Noa’s POV
I scooped them up in my arms and carried them back to the guest house and ordered the butler to call a doctor.
The doctor arrived quickly, “The girl’s condition is poor but manageable. The boy’s… it’s worse. He’s malnourished and showing signs of emotional trauma. I suggest spending time with him. He needs stability. Love.”
I nodded.
Later, as Tessa dozed off with Milo curled against her, the doctor gone, I sat there in the dim light, piecing together the nightmare they’d lived through.
From Tessa’s whispered confessions, I learned the whole truth.
The day Harper moved into the master bedroom was the day my children lost their safe world. They were banished from their rooms. Locked away in the basement. Fed scraps, beaten with slippers, threatened into silence.
All the while Harper played the doting stepmother in public—and Elias, blind idiot that he was, worshiped her like a saint.
When the twins tried to tell him, he hadn’t believed them. Why would he? Harper was pure. Sweet. Untouchable.
I brushed Tessa’s hair back from her face, my chest burning with guilt. Rage. Sorrow. Fury.
…
I must’ve been lost in my own storm of thoughts because I didn’t hear the door open.
Elias walked in, freshly showered, dressed in casual clothes like he hadn’t just been tearing my soul apart an hour ago.
He moved slowly, like he was afraid I’d run.
And then he sat down beside me, “I missed you, Noa. The second I saw you standing in the courtyard, I wanted to run to you.”
“Then why didn’t you?” I asked.
Elias looked at me like I was the one being unreasonable. Like he actually thought what he was about to say would make it better.
“Because of Harper,” he said finally. “I promised to take care of her after my nephew died. If I’d gone to you—hugged you, claimed you as my wife—what would that have left for Harper? What would people say? That she was the third wheel in our marriage? Do you think she could survive that? She’s not like us, Noa. She wasn’t raised in our world. She… she values her reputation more than anything. I was just supporting her.”
“Support her?” I choked out a humorless laugh. “Is that what you call it? Marrying her?”
He sighed, frustrated. “I thought you were dead, Noa. I really did. There were nights I wanted to die too. It was Harper who kept me standing when I thought I’d lost you.”
“And now?” I asked, voice cold. “Now that I’m back? What’s your plan, Elias?”
“Now?” He hesitated, like he actually needed to think about it.
“Yes,” I pressed.
