Chapter 7: Too Late To Save

Xavier staggered back, stunned, he wasn't expecting that. Aurora was usually soft, calm and patient but right now, he did not recognize the Aurora before him.

“You were in the hospital,” she seethed, her voice shaking, “with a child that isn’t yours, while your daughter needed you. While we needed you. Why do you act like Lilith is the one you married and not me huh?Do you wish you had married her instead?”

Xavier’s heart lurched. “What? No!” he snapped, almost desperately. “Aurora, I love you. I chose you because I love you!”

She let out a bitter laugh, tears spilling at last. “You have a strange way of showing it. Every time she calls, you run. Every time she needs you, you’re there. But when your own family begged, when I begged, you were nowhere to be found.”

Xavier stepped forward, grabbing her shoulders. “I’m sorry. I’ll do better. I’m here now. Where’s Elara?”

Aurora shoved him off with all the strength grief could give her.

Her voice cracked like glass. “Well It’s a little too late for that. Elara is dead.”

The words hit him like a bullet. Xavier stumbled back, shaking his head. “No… no, you’re lying.”

Aurora’s tears fell harder. “Two days ago, while you were playing father to another woman’s child, your daughter was fighting for her life. She’s gone, Xavier.”

Aurora’s voice trembled, but her words were sharp “I begged you, Xavier. I pleaded with you to get the best doctors for Elara, to find out what was wrong with her. But you wouldn’t listen. You chose to believe Lilith, because of her chemistry degree. When she said I was overreacting, that it was just a stomach bug.” Her eyes burned as tears spilled over. “Your daughter was dying, Xavier. Slowly… slipping away, becoming a shadow of herself. And you never noticed.” She choked on her breath, her hands trembling. “Because you were too busy taking care of Lilith’s child.”

Xavier’s knees weakened as her words sank in. He remembered the countless calls she had made, calls he ignored while sitting outside another emergency ward, holding Lilith together as Jaxon fought through yet another episode.

He had told himself Aurora would understand, that she was strong enough to manage on her own. Then, another memory struck him like a blow, the broken cries of a mother who had just lost her child.

He had been there, watching her grief from a distance, never realizing how close he was to living the same nightmare.

“No it can't be…” his voice cracked, his chest tightening. “This is a prank. It has to be.”

Aurora’s laughter was sharp and broken. “If you so badly want to see your daughter and finally act like a father, call Dr. Henry. Ask him for her freezer number.”

Xavier reached for her hands, desperate, trembling. “Please, don’t do this. Tell me this isn’t real. Tell me this is just you trying to punish me.”

Aurora pulled away, her gaze empty. “I wish it weren’t. But Elara is gone. And it’s your fault.” Her voice dropped, venom and sorrow intertwining. “I wish you nothing but pain and I hope the guilt destroys you, knowing that you could have saved your child but chose to ignore her.”

With that, she turned and walked out into the night.

Xavier fell to his knees, fumbling for his phone, calling Dr. Henry with shaking fingers.

Xavier’s voice trembled as he pulled out his phone, dialing frantically. “Dr. Henry…where’s my daughter? Where’s Elara?”

There was a pause on the other end, then Henry’s hesitant voice. “Mr. Steele… I…I thought you knew. Elara… she passed. That’s why I came to you at the hospital, but—”

“No.” Xavier’s tone was sharp, almost desperate. “That’s not true. She’s fine!”

Dr. Henry’s voice broke. “We did everything we could, but the poison won.”

Xavier’s mind reeled back to that day when Dr. Henry had rushed to him, trying to speak, but he had brushed him off, waved him away with a cold, dismissive hand.

Because Aurora’s name had been mentioned. And he had thought it was just another one of her schemes to pull him back to her side.

The doctor’s silence on the other end was heavier than words. Finally, his voice broke through, low and grim “She’s gone, Xavier. I tried to tell you… but you wouldn’t listen.”

The line went dead. The phone slipped from his grip, his chest heaving with ragged breaths.

He tried to get up but knees buckled as reality crashed over him. “No… Elara…”

It wasn't until cold air hit him did he realize the door was open and it was raining. He rushed into the storm, shouting Aurora’s name, his voice hoarse and desperate. “Aurora! Please!”

Ahead, Aurora walked like a ghost, her mind a haze. She didn’t hear the blaring horn. She didn’t see the truck.

“Aurora!” Xavier screamed.

The impact came with a sickening thud. Her body flew to the pavement, lifeless under the rain.

Xavier fell to his knees beside her, cradling her head, his screams raw. “No, no, no! Stay with me. Please, don’t leave me too. I’m sorry. I’m so sorry. I should’ve been there. God, I failed you both!”

The ambulance arrived, pulling him back as medics worked frantically.

Hours later, she lay in a hospital bed once more, pale but alive. When her eyes fluttered open, Xavier was at her side, for once. His face was haggard and his eyes bloodshot with tears. Relief washed over him.

“Doctor! She’s awake.” He called, his voice breaking. “Aurora, baby, I am here, you will be fine.”

The doctor came and checked up on her telling them that she would be fine. When she tried to talk, he cautioned her not to speak, but Aurora’s gaze locked on Xavier.

Slowly, painfully, she whispered, “You’re the worst mistake of my life, the only good thing that came out of the marriage was Elara and you took that from me. If I ever get a second chance… I pray I never meet you again. And if I do, I’ll run far away. You never deserved me. You never deserved Elara.”

The heart monitor blared as her chest heaved, then stilled.

“Aurora!” Xavier’s cry split the silence, but it was too late.

The machine flatlined.

Aurora was gone.