to achieving happiness, it disappears almost instantly. It's as if the world has decided that I don't deserve it." Gabrielle had never admitted that out loud to anyone. But now, she confessed it all to him.

It wasn't easy for her to arrive at such conclusion. And it made her afraid of being happy.

Westley knew that children who had been abandoned by their biological parents at a young age were insecure. Even so, he didn't know just how much the abandonment messed up Gabrielle mentally and emotionally.

Perhaps he didn't pay that much attention to her. Now, her feelings just came pouring out.

"Gabrielle, please believe what I say. The happiness I give you will always stay with you; they won't ever disappear. Trust me on this. As long as you're with me, everything will be fine." Westley pulled her to him and held her in his arms. He ran his hand up and down her back to comfort her. He felt her shudder at his touch.

He thought it was enough to provide her with a sense of security and meet all her material needs. But he didn't expect that he needed to do more for her as she was so worried about their relationship. She had so many insecurities that she didn't believe she deserved to be happy.

"Westley, I think I'm not entitled to any of this," she murmured—her voice muffled by his shirtfront. She pressed herself closer to him.

For her, she had always been ignored and easily abandoned. It had become such a common occurrence in her life that she no longer questioned when it happened.

"Gabrielle, you're such a fool!" Westley put his hands on her shoulders and pushed her back a little so she could look at him. He saw the unshed tears and her trembling lip, and he felt utterly powerless. He had to resist the urge to shake her just so she would believe him.

Sometimes, he really didn't know what to do with this woman, and it frustrated him to no end.

He wanted to scold her, but he didn't have the heart to do so. She looked so broken, and all he wanted to do was protect her with everything he had.

"I... I'm not a fool." Gabrielle was confused. Westley was staring intently at her.

Why did he call her a fool?