After Divorce, Billionaire Ex Found Me Pregnant-Chapter 130 Final Settlement.

The days following the incident with Stuart had turned out more stressful than Leonica could have ever imagined. For one, she had to pay several visit to the prescient, laying complaints, answering questions and undergoing investigations. After that, she had to tally her matter with her parents and boy was that not easy.

Despite how much Leonica had tried to reassure her parents, Cassandra to be precise, that she was alright, she wasn’t hurt or anything, the older woman still fussed over her. In a way, Leonica understood, seeing as something similar had happened, claiming a member of their family. So she decided not to put up much fight, and instead just allow her mother to worry over her.

The other people she had to tally her matter with were Leonardo and Anastasia. Between her parents and them, Leonica wasn’t sure which of them had worried more about her.

When Leonardo found out about the entire thing, he was enraged, and although the anger wasn’t directed at her, she had still feared it was. And even after he had calmed down, the look in his eyes as he stared at her, still filled her with fear. But at the same time, she could see how much he cared and she genuinely appreciated that.

And then there was the last person whom she had worried about rather than them worrying about her. Owen. Despite all the reassurances he had given her, and all the times he had called her and told her he was alright and that there was no need to worry about him, she still found herself worried.

Because she had seen the way his skin paled. Seen the way his eyelids fluttered as the paramedics rushed him into the ambulance. Seen the way blood pooled beneath his hand staining the white of his hoodie

And every time she thought about the fact that all that had been because of her, worry filled her up, and all she could think about was how he must have suffered.

Which was why, on the third day since the incident, Leonica found herself knocking on his door, fruit basket held tightly within her grasp.

"Come in." A familiar voice responded and Leonica stepped into the room.

Owen had his back to her, body cloaked in the usual hospital gown. When he turned around to look at her, Leonica could see that his condition was getting better. A smile formed on her lip and she stepped into the room, gently closing the door behind her.

"Hey," She said, offering him a tight smile.

Owen mirrored her gesture, except his smile was more genuine, happy to see her, rather than the tight one she had offered him. "Hey Leo, how’s it going?"

His question was answered with a shrug. She walked towards a table near his bed, gently placing the fruit basket down. "I don’t know, busy? I’ve been down at the prescient like five times in two days? And those damned cops, gosh; they won’t stop knocking at my door." She groaned while recalling the memory.

Owen chuckled. "They need you statement, Leo." He said.

"And I gave them." She retorted, shaking her head. "I just think they have some sort of vendetta against me." Owen chuckled once more at her words, or at least he tried to, but groaned at the sting of pain in his abdomen.

"You okay?" Leonica asked, face ridden with worry as she watched him hold onto his side.

"Yeah, I’m fine." Owen reassured. "It’s just a little sting, nothing to worry about." Despite his words, she still looked worried and guilty. "Hey-"

"This is my entire fault," Leonica muttered, running her hand down her face. "This whole thing was my problem but you got hurt."

"Hey, hey," Owen called out, beckoning her closer. When she refused to come to where he was and instead stayed where she was, muttering and ruminating about the way the situation had turned out, his injury to be precise, he moved forward, taking careful steps towards her until he was close enough to touch her. "Hey," He called in a gentler manner, the proximity between them making his voice sound smoother and calmer to Leonica’s ears.

When she finally stopped her trip down rumination-town, and looked him in the eyes, he gently took hold of both sides of her shoulder, smiling down at her in a warm manner. "Hey, I’ll have you know, that you’re a great damsel in distress, and your prince charming is doing fine." He teased.

Leonica’s frown deepened. "I’m serious Owen."

"So am I." He replied with a shrug.

"But you were hurt because of me." She pointed out.

"No. I was hurt because I chose to be in harm’s way. I could have chosen otherwise, to sit back and allow the cops handle the situation their way, but I choose not to and this is the price I had to pay." Owen corrected, moving his hand up and down her arms. "So don’t try to push the entire blame on yourself."

Owen’s comforting words stopped whatever words of objection Leonica wanted to say. But even at that, he could still see the guilt eating at her.

"But if you still insist," He began, gently pulling her closer. All of Leonica’s worry seemed to disappear in a heartbeat. "You can make it up to me in another manner, a second date, per say?"

“A second date?” She asked, the corners of her lips slowly pulling up.

Owen nodded his head, once again pulling her closer. “Our first date was blissful, so there’s bound to be a second one, yeah?” He explained, earning a chuckle from her. He squeezed up his face at this and gently shook her. “Don’t laugh, Leo, I’m serious.”

“I, I wasn’t laughing.” Leonica defended as her chuckle boiled down to a smile. She reached up, hesitant at first, but finally gave into her feelings, and cupped Owen’s cheek. The male leaned into her touch, closing his eyes and allowing himself get lost in the feeling of her skin against his.

Only did he open his eyes when she began speaking again. “And you were right, our first date was blissful, I really enjoyed it.” She was about to add something else when her phone vibrated with a text message.

Slowly, she fished it out, expression flattering a bit when she saw it was from Gabriel. Owen also saw it, but decided to ask.

“What? Who is it?”

Leonica looked up at him, contemplating if she should tell or not, however, opting for the former rather than the latter. “Gabriel. He wants to meet up and talk.” She told, gauging Owen’s reaction.

If the news had rubbed off him in a bad way, then he did a great job at hiding that. “Oh, well you should go.” He told her as he took a few steps back. “It might be important.”

Leonica was hesitant to leave, it was clear that she was, but after thinking Owen’s words through, she nodded her head. “I’ll be back.” He smiled at her words and watched her turn around to walk away. She had only gotten as far as a few steps when she stopped and turned around, matching right back at him.

Before he could even process what she was doing, she had gotten on her tippy toe and gently pecked his lips. Her cheeks were bright pink when she pulled back and Owen withheld himself from gushing at her cuteness.

“L-let’s go on the second date when you’re discharged.” She told him and quickly turned around to leave, but Owen caught her wrist and pulled her into another kiss.

When they pulled apart to catch their breath, he placed his forehead on hers and smiled. “Let’s do just that.”

~*~

Leonica found Gabriel seated in one of the chairs by the window. He had been so engrossed in the children’s park beside the café that he didn’t realize she had stepped in. Only when she had pulled the seat across from his out, and sat in it, did he look her way, small smile painting his facial features.

"It’s funny how confident you are that I’d always show up." Leonica told him, watching as he beckoned the waiter over and placed two orders for them.

"Not confident, more like hopeful." He corrected, his gaze not leaving her face for a second.

"Hopeful, huh?" She nodded at the familiar words. She had also once been hopeful, hopeful that he’d look back at her, fall in love with her. But now, she’d dropped that hope, given up. "So, what do you want to talk about?"

At her question, Gabriel reached into his pocket and pulled out a small brown journal. He placed it on the table and slid it towards her.

"What is this?" She asked as she picked the journal up, unwrapped the rope and pulled it open. The first thing she noticed was Gabriel handwriting and the second thing was that the journal belonged to him. "This is..."

"Mine." He completed her words. "Will did a general cleaning yesterday, found this." He explained.

Leonica read the first page.

’It’s my 20th birthday and I’m writing in my journal. I feel old, but Will told me that I’ll feel a lot older than this in the future.’

’It’s my 21st birthday and I’m writing in my journal. Grandma found a wife for me. She’s pretty, but I don’t really want to be bound down by the chains of marriage.’

’It’s my 24th. Today is my 24th birthday and I’m writing in my journal. Grandma’s illness has gotten worse. I fear it won’t be long before it catches her.’

"You’ve read this?" Leonica pulled her gaze away from the journal and watched Gabriel nod. fгeewёbnoѵel.cσm

"Everything." Came his response and a look of guilt on his face. "I’m sorry, for everything i did." He sincerely apologized.

"You remember?" Gabriel shook his head.

"It’s all coming back, bit by bits." He confessed, watching as Leonica took a sip from her lemon juice when the waiter returned with it.

"That’s nice." She said, her words sounding half sincere.

"Leo-"

"Look, Gabriel," She cut him off. "I don’t really know how to put this, but the truth is, I don’t want to be involved with you anymore." She paused, taking a good look at his face to gouge his reaction. "The way things are right now, between us, I think we should leave things at that, you know?"

Gabriel sighed, he knew this was coming. He had been anticipating her reaction, but hearing it out loud still felt like a sharp knife cutting through him. But despite the pain, he was going to accept it.

"Okay." He said, offering her a small, sad smile. "But what about Ashley?"

Leonica bit down on her lower lip, taking a second to think about how her son would take the news. "We’re both going to be there for him, make sure he’s alright and that our flaw doesn’t affect his life in anyway. He can stay over at your anytime." She promised. "But other than that, I’m not sure."

Gabriel nodded; he was willing to take what she had given him. After all, the last thing he wanted to do was cause her any more pain. "Alright, thank you."

Leonica nodded, and stood up. Just as she was about to turn around and leave, he called out her name, making her turn around.

"Take care of yourself, Leo."

Nodding her head, she smiled. "You too Gabriel."

And just like that, he watched as he walked away, biting down on his lower lip in hopes to substitute the pain of that in his heart. After a while, he paid for the bill and left the café. But he didn’t drive away immediately; instead he leaned against his car and watched the kids play in the park, some part of him wondering if his actions had been different, would he, Ashley and Leonica, be part of the families playing there?

He was snapped out of his thought as a ball rolled across the street and hit his leg. He bent down and picked it up just as a female rushed in his direction.

“Hi, thanks for holding onto that.” The brunette said as she ceased her jog in front of him. “My godson was a bit-” The rest of her sentence trailed off as she recognized the person in front of her and Gabriel also recognized her.

She was the brunette from the garden. The one who had taken him to the hospital. “You...” He pointed at her and she at him.

She chuckled. “Coincidence meeting you here.” She said as she reached forward and collected the ball from his hands. “How was your trip to the hospital the last time?”

“It went well, thanks to you.”

She flashed him a smile. “That good.” Holding the ball in one hand, she pointed back to the park. “I have to go now, but, I’ll see you around?” Without waiting for his answer, she turned around and began jogging away, but stopped. “Oh, and my name’s Florence Winslow.”

And with that, she jogged off, leaving Gabriel to ponder her words.

Florence Winslow. Hm, he had a feeling he was indeed going to be seeing her around more frequently.