Chapter 151

Elena's POV

I moved like a woman possessed, yanking clothes from hangers and shoving them haphazardly into my suitcase. My hands trembled so badly I could barely zip the damn thing closed. The thought of Lily sick—possibly dying—while I sat here playing investment banker was like acid eating through my chest.

"Did something happen at home?" Dennis asked.

"My baby is sick. She needs me," I choked out, barely recognizing my own voice.

How had I let this happen? What kind of mother abandons her sick children? These questions hammered at me as I packed.

Dennis took out his phone and began operating it.

"I've arranged for a car to take you to the airport. There's a flight to Moonhaven in two hours."

"Thank you," I looked up at him. "Tell Oliver tomorrow that I need to take a few days off for personal reasons."

He nodded, giving me a reassuring look.

By nightfall, I was on a plane, tears streaming silently down my face as I stared out the window. The woman I'd become over the past month felt like a stranger.

---

Dawn was breaking over Moonhaven when my taxi pulled up at the curb. I stood on the sidewalk, exhausted and disoriented, my gaze automatically drawn toward Highland Estate's direction.

Should I go immediately? What if Richard was there?

I chickened out. "I'll wait until mid-morning," I told myself, checking into a nearby hotel. But I couldn't sleep—every time I closed my eyes, I saw Lily's feverish face, heard my children's voices asking why I'd abandoned them.

By eight o'clock, I couldn't stand it anymore. I flagged down another taxi and gave the driver the address to Highland Estate, my heart pounding violently in my chest.

As we approached the familiar iron gates, I felt something was wrong. The driveway looked different—emptier somehow. When the taxi stopped, I stepped out cautiously, noticing the garden's eerie silence.

The front door was padlocked.

"What the hell?" I whispered, stumbling backward.

A security guard approached, his expression professionally blank until recognition flickered in his eyes.

"Ms. Winter?"

"Where is everyone? What happened to the house?" I asked.

His expression cooled. "Mr. Blackwood has relocated. The property has been listed for sale."

The world tilted beneath my feet. "Relocated? Where? When?"

"I suggest you contact Mr. Blackwood directly," he said, already turning away.

I fumbled for my phone with trembling fingers, but Richard's number went straight to voicemail. In desperation, I called Jason.

"Elena?" His voice was guarded. "Where are you?"

"I'm at Highland Estate, but it's empty. Jason, please—where are my children?"

A long pause followed. "You're back?"

"Yes! Where are they?"

Another pause. "Richard moved to be closer to Emma's medical facility. Lily's been quite ill."

"How ill?" I demanded, panic clawing at my throat.

"She's stabilized now," Jason said carefully. "Richard bought a small villa near Emma's clinic."

Jason gave me the address, and twenty minutes later, I found myself standing in front of a small villa. It was nothing like Highland Estate's grandeur—this place looked warmer.

I clutched my suitcase handle so tightly my knuckles turned white. Guilt and shame washed over me in waves. What right did I have to come back after abandoning them?

Suddenly, a child's laugh pierced the air. I froze, my heart recognizing that sound before my brain could process it.

Then I heard Anna's voice: "Max, wash your hands before breakfast!"

I watched, transfixed, as a small figure darted from behind some bushes—my son, looking thinner than I remembered, his movements quick and agile as he raced toward the house.

"Max!" I called out, my voice cracking with emotion. "Max, it's Mom! I'm home!"

He stopped dead in his tracks, slowly turning toward my voice. When our eyes met, his went wide with shock, his little body tensing like a startled animal.

I dropped my suitcase and moved toward him, arms outstretched, tears flowing freely. "Max, baby, I'm so sorry—"

What happened next shattered me completely. My son turned and ran from me.

I stood frozen, watching him flee, feeling something fundamental break inside me. "Max..." I whispered, but he was already gone.

The front door opened, and Anna appeared, her expression shifting from confusion to shock as she spotted me. Behind her stood three small figures—my children, lined up like strangers at a formal introduction.

Max stood protectively in front of Lily. Kathy stood slightly apart, her solemn eyes studying me with unnerving intensity. None of them smiled. None of them ran to me.

I fell to my knees in the grass, a sob tearing from my throat. "I'm so sorry," I gasped. "I never should have left you. I was wrong—so terribly wrong."

"Why did you go away without saying goodbye?" Lily demanded, his little voice hard with hurt. "Why didn't you call us even once?"

Each question was a knife to my heart. "I made a mistake," I whispered.

"Lily was really sick then," Max said, tears welling up in his eyes. "She needed you, and you weren't here. Do you not love us anymore? Do you not want to be our mom?"

"No!" I cried desperately. "I love you more than anything in this world!"

"Then why didn't you come when we needed you?" he asked, a tear finally escaping down his cheek.

I had no answer that could possibly justify my actions. I simply knelt there, broken and exposed, as my children watched me weep.

Then, something unexpected happened. Kathy stepped forward, her small face serious beyond her years. She approached me slowly.

When she stood directly in front of me, she reached out one small hand and gently wiped a tear from my cheek.

"Don't cry, Mommy," she said softly. "They just missed you very much."

Her simple gesture of comfort opened something inside me. I didn't dare touch her, afraid she would pull away.

"They'll forgive you," she continued with startling maturity. "But you have to promise never to leave us again."

I nodded frantically. "I promise. I'll never leave you again—any of you."

Kathy nodded, satisfied, then reached for my hand. At her touch, Max's resistance crumbled, and he flew into my arms with a heartbreaking sob. Lily followed, her small arms wrapping around my neck. And there we stayed, the four of us tangled together on the grass, as Anna watched with tears in her eyes.

"She's just like her father," Anna murmured, shaking her head. "So grown-up for her age."