I Became the Billionaire's Fake Lover to Get My Revenge
Chapter 65: Revenge is Good For the Heart

Chapter 65: Revenge is Good For the Heart

"I can’t believe you got yourself a puppy!" Anaїs’s exasperated voice rang through the room as she once again glanced at her phone screen, currently lit with the face of her grandson on a video call.

"What’s the big deal, anyway?" Gabriel pouted, lifting the puppy’s tiny paw and waving it at the camera. "I’ll take good care of him, I promise! Besides, you always said I needed to be more responsible, and having a dog is, like, peak responsibility!"

"You fool!" she snapped, her brows furrowing deeper. "When I said that, I meant you needed to grow up—learn to stand by your words and actions. Decide who you want to be. What kind of life you want to live!"

That last bit made Gabriel chuckle, but the smug smile quickly faded when he saw the disapproving lines deepen on Anaїs’s face. With a sigh, he gently placed the puppy on the bed and raked his fingers through his unruly blond curls.

"I didn’t come here just to run away from you, you know," Gabriel murmured, his voice lower now, eyes drifting away from the screen. "I came to help... both of them. Revenge isn’t a game—it’s serious business. It takes planning. People. Power. You and I both know that better than anyone."

Anaїs fell silent, her gaze no longer fixed on the screen either. She often scolded Gabriel for being childish, called him impulsive and immature—but in truth, her grandson had grown up far too quickly. He’d carried burdens meant for men twice his age, long before he was ready.

"That man is in jail, Gabriel," she finally said, her voice wavering near the edge of a crack. "He’s going to rot and die in there. I don’t want you wasting your soul chasing revenge. I don’t want you becoming bitter... like—"

She stopped mid-sentence, her lips trembling as she caught herself—almost saying something she shouldn’t have. But Gabriel already knew.

"Like William?" he finished softly, completing the thought for her.

Anaїs hesitated. She clearly didn’t want to pursue this line of conversation, but she also knew that if she stayed silent, Gabriel would go on believing her opinion of William was far more negative than she let on.

"Our families came together during one of the darkest Chapters of our lives," she said quietly, her voice tinged with the weight of the painful memory. Her eyes shimmered with a thin film of tears.

"I had just lost my son and his wife... and suddenly, I was left with a heartbroken teenager to raise. Josephine had just received the news of her daughter’s tragic death too. We clung to each other, hoping that by uniting our grief, we might find a way forward. But none of us realized how broken we actually were."

She paused to dab her fingertips at the corners of her eyes, trying to pull herself together before continuing.

"Don’t get me wrong, I don’t resent William—God forbid," she said, her voice cracking with emotion. "And even though his own grandmother once called him heartless, as the years passed, I came to understand the reasons behind his coldness."

Her gaze drifted, eyes lost in painful contemplations.

"He was just twenty. He had lost his mother, and then he was cast out of his own home—by his own father, no less. His grandmother was grieving... and as for the two of us—" She paused again, her voice growing quiet, trembling. "You remember how we were back then. Barely holding ourselves together. We could hardly take care of anyone, let alone a boy who needed more than any of us could give."

Anaїs broke off, her composure finally crumbling. The weight of the memories she had tried so hard to suppress came rushing back, and her heart ached as if it were all happening again.

Gabriel frowned, though the expression was more one of concern than frustration.

"I know we owe William a lot," he admitted quietly. "While the three of us were drowning in grief, he held everything together—his grandmother’s business, ours... He kept our success intact when we could barely function. He was the reason we still have what we do. And he... He never had the chance to properly mourn. So maybe now, once life finally gave him space to breathe, the grief has started catching up to him."

He paused for a beat, then continued, his voice taking on a more resolute edge. Cooler. Sharper.

"That’s why I decided to follow him here. I know he wants justice for his mother. Revenge, maybe. So I’ll help him. I’ll help both of them. And when it’s done... when it’s all over... maybe then, we’ll finally be even."

Anaїs gave a bitter smile. "Revenge is good for the heart," she said, her voice low and heavy, "but the pain—it always finds its way back."

With that, their conversation slipped into silence. A weighted stillness settled on both ends of the call. Gabriel stared blankly ahead, his thoughts shifting like sand. For a brief moment, he considered walking away from it all—leaving the mess behind.

But there were questions he couldn’t shake off.

"Do you think Anna really likes him?" he asked suddenly. "Do you think... they have a future together?"

His heart sank the moment the words left his lips. But when he saw his grandmother’s expression—soft, thoughtful, unguarded—he felt the tightness in his chest ease slightly.

"It depends," Anaїs murmured, her eyes drifting closed as if trying to picture the two of them. "When two people are united by pain, there are only two possible outcomes. Either they grow so close they finally find peace in one another..."

She paused, a shadow passing over her face.

"Or... they end up using each other in the cruelest way possible—seeing only their own hurt reflected in the other’s eyes."

As those words settled heavily in her grandson’s mind, Anaїs slowly opened her eyes and fixed him with a stern, almost chilling gaze.

"Like I said, William’s heart has grown so jaded that he no longer sees the line between right and wrong. He’s been walking in the grey for far too long... At this point, all I can do is hope that Anna won’t have to suffer again because of it."