The Don Tore Up Our Divorce (Gemma and Cassian) novel Chapter 12

**Before Rain Touches Earth: Memories Return With Gentle Warmth**
by Eli Dane Crest

**Chapter 12**

**Gemma**

With a heavy heart, I force my eyelids to flutter open once more, battling the familiar ache that has settled within me for what feels like the thousandth time over these past few days.

“Negative,” I whisper, my voice barely breaking through the stillness of the room.

“That’s perfectly fine,” I tell myself, my hands busy gathering the remnants of hope and tossing them into the trash bin, as if discarding my dreams along with the crumpled paper. “This is precisely what I wanted. This is the outcome I needed to witness.”

Yet, as the words escape my lips, a flood of images invades my thoughts—visions of a little girl, the child of Cassian and me. A beautiful girl with cascading dark red hair, her laughter ringing like music, her eyes sparkling with life. She would be cherished beyond measure…

I shake my head, trying to dispel the visions, but a profound sadness sinks deep into my bones, a weight I cannot shake off.

My father never loved me, and it’s clear that Cassian doesn’t harbor any affection for me either. If we were to have children, they would not know the warmth of a father’s love.

Steeling my resolve, I remind myself that this negative result is ultimately a blessing in disguise. I refuse to bring a child into a world where she might endure the same heartache I faced at the hands of my own father.

Even more than that, I cannot bear the thought of repeating my mother’s tragic fate—losing everything because of her devotion to a man who chose his mistress over her.

The thought of that betrayal stings, especially since his mistress is my half-sister. The twisted nature of it all makes my stomach churn.

I step out of the bathroom and find Zina waiting, her expression a mix of concern and relief as I share the news of the negative result. She exhales, sagging slightly, and then, in a burst of enthusiasm, high-fives me, her energy infectious. We both agree that it’s time to call it a night.

My stomach, I realize, is merely a byproduct of stress—nothing more.

*****

To my surprise, the rest of the night passes peacefully, and I awaken early the next morning, feeling oddly refreshed. My dreams, however, are peculiar—Cassian insisting I take half of his fortune while crime lords threaten me from the shadows.

That’s one aspect of my life he fails to understand.

I do not wish to live in constant paranoia, always glancing over my shoulder, fearing that someone might try to steal my business, my territory, or worse—take my life simply because I looked at them the wrong way, according to the mafia’s bizarre code of conduct.

Actually, there’s a multitude of things Cassian doesn’t comprehend about me. He never bothered to truly know me.

Today marks the beginning of my security job with Nautilus and Adrian Blackwell, Cassian’s strikingly handsome uncle and his fiercest rival.

Had Cassian never been born, or if he had perished in the violent turf war that claimed his parents, Adrian would have assumed control of the Blackwell crime family.

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