Chapter 18

The three of them gathered around Elara. Sebastian, hovering protectively, his mother beaming, Seren smiling wide, celebrating a future that had no room for Amara.

He felt no guilt at that moment or any hesitation. No memory of the woman who had sacrificed everything, the woman he promised to love for the rest of his life. Just then, the elevator doors slid open.

Amara stood there, her face pale but composed, with the freshly discharged papers in hand.

She saw them. All of them. Laughing. Touching Elara’s still-flat stomach. Dreaming aloud.

Her lips curved, not into a smile, but into something colder. Julian stood beside her, quietly taking her bag, steady and unassuming. She stepped into the elevator, eyes never leaving the scene.

As the doors began to close, she whispered, not in rage, not in tears, but with terrifying calm:

“I’m here now. And I swear… I’ll avenge you.” She touched her belly, still thinking of the baby, the baby she had lost because of him.

For a fleeting moment, she almost found herself framing an excuse for Seb. After all, he loved her, or so she believed. He had never uttered a harsh word to her throughout their years together.

Yet, now, she was done. Despite her lingering doubts and the urge to confront him and demand answers for how he could do this to them, she realized that it no longer mattered.

What once felt deep and real had faded away, leaving her uninterested in his explanations. Amara was done with Sebastian and the delusions she once clung to. Their relationship was nothing but a grand deception, a colossal lie that had masked the truth for far too long.

Julian didn’t ask who she meant. He already knew. The elevator doors shut.

“Grandma, let’s go,” Seren said brightly, tugging at Mrs. Creed Senior’s hand just as the elevator doors began sliding shut.

Inside the elevator, Amara stood still, her fingers curled tightly around the strap of her bag. Julian stood beside her like a silent wall of support.

Then Seb froze.

“Stay here.” Sebastian’s voice cut through the hallway as his gaze snapped toward the elevator. For a split second, through the narrowing gap of the doors, he saw a familiar silhouette.

“Amara!” He lunged forward. The elevator doors closed with a soft, final ding.

Sebastian froze, chest rising and falling rapidly as he stared at the reflective metal doors, his heartbeat slamming against his ribs like it was trying to escape.

“Oh, Sebastian! Sebastian!” his mother called, walking toward him. “What are you looking at p>

“I He swallowed, his voice tight. “I think I saw Amara.” His mind raced. Did she see us? Did she see me standing so close to Elara? Did she hear anything?

“There’s no one here,” Mrs. Creed Senior said dismissively. “You’re imagining things. Come along p>

But Sebastian was already walking quickly toward Amara’s ward, unease clawing at his chest.

He pushed the door open only to find it empty. The doctor turned toward him, mildly surprised. “Where is my wife?” Sebastian demanded, barely able to keep his voice steady.

“She was discharged about fifteen minutes ago,” the doctor replied calmly. “What p>

The single word cracked out of him. She left? Without telling me? A cold uneasiness slid down his spine. Does she know? He pulled out his phone immediately and dialed her number.

“The number you have dialed is currently unavailable.” Sebastian stared at the screen as if it had personally betrayed him.

He dialed again. Unavailable. Again. Unavailable.

Now his hands were trembling. “Sebastian, where are you going?” his mother asked sharply as he turned toward the exit.

“Amara is missing,” he said, his voice hoarse. “I’m going to find her p>

“I will NOT let you do that!” Mrs. Creed Senior snapped, stepping in front of him. “Right now, the most important thing is Elara’s baby. You need to accompany her for her prenatal checkup p>

“No.” His voice dropped, firm and unyielding. “Nothing matters more than Amara, my wife, mother p>

For the first time, there was raw panic in his eyes.

He walked past his stunned mother without another word, dialing Amara’s number again as he hurried down the corridor.

Still unavailable. Still silent. Still gone. Outside the hospital, Amara walked slowly toward the exit, each step steady despite the storm inside her chest. Julian walked beside her, holding her belongings, his presence quiet but unwavering.

The afternoon sun spilled across the hospital driveway, bright and indifferent, as if the world had no idea hers had just collapsed.

Behind them, automatic doors opened and closed, swallowing and releasing strangers, but never calling her back.

Inside the hospital, Sebastian moved like a man possessed, searching every hallway, every waiting area, every corner where she might be hiding, might be crying, might be waiting for him to find her.

But Amara wasn’t hiding. She was leaving. For the first time in seven years… She wasn’t waiting for him.

“Have you seen my wife? Mrs. Amara Creed? She’s about this tall, long black hair, pale, she was discharged recently p>

The receptionist blinked nervously. “Sir… many patients leave through the main exit p>

Sebastian cursed under his breath and ran toward the elevators, pressing the button repeatedly like he could force time to rewind.

Downstairs… Julian opened the car door for Amara.

She paused before entering, her eyes drifting back toward the towering hospital building.

For seven years, that building had symbolized hope… treatments… prayers… broken promises. Now it was just a graveyard for everything she had lost. “Ready?” Julian asked gently. Amara inhaled slowly.

Then nodded. “Yes.” She got into the car. The door shut. The engine started.

And just as the car pulled away from the curb. Sebastian burst through the hospital entrance, scanning wildly through the crowd, his chest heaving, eyes desperate… searching… pleading p>

But all he saw were strangers. Traffic moved. Cars passed. Life continued.

And the woman who had once been his entire world was already disappearing down the road far beyond his reach.