LOGINSix years ago, Elara Wynters lost everything in a single night— her husband, her home, and her dignity as a wife. Before another woman and a baby that wasn’t hers, her husband, Liam Ashford, looked her straight in the eyes and said coldly: “I don’t know her.” That single sentence erased the entire life they had built together. Broken and bleeding inside, Elara walked away without looking back. But in her departure, she carried with her three small reasons to keep living.
View More“Liam... please, pick up the phone.”
Elara’s voice trembled between ragged breaths. Her heels clacked against the hospital floor—hurried, anxious. Her eyes scanned every corridor, her chest tightening under the weight of dread pressing down on her heart. Just twenty minutes ago, someone from Liam’s office had called—saying her husband had been in a minor car accident. She dropped everything and rushed to the hospital, not even remembering to grab a jacket in the cold night air. Her phone vibrated again. Liam’s name flashed on the screen. Relief flooded through her as she pressed the green button. “Liam! Where are you? I’m at the hospital—” The voice on the other end cut her off—flat, emotionless. > “I’m still at the office, Elara. Working late. Why?” Elara froze. Her heart pounded wildly. “The office?” her voice quivered. “But... I was told you were in an accident. I’m at the hospital right now, they said—” > “You must’ve heard wrong,” Liam interrupted quickly. “I’m fine. Don’t worry.” And the line went dead. Elara stared blankly at her phone. Something was wrong. Her instincts screamed that Liam was lying. She followed the directions the nurse at the front desk had given her, walking toward the assigned room. The door was slightly ajar. Through the narrow gap, she saw something that shattered her completely. Liam stood there— smiling. That gentle smile she hadn’t seen in years. But it wasn’t for her. It was for another woman in a white dress—Celine Ward, Liam’s coworker, whose name Elara had heard countless times but always chose to ignore. And in Liam’s arms was a baby. Elara froze. Every second felt like a blade slowly piercing her chest. Her hand trembled as she gripped her purse. Her lips quivered as she tried to swallow the pain rising inside her. “Liam...” she whispered, barely audible. The man turned. His smile vanished. Shock flickered in his eyes—then turned cold. Frozen. “Elara?” Celine looked between them, brows arched. “You know her?” The air thickened instantly. Elara stepped forward, her voice unsteady but firm. “Of course he knows me. I’m his wife.” But her words drifted uselessly into the air. Liam stared at her for a long moment... then opened his mouth. > “I don’t know her.” The world stopped. “What?” she whispered. “Liam, what do you mean?” She searched his face for even a flicker of guilt. There was none. Only distance. Only coldness. Celine let out a small, mocking laugh. “Oh, so you’re the one who kept calling late at night? I thought it was just a wrong number. Now it all makes sense.” She slid her arm around Liam’s. “Honey, we should take the baby home. You need to rest.” Elara stared at them, her mind blank. “Honey?” she repeated, disbelief breaking her voice. Liam said nothing. He just looked down, gently patting the baby’s back— as if the woman who once stood by him through everything no longer existed. Elara stood motionless. But inside, everything was collapsing. “So this is how easily you erase me, Liam?” her voice cracked, pain bleeding through every word. “So quickly you forget the vows you made before God? I was there when you had nothing! And now you stand here, pretending you don’t know me?” Liam didn’t look up. “Enough, Elara. Don’t cause a scene.” Tears finally fell. But they weren’t from weakness— they were the tears of someone betrayed, erased from the life she helped build. Celine smirked, her tone dripping with satisfaction. “You heard him. Don’t humiliate yourself.” Elara stepped back, her vision blurred with tears, her heart burning with pain and fury. She took a shaky breath, then looked at Liam one last time. > “You may pretend not to know me today, Liam. But one day, you’ll look for me. And when that day comes, I’ll be the one who doesn’t know you.” She turned sharply, holding back sobs as she walked out of the room, her steps unsteady. Behind her, Liam watched her fading silhouette. Something twisted in his chest—a strange, sharp ache—but he pushed it away, forcing himself not to care. Beside him, Celine smiled with quiet triumph, the baby sleeping soundly in her arms. Out in the corridor, Elara’s body finally gave in to the tremors. She leaned against the cold wall, pressing a hand to her chest. Her sobs broke through, muffled behind her palm. And in the stillness of the hospital night, only her quiet cries and bitter whisper could be heard: > “If love means being forgotten... then let me go, before I lose myself completely.”“Say it again.”Liam’s voice came through the phone low and steady, but Elara could hear the strain beneath it—the way he was holding himself together by will alone.“I said we stop letting him move us like pieces,” Elara replied, standing in Adrian’s living room, her back straight despite the tremor in her hands. “We stop reacting separately.”There was a pause. A breath.“And you’re calling me now,” Liam said, “because you trust me again?”Elara closed her eyes for a brief second. “I’m calling you because I don’t want fear deciding for us anymore.”Adrian watched her carefully, saying nothing, giving her the space to speak without interference.“I’ll be there in fifteen minutes,” Liam said. “Don’t argue.”Elara almost smiled. Almost. “I wasn’t planning to.”Liam arrived with a duffel bag and dark circles under his eyes. He didn’t look at Adrian at first. His gaze went straight to Elara, scanning her like he was memorizing proof that she was real, unharmed.“You okay?” he asked.“I a
“Don’t move.”The command was quiet, but it carried authority—sharp, controlled, dangerous.Elara froze halfway down the hallway, her bare feet pressed to the cold floor. Adrian stood between her and the back door, one hand raised slowly, the other clenched around his phone as if it were a weapon.“Police are already on their way,” Adrian said evenly, eyes fixed on the shadow beyond the glass. “You don’t want this to end badly.”A silhouette shifted outside. Slow. Unhurried.“That depends,” the voice replied, calm to the point of cruelty, “on who decides what ‘badly’ means.”Elara’s heart hammered so loud she was sure it could be heard through the walls. She took a step back without looking, her shoulder brushing the wall.“Adrian,” she whispered. “He knows.”“I know,” Adrian murmured back. “That’s why you’re staying behind me.”The doorknob turned once more—then stopped. Silence stretched, thick and suffocating.Then footsteps retreated.Adrian didn’t relax. Not yet.He moved quickly
“Open the door, Liam.”The knock wasn’t loud, but it carried weight—controlled, deliberate, the kind that didn’t ask permission.Liam stood frozen in the hallway for a second too long before Devano appeared beside him, eyes wary. “Who is it?”Liam swallowed. “Go to your room.”“Dad—”“Please.”Devano hesitated, then retreated, glancing back once before disappearing down the hall.Liam exhaled and opened the door.His father stood on the porch, posture rigid, jaw set. His mother was beside him, arms crossed, eyes sharp with restrained fury.“So,” his mother said coldly, stepping inside without waiting. “This is where you’ve been hiding.”“I’m not hiding,” Liam replied, closing the door behind them. “I’m living.”His father scoffed. “Living? Or ruining your life?”Liam met his gaze. “Why are you here?”“To stop you,” his mother snapped. “Before you throw everything away for a woman who brings nothing but chaos.”Liam’s hands curled into fists. “Don’t talk about Elara like that.”His mot
“Mom, are you coming back tonight?”Elara froze with her hand still on the car door.Aria stood on the porch, clutching her stuffed rabbit, eyes too wide for a question that simple.Elara forced a smile and walked back a few steps, crouching so they were eye level. “I’ll be back soon, sweetheart. I just need a little time to think.”Aria frowned. “Like when people think and don’t come back?”Elara’s chest tightened. She pulled Aria into her arms, breathing in the familiar scent of soap and home. “No. Not like that. I promise.”From the doorway, Liam watched silently, his hands clenched at his sides. He wanted to step forward. Wanted to say something that would fix this. But every word he rehearsed felt wrong—too late or too selfish.Elara stood, meeting his eyes across the small distance that suddenly felt like miles.“I’ll call,” she said quietly.“I’ll wait,” Liam replied, just as quietly.She nodded once, then turned away before he could see her doubt.Adrian’s place was quiet in a


















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