Chapter 4

Elara's POV

I stood in the entryway of the Alpha Mansion and took one long look around.

Five years. And all it had left me with was this crushing weight on my chest.

Today was the day I got my daughter out of here.

After breakfast, I packed what I needed and left Mia with Grace—one of the house staff I actually trusted—then drove into the city to see a property agent.

By noon, I had signed a lease on a furnished apartment in the heart of Newland, three kilometers from the Memorial Hospital. Walking distance on a good day, easy access on a bad one.

That afternoon, Mia and I moved in.

We spent the night settling in. The next morning, I took the full five million dollars and drove back to Dr. Landon.

The apartment had cost eight hundred thousand, and that had come from my own savings—money that had nothing to do with Orion. The remaining balance was everything Victoria had advanced me.

I told Dr. Landon I'd pay whatever it took to get that match back. I told him if the hospital redirected the marrow to Mia, every single dollar I had left was theirs. "You can take it all," I begged. "Just save my daughter."

The look on his face shifted into something pained.

"Elara, I know how desperate you are." He hesitated, lowering his voice. "But this isn't just about money. The people who took that marrow… I can't touch them. No one in Newland can. Frankly, no one on this continent has the power to overrule them."

My stomach dropped into a bottomless pit.

"There might be… one other way," he murmured, exhaling slowly. "Have another child. Using cord blood from a full sibling is our best shot now. I know nine months feels like a lifetime, but the reality is, we won't find another compatible donor in that time anyway. It's the only viable path we have left."

I understood what he was telling me.

Whoever had taken that marrow was untouchable.

Which meant the only way forward was to conceive another child with Orion.

And I never wanted to sleep with that man again.

"Think it over," Dr. Landon said gently. "I have another patient waiting."

I thanked him and left.

Mia held my hand down the corridor, trying to reassure me in her small, certain way—maybe the Moon Goddess was watching out for us, she said. Maybe a miracle was still coming.

I walked beside her, feet heavy.

Maybe. But miracles didn't come easily to women the Moon Goddess never accepted in the first place.

I was still turning it over in my head when I saw the shoes.

Black dress shoes. Custom. The kind of polish I could recognize from twenty feet away because I'd been looking at them for five years.

I lifted my gaze.

Orion.

He was holding Lily in his arms. Celeste trailed just behind him, handbag in the crook of her elbow, graceful as always. They looked like a complete family. Mia and I were on the other side of the hallway, a footnote.

When his eyes landed on me, he went through a flash of surprise—then went straight to annoyance. "Are you following me? I told you, if you have something to say, say it at home."

He thought I was tailing him.

The irony was enough to knock the air out of me.

He had brought another woman's daughter to this hospital, and he had no idea his own daughter had been a patient here for an entire year. He hadn't come once.

I was too tired to explain. I just put a hand on the wall and pushed down the dizziness threatening to take me under. "I'm not following you. But I do need something from you, Orion."

"Mia's marrow was taken. You're the only one who can go up against whoever did it."

"I need you to help me get it back. Please."

Orion's brow pulled together. "What did you just say?"

"Mia's marrow was taken?"

He had completely forgotten. I'd told him the night before, and it had gone nowhere—because his entire head had been occupied with Celeste and Lily from the moment that phone call came through.

He had actually forgotten.

I wasn't going to ask him for more than this. Just this one thing. Even if he did it as nothing more than a courtesy, as if we were near-strangers—I needed him to show up for Mia.

"Orion… please."

I watched him process what I'd said. He was genuinely thinking about it, by the look of it. And then something complicated moved through his eyes. New reservations. Something that looked a bit like conflict, like he was weighing something I couldn't see.

But he was considering it. That had to count for something.

That ember of hope flickered back to life.

Maybe there was still some shred of a father in him. If he was willing to step up for Mia, I was prepared to let everything else go. All of it, no conditions.

"Daddy…"

Mia's small hand reached out and caught the hem of his jacket. She tipped her face up to look at him—those wide, bright eyes doing what no words could.

Orion crouched. Lifted a hand and touched her cheek.

He was about to say something—

Thud.

Lily hit the floor.

Orion was on his feet in an instant, Mia forgotten, crossing the distance to scoop Lily up. "You okay? Where does it hurt?" Every bit of warmth in him, aimed right there.

Celeste's voice broke. "I was trying to keep her steady—she didn't have the strength to stand on her own—and I just… I lost my grip. I'm so sorry…"

"Don't apologize for that." Orion's voice went soft and full of guilt.

Mia ceased to exist.

I looked down at my daughter.

Her eyes were filling up.

"Mom. Do I not have a dad anymore?"

I crouched down, already reaching for words to soften it—Lily was sick too, I'd tell her, Daddy was just helping, he still—

I couldn't finish the sentence.

Lily had the Amber Crystal Pack. She had the Silver Wing Pack. Both sets of grandparents were living. There were people lining up to fight for that child—Orion wasn't even a necessity, and yet here he was, showing up like her whole world depended on it.

Love was the only explanation that made sense.

He claimed Celeste had once saved his life.

But that was just the story he told himself.

I kept my voice low. Orion didn't hear me—he was busy talking Celeste down from her tears. He only caught the tail end of what I said to Mia:

"I promise, baby. I will never stop fighting for you."

"Enough." Orion crossed back to us, jaw tight. "Elara, I've told you—stop using Mia to take shots at me. Don't turn this into a manipulation."

He looked at the two of us, paused.

He looked at the two of us and exhaled sharply. "You're better than this."

I didn't argue. There was no point. I only needed to confirm one last thing.

"What are you going to do?" I stood, kept my grip on Mia's hand, and held my voice as level as I could. "What I asked you about—Mia's marrow. What's your answer?"

Across the hall, Celeste's voice climbed—"Just a little longer, Lily, he's coming—"

Orion glanced over. The worry in his face answered every question I still had.

He knelt down in front of Mia. Touched her hair. "You're such a brave girl. Daddy has something urgent to deal with. I'll make it up to you later. I promise."

Then he stood, walked back to Celeste, and didn't look at us again.

Didn't look at Mia's wet eyes.

In my palm, Mia's hand slowly went cold.

We watched Orion carry Lily toward the examination room—patient, tender, every gentle thing he had never once been for our daughter.

"Mom." Mia's voice was steady this time. Not a question. "I really don't have a dad."

She wiped her own eyes. Turned away from them. Tugged my hand to go.

I didn't move right away.

My gaze had caught on something ahead. A door at the end of the corridor, the nameplate reading: Hematology Lab.

This hospital was known for treating Bloodwither Syndrome.

Lily was here for bloodwork.

And the condition she was being tested for…

Could it possibly be…

Dr. Landon's words came back to me. The untouchable figure who had taken Mia's marrow—

The cold started at my feet and climbed through me until I couldn't breathe.