Chapter 3

My words hit Lyla like a slap to the face. She flushed with humiliation instantly.

Logan, who was still pinned to the ground, hadn't picked up on my changed attitude. He kept trying desperately to get my attention.

"Elara, tell them to let me go! I came here to surprise you!"

His eyes sparkled as he looked at me, but all I felt was revulsion.

The memories flooding my mind didn't just show Logan carving out my baby and killing me. They also revealed how he'd turned violent after we left together. He had constantly beat and berated me.

Things got worse after Dad claimed Lyla as his daughter and married her off to the Clarkes. Once the Jackmans abandoned me, I became worthless to Logan.

That monster had sold me, over and over, to anyone willing to pay. Even as my pregnancy progressed and my belly grew, those perverts never stopped.

The baby sensed my fear and spoke to me, "Don't be scared, Mom. Dad will be here soon, and you're safe in the Jackman residence right now!"

Mom noticed my distress too. She snapped at the guards when she saw how I was looking at Logan.

"What are you standing around for? Get him out of here and make sure he regrets stepping foot on this property!"

Following her orders, the guards hauled Logan to his feet. When they started getting rough, Logan panicked and shouted at me.

"Elara, what's wrong with you? I came to take you away! Tell them to stop!

"Stop! Please stop..."

Logan curled up with his arms protecting his head, screaming as the guards pummeled him.

Lyla lost it when she saw Logan get beaten up. She forgot Mom was even there and shouted at me.

"Elara, what the hell are you doing? That's Logan! How can you treat him like this?"

The sharp crack of a slap cut her off. Mom glared at Lyla with cold, sharp eyes.

"Lyla, who gave you permission to speak to my daughter that way? Elara's been good to you, but have you actually forgotten your place?"

The baby cheered at Mom's fierceness. "Go Grandma! In my past life, if it wasn't for that witch Lyla, Grandma wouldn't have died so young!"

I pressed for details, and the baby told me everything. After I left with Logan, Mom never stopped searching for me. Lyla had deliberately let it slip that I'd gone to another state.

Mom rushed there overnight to find me, only to arrive just as several men were forcing themselves on me. The shock of seeing her beloved daughter destroyed like that triggered a massive heart attack. She died in the ambulance on the way to the hospital.

The knowledge tore me apart.

Lyla clutched her swollen cheek. Though she didn't dare say anything, I caught the flash of hatred in her eyes.

"Mrs. Jackman, I'm not lying! Ela... Ms. Elara invited Logan here. The two of them are actually..."

Before Lyla could expose my relationship with Logan, Mom impatiently had the guards silence her.

"I won't tolerate this disrespect in my own home. You two are going to serve as an example to everyone here. This is what happens when you overstep."

The guards forced both of them to kneel in the villa's courtyard. Just as Mom prepared to make an example of them, Dad burst through the door in a rush.

"Honey, what's going on?"