Find me in your labyrinth (Stella and Jonathan) novel Chapter 2589

Gabriel’s gaze lingered on their joined hands. For a fleeting second, something stormy flickered across his eyes, then vanished, leaving behind a darkness as bottomless as a well—almost as if he couldn’t believe what he was seeing.

His voice came out rough, nearly a whisper. “It really has been a long time.”

Sylvia’s icy fingers finally found a little warmth, cradled inside Eugene’s steady palm. She looked at Gabriel, forcing the barest hint of a smile. “When did you get back? Are you here for Estelle’s wedding?”

Dusk was settling in, the sunset fading into ash. Gabriel’s eyes were glacial and unreadable, and the light inside them went out, one spark at a time. He nodded.

“Yes.”

Eugene spoke up, gently, “I made a dinner reservation ahead of time. Sylvia and I were just about to eat. Why don’t you join us, Mr. Carnes?”

Gabriel’s answer was swift and cold. “No, thank you.”

His eyes were sharp, distant. “I was just passing by. Thought I’d stop in to see a friend. I have other things to take care of—don’t let me keep you.”

He tipped his head in a curt farewell and turned away.

The dying sunlight fell in a dark gold wash across his broad, unyielding shoulders, stretching his tall silhouette into a long, lonely shadow behind him. Something about the scene made his departure feel unspeakably desolate.

He walked with a steady, unhurried pace, weaving through the crowd, getting smaller and smaller until he disappeared altogether.

Even from a distance, there was a kind of chill to his presence—the way he carried himself, the way his shadow cut through the twilight. Watching him go, it was hard not to wonder if that earlier loneliness had been real, or just an illusion.

Suddenly, Sylvia turned her head sharply, biting down on her lip as she stared after him. Her face was as pale and washed out as the sky after the last clouds had faded with the sun. She stood frozen, her whole body tense, but she never looked back, and not a single tear fell.

Eugene stayed beside her, silent, waiting. After a while, he said softly, “If you want to go after him, I won’t stop you. Really. I just want you to be happy.”

Deep in the city, a single dark house stood apart from the bright, glass-lit world around it—like a wounded animal, crouched in the shadows, licking its wounds in silence.

Gabriel sat on the balcony, the whole house behind him wrapped in silence. Only the ember at the tip of his cigarette flickered in the darkness—the room’s only light.

Smoke curled in pale-blue spirals, caught by the wind streaming through the window, until it was swept out into the night.

He sat on the floor with his back against the sofa, one knee bent, the hand holding his cigarette resting atop it. He didn’t take a drag until the ember threatened to die out; then he pressed the cigarette to his lips, inhaling deeply.

As the night deepened, the world seemed to quiet all around him. His eyes, as dark and fathomless as midnight, stayed fixed on nothing at all.

He found himself thinking back to the night his parents died. He’d sat through the darkness until the first light of morning, hoping that when the sun rose, he’d discover it all had just been a nightmare.

He didn’t notice the cigarette burning down until pain seared his fingers. Only then did he snub out the butt, lighting another one with a practiced flick of his hand.