Chapter 29
In the shadows, Julian leaned against a cold pillar, his thumb hovering over a screen. He had the files, the bank trails, and the sworn statements ready for a judge, but this moment wasn’t for a courtroom.
It was for her. He watched her, remembering the girl from their school days, the one who had been the sun everyone wanted to bask in. Back then, every rich heir on campus had wondered how a man like Seb had won her whole heart. Their love had been the gold standard, a story people whispered about with envy.
To see that gold turn to lead was a tragedy no one saw coming.
Amara didn’t look at Julian. She didn’t need to. She felt the weight of his support like a shield at her back. She turned her gaze to a man standing near the edge of the crowd, a man with rough hands and a face full of shame. One of Seb’s “loyal” workers.
“Speak,” Amara commanded. The word didn’t just fill the room; it demanded the truth from the floorboards up. “Tell them. What did Elara pay you to do that night p>
Seb’s face didn’t just go pale; it crumbled. He looked at the man, then at Elara, who was now trembling so violently her jewelry rattled.
He had spent years tucked in a warm delusion, thinking he was the luckiest man on earth. He truly believed he was a king who had found two understanding women, one to dote on as his wife, and one to serve him as his legal wife. He was so blinded by his own ego that he never realized he was feeding a monster in his own bed.
He had let Elara’s jealousy simmer until it turned into a bloodbath, all while he smiled and played the part of the doting husband.
The man’s voice was like a hammer hitting a nail. “She told us to take her right from the hospital bed. She said she wanted her broken. She wanted her to feel every hit p>
“Lies! All lies!” Elara shrieked, her face twisting into something jagged and ugly.
Beside her, little Seren stepped forward, her small face full of a cold, sharp hate that didn’t belong on a child. “You wicked woman,” the girl spat at Amara. “Why do you want to hurt my mummy? Why are you being so mean p>
The words were a physical blow. Amara’s chest tightened until she could barely breathe. She looked at Seren, the girl whose hair she had braided, whose knees she had kissed when they were scraped, the girl who had been her entire heart.
Everything else was a lie, but her love for this child had been the one truth she clung to. To see that love thrown back at her like a handful of dirt cut deeper than any blade.
“I have the recording,” the man said, pulling a phone from his pocket, desperate to scrub the guilt from his own hands. “I kept it to make sure I got paid p>
“Play it,” Amara whispered. She closed her eyes, the first real tears of the night finally breaking and spilling down her cheeks. She felt her mother’s hand, warm and steady, settle on her shoulder, a silent anchor in the middle of the wreckage.
The room went deathly still as the audio hissed to life.
“I want you to kidnap Amara. Put her in a sack… I want Seb to be the one to do it. I want him to beat her mercilessly. She has to lose that baby. That brat cannot be born. Make sure her mouth is sealed so she doesn’t speak p>
The click of the call ending echoed like a gunshot in the silent gala.
The guests stood frozen, their faces pale with horror. Seb looked as though the very air had turned to poison in his lungs. He looked at the woman he had defended, the woman he had cherished as his innocent savior, and saw a murderer.
Amara opened her eyes. The pain was still there, a raw and gaping hole, but the girl who walked into this gala was gone. She looked at the recording, then at the man on his knees, and finally at the little girl who had been taught to call a monster “Mommy p>
“The girl you knew on campus died in that sack, Seb. I hope the version of me you’re left with haunts you for the rest of your life p>
“Seb, I’m sorry! I messed up, I know… I swear I’ll never do it again!” Elara’s voice was a frantic, wet mess of sound. Now that the truth was screaming from the speakers, the victim mask had slipped, replaced by the ugly sweat of fear.
Amara didn’t blink. She looked at the security guards, her voice as cold as a winter grave. “Don’t let her say another word. Take her to the police p>
“Prison?” Elara gasped, her eyes bulging. “You want me to go to prison p>
“Of course,” Amara replied, her tone terrifyingly flat. “Where else do you put a monster p>
Elara lunged for Seb’s knees, her fingers clawing at his suit. “I can’t go! Seb, please! Save me! I’m carrying your baby. If I go behind bars, the baby won’t survive. You’ll lose another one! Please p>
Beside her, Seren began to wail, the sound piercing the silence of the gala. “Daddy! Save Mommy! We’re a family! I need her p>
Seb stood in the center of the storm, his face a map of ruin. He looked at Amara, the woman who had truly loved him, the woman who had bled for him. Then he looked at the sobbing child and the woman carrying his next heir.
His soul was a house divided, but his heart was made of weak clay. He had spent a lifetime choosing the easy lie over the hard truth. Even now, with the blood of his first child on Elara’s hands, he couldn’t break the cycle.
He took a slow, trembling step away from Amara. He reached down and gathered Seren into his arms, his other hand coming to rest on Elara’s shaking shoulder.
He chose wrong. He chose the darkness he knew over the light he had betrayed.
Amara watched him. She didn’t scream. She didn’t beg. She simply felt the last thread of her heart turn to ice. Ten years of devotion vanished in a single breath.
“I see,” Amara whispered, and for the first time that night, she smiled. It wasn’t a happy smile; it was the smile of someone who had finally seen the exit. “You really are a hollow man, Seb p>
“Elara saved me before once, for the sake of our love and what we shared,” Seb said, his voice regaining that old, stubborn edge. “She went too far, yes, but she’s carrying my child. Can you show some mercy? Just this once, can you let it slide p>
“Let it slide? Your child? love?” Amara’s voice was like a ghost’s breath. “What about my child, Seb? My baby is gone. My body was broken in a sack on your orders, and our child is in the dirt. It was your child, too. Does that not matter p>
She looked at him, truly seeing him for the first time. Ten years. Ten years of her life given to a man who weighed a human life against his own convenience.
“I will punish her myself,” Seb insisted, his eyes bright with a desperate, selfish hope. “I can make it up to you. Just let her go for now. I’ll do anything. Anything you want. Just don’t send the mother of my children to a cell, at least do it for Seren, the baby you raised, and can’t see a single drop of tears in her eyes, do it for her p>
In his mind, Amara was still the soft girl from campus. She was a thing he could break and then glue back together with a few sweet words and a promise. To him, his family with Elara was a fortress. Amara was just the garden he kept inside. He wanted his heirs above all else. Justice was a small price to pay for his legacy.
Amara looked at the faces around her. Her mother and Julian stood frozen in shock, their eyes pleading with her not to break. But across from them, the predators were already smiling.
Madam Creed, Seb, and even little Seren looked relieved. Elara wiped her eyes, a tiny, triumphant smirk tugging at the corner of her mouth. She’ll always fold, Elara thought. She’s weak. She’s soft. She’s nothing.
“Fine,” Amara said, her voice turning suddenly, terrifyingly calm. “I will let Elara off the hook. I will let her stay out of prison… if you agree to one condition p>
Seb stepped forward, his face lighting up. “Anything. Name it p>
Amara looked at him, then at Elara, and finally at the child who had called her a “wicked woman.” The air in the room seemed to freeze.