All Chapters of He Lost Me Before He Knew About Our Triplets: Chapter 51 - Chapter 60

The gunshot had come from inside the hospital.Ava knew that before the echo disappeared.“Lucas!”She ran toward the corridor.Ethan caught her hand.“Wait.”“My son is in there.”“I know.”Another sound came through the speakers.A child crying.Then Lucas screamed.“Mommy!”Ava tore her hand free.Nothing could have stopped her now.Ethan followed.Marcus and the twin moved with them.The emergency lights flickered on, painting the corridor in dim red.The red door stood open.Lucas was gone.So was Cross.Sophia was still there, her hands bound.Ava reached her first.“Where is my son?”Sophia shook her head.“He took him.”“Who?”“I don't know.”“You're lying.”“I swear.”Ava grabbed Sophia's shoulders.“Where is Lucas?”Sophia looked terrified.“He said the boy had to meet his father.”Ethan froze.“My father?”Sophia nodded.“He said Adrian wanted his son back.”The twin stepped forward.“Where did he take him?”Sophia pointed toward the floor.“Below.”Marcus immediately looke

The voice sounded exactly like Elena.That was what terrified Ava most.Not the gunshot.Not Cross.Not even the possibility that her mother had lied to her.The voice was too familiar.Too gentle.Too real.“Tell your mother who really took you.”Ava took one step toward the corridor.Adrian caught her wrist.“Don't.”“My son is calling me.”“And that's exactly what Cross wants.”Ava turned on him.“You said you've been trying to get back to your sons for five years. Then help me get to mine.”Adrian's expression tightened.“I will.”“Then let me go.”He released her.Ava ran.Ethan was beside her instantly.Marcus followed, weapon raised.They reached the end of the corridor just as another door slammed somewhere ahead.“Lucas!” Ava shouted.No answer.She pushed through the door.The room beyond was empty.A single speaker hung from the ceiling.Static hissed through it.Then Elena's voice returned.“Lucas, sweetheart…”Ava stared at the speaker.“No.”She stepped closer.“Mom?”Th

Adrian had faced gunfire, imprisonment, betrayal, and five years of being hunted.But nothing prepared him for the look in his son's eyes.Ethan stared at him as though the man standing in front of him had suddenly become a stranger.“You ordered her memory erased?”Adrian said nothing.Ava felt something inside her collapse.She had spent days rebuilding the truth from fragments.Every revelation had hurt.Every secret had forced her to question another memory.But this one was different.Because Adrian wasn't a distant figure from an old photograph anymore.He was standing in front of her.Alive.And Elena had just accused him of taking away part of her life.“Answer him,” Ava said.Adrian looked at her.“I did.”The silence that followed was devastating.Ethan's face hardened.“You did what?”“I authorized the memory suppression.”Ava took a step backward.“Why?”Adrian's voice was quiet.“Because you were going to die.”“That isn't an answer.”“It is the only answer that matters.”

The photograph was impossible.Ethan stared at the screen without blinking.Four children stood in front of the Blackwood estate.Lucas.Lily.Noah.Evelyn.They were alive.They were together.And behind them stood Elena Reed.Beside Elena stood Helena Lancaster.But the man partially visible near the stone column made Ethan's blood run cold.Alexander Blackwood.The same Alexander who had been captured less than an hour earlier.The same Alexander Marcus had watched officers take into custody.The same Alexander whose hands had been restrained before he was removed from the hospital.Ethan slowly lowered the phone.“No.”Ava looked at him.“What?”He turned the screen toward her.She stared at the photograph.For several seconds, she said nothing.Then her face changed.Not fear.Recognition.“That isn't a live photograph.”Marcus immediately looked up.“What makes you say that?”Ava zoomed in.“The children.”Lucas was wearing the same dark blue sweater he'd had at the hospital.Li

The fire room was still burning.Five years after the Blackwood estate fire, long after the flames had been extinguished and the walls had been rebuilt, Ethan could still smell smoke.Not real smoke.Memory.It came back the moment Richard opened the concealed door beneath the eastern wing.Ava felt Ethan's hand tighten around hers.“You remember this place,” she whispered.Ethan stared into the darkness.“I remember leaving it.”Richard switched on the emergency lights.One by one, weak yellow bulbs flickered along the stone corridor.At the end stood a steel door.Numbered 13.Ava stopped.The sight struck her harder than she expected.Red door.White walls.A child's cry.Blood.A man's voice telling her to forget.She pressed her fingers against her temple.Ethan immediately turned toward her.“Ava?”“I’m fine.”“You don't have to be.”She looked at him.“I know.”That answer mattered.Once, Ethan would have decided for her.Now he waited.Ava took a breath.“I'm going in.”Ethan