chapter 166
Elena's POV:
My declaration of intent settled into the silence of the sitting room like a stone dropped into still water.
Sebastian's expression grew serious as he held my phone for a moment longer, his dark eyes fixed on mine with unwavering intensity.
"This is the last time," he said, his voice low and final. "After today, they don't exist for us anymore."
It wasn't a question or a request—it was a decree, delivered with the same certainty he brought to every decision that mattered. I recognized it for what it was. A boundary he was setting not just for them, but for us.
The ride to the hospital passed in tense silence.
The private ward was hushed, expensive in its quietude. A nurse directed us to room 3012.
The door opened onto a scene so perfectly staged it might have been a painting. Scarlett reclined against pristine white pillows, still beautiful despite the pallor of illness.
She was wiping at her cheeks delicately, as if she'd been crying. And there, perched on chairs beside the bed, were a girl and a boy who could only be Mia and Ethan.
John's children from his first marriage. The stepchildren she'd chosen to raise, to love, to cherish more than her own flesh and blood.
Everything in me turned to ice.
"Elena!" Scarlett's voice broke on my name, reaching toward me with trembling hands. "Oh, you finally came. "
"You have five minutes," I heard myself say, the words emerging cold and flat. "Say what you need to say."
Sebastian guided me to a chair near the door.
Scarlett's tears slowed, though whether from genuine emotion or calculated effect, I couldn't tell. "I know you must hate me," she began, voice small and broken.
"I know I failed you as a mother. But please, you have to understand—your father and I tried so hard to create a warm, happy home for you. But life was just... so difficult. The pressure, the poverty, the constant struggle to make ends meet..."
"So you left," I said simply.
"I—yes. I left." She had the grace to look ashamed, at least. "I thought you'd be better off with Robert. He loved you so much, and I... I needed to find myself."
"Then?"
"I met John," she continued, "That car accident years ago, it gave me the perfect opportunity. After faking my death, I went with John to New York. Started fresh, you know? A new life where no one knew about... before."
"Did you ever think about me?" I asked, my voice sharper than intended. "Even once? Did you consider what it would do to a kid to lose her mother?"
Her eyes darted away for just a moment before returning to mine. "Robert loved you so much. I knew he wouldn't let you suffer—"
"Robert was an orphan! He's never known love either." The words exploded from me, years of suppressed anger finally finding voice. "He gave you everything—his complete devotion, his trust, his love. And you played him for a fool, letting him grieve a wife who wasn't even dead while you ran off to pursue your vanity and comfortable life!"
Something shifted in Scarlett's face then, the mask of maternal regret slipping to reveal something harder underneath.
"Don't you dare judge me," she said, her voice suddenly cold. "You have no idea what it was like. Robert was... suffocating with his devotion. Always wanting to please, always so grateful just to have a family. I was young, I wanted more than that simple, desperate love—"
"So you played him for a fool, letting him live forever in regret and revenge!"
"And what about you?" Scarlett's eyes flashed. "Look at yourself now. Married to Sebastian Vane, dripping in wealth, living a life I could only dream of. You're no different from me, trading up when the opportunity arose. At least I didn't pretend otherwise."
Sebastian stepped forward then, his presence suddenly filling the room with dangerous energy.
"Actually," he said, his voice deceptively calm, "she's nothing like you. I forced her to be with me. Threatened her, imprisoned her, did everything in my power to keep her. But at least I'm honest about what I want."
His lips curved into a cold smile. "Unlike John, who's been using you as a substitute for his dead first wife all these years. Tell me, does he still call out her name in his sleep?"
The color drained from Scarlett's face, and I saw John's hands clench into fists. The truth of Sebastian's words hung in the air like poison.
I stood slowly, feeling oddly calm now that everything was finally in the open.
"Well then," I said quietly. "Now that we've all been honest with each other, I think we're done here. Don't try to contact me again. And let me be clear—even if I weren't pregnant, even if the medical conditions allowed it, even if we were a perfect match... I still wouldn't donate my bone marrow to you."
I turned toward the door, Sebastian's hand immediately finding the small of my back.
"You're just going to let her die?" John's voice rose with righteous fury. "Your own mother? What kind of person does that make you? Aren't you afraid your children will suffer for your cruelty? That karma will—"
The sound of Sebastian's fist connecting with John's face cut through his moral grandstanding. John crumpled backward as screams erupted from Scarlett and the children. Blood streamed from his nose as he staggered against the wall.
Sebastian pulled me closer, his arm protective around my waist as we moved toward the door. "Threaten my children again," he said over his shoulder, voice deadly calm, "and a broken nose will be the least of your concerns."
I watched it all with cold detachment, feeling nothing but a distant satisfaction.
These people who claimed to care about morality, about family, about doing the right thing—where had they been when I needed them?
I stepped over the drops of blood on the sterile hospital floor without a second glance, letting Sebastian guide me away from their chaos and accusations, leaving them all behind without a shred of remorse.
Back home, I sank into the sofa, suddenly exhausted. The adrenaline faded, leaving only a hollow ache in its wake.
"I just wish my dad was still here," I said quietly, staring at nothing. "He deserved so much better than her lies. If he were alive, I'd find his real family for him. I'd make sure he knew how much love there was in the world, how much he deserved to be cherished instead of deceived."
Sebastian sat beside me, pulling me against his chest. "He knows," he murmured into my hair. "Wherever he is, he knows how much you loved him. That's what matters. He had that, Elena. He had you."