Chapter 5
Lucien let out a laugh–a cold, empty echo that reverberated through the silent amusement park like a cruel joke.
“This is absurd,” he muttered under his breath, scoffing in disbelief. “You’re really standing there telling me those things in the water are my children?”
His gaze flicked toward the pool again. The two tiny shapes bobbing quietly on the surface were shrouded in crimson, the color spreading outward like poison bleeding into the clear water. His stomach churned, but he shoved the unease deep down.
“No way,” he said with a bitter laugh. “There’s no reason for my kids to be floating in a damn pool. That’s insane.”>
It was the only conclusion his mind could process–denial.}
He turned back toward Mara, rage building behind his eyes. She was still sprawled out on the ground, motionless, as if none of this had anything to do with her. The sight triggered something in him–something ugly.
He snapped.
With swift, brutal force, he kicked her in the ribs, harder than before. “Get up!” he snarled. “Speak! Tell me what the hell is going on! Where are my children? And why the hell are there-” he gestured violently toward the pool, voice rising, “-those goddamn things floating out there like they’re some kind of twisted prank?!”
Still, Mara didn’t budge.
No twitch. No groan. No blink.
A shiver crawled up Lucien’s spine, unwelcome and unfamiliar. He edged closer, inspecting her face. Her skin looked wrong–far too pale, her lips tinged with a bluish hue that set off alarm bells in his brain. And then, he noticed it.
Her stomach.
Flat.
The breath punched out of him.}
His chest tightened, but his mind still clung to disbelief.}
“Sir…” the butler spoke again, his voice low and trembling. “She needs immediate medical attention. She’s hemorrhaging. We have to move now.”
Lucien’s teeth ground together.}
None of this was what he wanted. He hadn’t meant for it to go this far. It was supposed to scare her–a lesson, not a death sentence. But now, she looked like she had one foot in the grave.
Running a hand through his hair in frustration, he exhaled sharply.”
“Fine,” he snapped. “Take her.”
The butler didn’t hesitate. He shouted for help, and two of the guards rushed forward. Together, they carefully lifted Mara’s limp frame from the ground. Her head lolled, her arms dangling. Not even a twitch.
And the pit in Lucien’s stomach grew heavier. –
He tore his gaze away from her and turned back to the butler, his voice hardening again.§
“Get those things out of the pool,” he ordered. “Bring them here. Now.”
The butler faltered, his eyes darting between the water and Lucien. “Sir-”
“Do it,” Lucien said sharply, voice cold and commanding.
Reluctantly, the man obeyed. He crept toward the edge, his steps hesitant. Kneeling down, he extended his arms into the water. His hands shook as he lifted the small shapes from the red–stained surface.
He turned around slowly, face ashen.}
Lucien extended his arms impatiently. “Give them to me.”
The butler’s hesitation was visible. But at last, he handed over the soaked, fragile bundles.
And the moment Lucien took them into his own hands-
Time stopped.}
They weren’t toys. Not dolls, Not props in some horrific illusion.
What he saw up close shattered him.
Tiny fingers, curled slightly. Delicate bodies. Skin too pale, like porcelain left too long in the cold. Closed eyes that would never open.}] They were real.
His children.}]
His twins.
His arms stiffened. His grip trembled. A choked noise escaped his throat–something between a gasp and a sob.
This couldn’t be happening.
This wasn’t how it was supposed to go.
His memories flashed like daggers–every moment of cruelty he’d inflicted on Mara. Leaving her tied up in the penthouse. Ignoring her desperate cries in the car. Forcing her to jump over and over at the amusement park. Her screams. Her pleas.
He had brushed it all off.
He had told them to keep going. Over and over. Until morning.
And now…
Now, his babies were dead.
His vision blurred, hot tears trailing down his cheeks before he even realized he was crying. He hadn’t cried in years. Maybe not ever.” But now?!
He couldn’t stop.
His knees buckled beneath him. He crumpled to the ground, still clutching their tiny bodies, overwhelmed by the weight of what he had dóne.
They were so light. So incredibly small. And yet, the guilt was crushing.”
How had it come to this?
Because of his obsession. Because of Vanessa. Because he had been so damn certain Mara was lying.
But now, holding the evidence of his own failure in his trembling hands, a new thought began to gnaw at him–vicious and unrelenting.} What if he had been wrong all along?}
What if Vanessa had lied?
What if Mara had never been guilty of anything?
He couldn’t breathe. A broken sob tore free from his chest, raw and filled with agony.
The butler stood nearby, frozen. The guards kept their eyes fixed on the ground, unmoving. No one spoke.
Lucien, once a man who commanded fear and loyalty, now knelt alone–destroyed.
Not a leader.
Not a husband.
Just a man.§
A man who had killed the only good things he ever had.
And for the first time in his life-
He wished with everything he had left…
That he could go back and change it all.
