3

Noa’s POV

I scooped them up in my arms and carried them back to the guest house and ordered the butler to call a doctor.

The doctor arrived quickly, "The girl's condition is poor but manageable. The boy’s… it’s worse. He’s malnourished and showing signs of emotional trauma. I suggest spending time with him. He needs stability. Love."

I nodded.

Later, as Tessa dozed off with Milo curled against her, the doctor gone, I sat there in the dim light, piecing together the nightmare they’d lived through.

From Tessa’s whispered confessions, I learned the whole truth.

The day Harper moved into the master bedroom was the day my children lost their safe world. They were banished from their rooms. Locked away in the basement. Fed scraps, beaten with slippers, threatened into silence.

All the while Harper played the doting stepmother in public—and Elias, blind idiot that he was, worshiped her like a saint.

When the twins tried to tell him, he hadn’t believed them. Why would he? Harper was pure. Sweet. Untouchable.

I brushed Tessa’s hair back from her face, my chest burning with guilt. Rage. Sorrow. Fury.

…

I must’ve been lost in my own storm of thoughts because I didn’t hear the door open.

Elias walked in, freshly showered, dressed in casual clothes like he hadn’t just been tearing my soul apart an hour ago.

He moved slowly, like he was afraid I'd run.

And then he sat down beside me, "I missed you, Noa. The second I saw you standing in the courtyard, I wanted to run to you."

"Then why didn’t you?" I asked.

Elias looked at me like I was the one being unreasonable. Like he actually thought what he was about to say would make it better.

"Because of Harper," he said finally. "I promised to take care of her after my nephew died. If I'd gone to you—hugged you, claimed you as my wife—what would that have left for Harper? What would people say? That she was the third wheel in our marriage? Do you think she could survive that? She’s not like us, Noa. She wasn’t raised in our world. She... she values her reputation more than anything. I was just supporting her.”

"Support her?" I choked out a humorless laugh. "Is that what you call it? Marrying her?"

He sighed, frustrated. "I thought you were dead, Noa. I really did. There were nights I wanted to die too. It was Harper who kept me standing when I thought I'd lost you."

"And now?" I asked, voice cold. "Now that I’m back? What’s your plan, Elias?"

"Now?" He hesitated, like he actually needed to think about it.

"Yes," I pressed.

“You will be my one and only Mrs. Ward. But I still need to give Harper a wedding. It’s just… for formality."

I stared at him. "A wedding?"

"It’ll just be for show, babe," he said, as if that somehow made it better. "You’re the one I love."

Before I could find the words to rip this fake man apart, a maid burst into the room.

"Mr. Ward—the baby is having a fever! Miss Harper’s asking for you."

Elias shot to his feet, "Why are you just telling me this now? Take me to them! And get the family doctor there!"

And just like that, he was gone.

There was a time—only months ago—when Tessa and Milo had caught the fever too. When I had told Elias to call a doctor.

He only said, “Just give them some cough drops."

But now—because it was Harper's baby—it was an emergency, a crisis. Now he couldn’t bear the thought of letting Lila just have a few cough drops.

Of course.

Taking care of Harper.

Taking care of her my ass.

"Mommy, are you sad?" a small voice asked.

I looked down and saw Milo awake, crawling onto my lap, his little arms circling my waist. His tiny head resting against my shoulder.

"Mommy, don’t be sad," he whispered.

I swallowed hard and hugged him tight. "I’m not sad, baby," I lied softly. "I’m just thinking."

"Thinking about what, Mommy?" Milo asked, blinking up at me with wide, earnest eyes.

I kissed his forehead and cradled him close. "Thinking about taking you and Tessa to Mommy’s old home," I said. "You’ll get to meet Uncle Jose. Mommy’s brother. When we were little, we were just like you and Tessa."

Milo smiled, a sleepy, fragile little thing. "As long as you’re with us, Mommy," he said seriously. "Don’t leave me and Tessa again. Please?"

My chest squeezed so hard it hurt.

"I won’t," I promised, pressing my forehead against his. "I swear, baby. Mommy’s never leaving you two again."

Not now. Not ever.

…

A few days later, Harper showed up at the guest house.

All smiles and sugar. She "nicely" invited me out to dinner, claiming she wanted to throw a welcome-back party but figured I wouldn’t like a crowd.

"Just something small," she said. "Just us."

Harper showed up dressed like the main event. Blood-red gown clinging to her like she was announcing to the world who really belonged at Elias Ward’s side.

The dinner was at a Michelin-starred place in uptown Manhattan—reservation only.

When we arrived, Harper and Elias led the way in, hand in hand, basking in the attention like royalty.

Me and the twins? We trailed behind. I wore jeans and an old jacket, nothing fancy.

After dinner, Harper draped herself around Elias’s arm like a proud little trophy. "Hon, why don’t you go pay the bill? We’ll wait here."

Her voice was syrupy sweet..

I didn’t bother hiding my expression.

Elias noticed. He turned to me with a scowl. "Can you stop already? You’re ruining the night. You could at least try to be grateful for what Harper planned for you. She booked this the second you came back. You could try being nice."

Nice?

After everything he put me through, after everything Harper did to my kids—and he had the audacity to expect me to smile and play along?

God, he was pathetic.

…

After dinner, Harper eager for a walk around the park.

And in order to get to the parking from the park, we had to cut through a side alley to get there.

That’s where we ran into trouble.

A group of thugs loitered near the mall entrance—looking for easy money, or maybe something worse. They saw Harper and Elias in their designer clothes and smelled blood.

"How about you make a little donation?" the leader said, grinning through yellow teeth. "Let you walk through safe.”