Chapter 54 – Shattered Night, Unwanted Truth
I woke up with my face pressed against a pillow that didn't belong to me. The sheets were too soft, the mattress too perfect, the air too clean. For a fleeting second, I imagined I was back in Calderhallow, in that tiny rented room with squeaky windows and mismatched curtains. But when I sat up, reality came crashing in.
This wasn't home.
This was his world.
The world of Lucian Dreven.
The world that had stolen my daughters overnight.
I swung my legs off the bed, my bare feet touching a rug so thick it felt like walking on clouds. The room stretched wide, far too spacious, with vaulted ceilings and walls adorned with delicate paintings. Everything screamed wealth. Power. Authority.
But what stopped me cold wasn't the room itself it was the hallway I stumbled into.
Doors stood ajar, revealing the twins' rooms.
At first glance, I thought I was in a palace. Each room was tailor-made, designed with such precision that it made my chest hurt. Pink-and-gold canopies draped over the beds. Chandeliers glittered with crystals that caught the morning sun. Shelves lined with dolls, books, and toys they had once begged me for, things I could never afford. Clothes arranged in walk-in closets, more than they could ever wear in a lifetime.
And then on the floor Isla and lila, sitting cross-legged in matching silk pajamas, giggling as Silas poured syrup over stacks of pancakes shaped like hearts.
"Good morning, mama!" Isla's voice rang out.
It looks like nothing has happened to her over night, she looks healthy.
I froze. My girls… they looked so happy. So radiant. Their hair neatly braided, ribbons tied to perfection. Their laughter filled the corridor. They looked at home. Too at home.
"Come on, Rina," Silas teased with that infuriating grin. He wore an apron that screamed Kiss the Cook and somehow managed to look like he owned the entire kitchen staff. "Don't just stand there glaring at me. The pancakes won't eat themselves."
The girls clapped their hands. "Pancakes! Pancakes!"
My lips curved into a smile, but it was weak, trembling, because inside, I was breaking apart. I wanted them to be happy. God, I did. But was this happiness theirs… or stolen from me?
"Mama, sit with us," lila tugged on my sleeve, pulling me toward the table. "You have to try Uncle Silas's cooking!"
"Uncle Silas can cook?" I muttered automatically, but I sat anyway. I couldn't resist them.
Silas winked, placing a plate before me. "You wound me, Rina. I've been slaving away all morning for your approval."
For a moment, I almost laughed. Almost. Then Isla's little voice cut through everything.
"Mama…" Her fork stilled against her plate. "Why don't you stay with us here? Why don't you and daddy stay together?"
I froze.
The pancake turned to ash in my mouth.
Before I could even swallow, lila chimed in, eyes wide, voice cracking. "We don't want two houses anymore. We don't want to go back and forth. We want one home. With you. With daddy. Promise us, mama. Please."
Tears pooled in her lashes, and she turned to Lucian who had appeared silently in the doorway, his presence commanding the entire room.
He said nothing. He just looked at me.
I wanted to scream. To tell them it wasn't that simple. That life didn't bend to the will of two little girls, no matter how much I loved them. That promises weren't so easily made. But their faces fragile, trusting were daggers against my heart.
"Promise," Isla whispered.
I swallowed hard. My throat felt raw. I wanted to run, to vanish, but their eyes trapped me. Slowly, unwillingly, I extended my pinky. "I promise."
The word tasted like betrayal.
Lucian's voice followed, low and sharp, like a blade cutting into stone. "I promise."
The twins cheered, hugging us both, their tiny arms binding me to him with invisible chains.
Silas, oblivious to the storm brewing, clapped his hands. "Well, congratulations! You've just been legally bound by the pinky promise act of the year. There's no backing out now."
They laughed. I didn't.
Because I could already feel it the weight of what I'd just done.
When Silas finally ushered the girls away to show them their new playroom, silence descended. Heavy. Stifling. Unforgiving.
Lucian spoke first, voice like thunder. "Everyone out."
The staff scattered like frightened birds. Even Silas hesitated, but one sharp glare sent him fleeing. Then it was just us.
I gripped the edge of the table. My pulse raced.
Lucian's eyes burned into me. "Slapping me wasn't enough? Now you try to run away with my children?"
I snapped back, anger pouring out like poison. "Your children? Don't you dare call them yours after what happened that night!"
His jaw tightened. "Don't twist this, Rina. You knew they were mine."
It is crystal clear .
Tears welled in my eyes, hot and furious. "I didn't know anything! All I knew was waking up stripped, humiliated, with bruises I didn't remember earning. All I knew was that someone ...someone had used me like I was nothing. And when I found out I was pregnant, do you know what I thought? I thought my family had sold me off like trash."
He took a step closer, his voice sharp but trembling. "You think I planned that? You think I wanted that night?" His eyes glistened, his fists shaking. "I was drugged, Rina.I noticed someone wants to hurts you,I tried to help buti think the drug in you is very strong, I didn't know who was in that room until it was too late. I tried to stop, but I couldn't. I woke up the same way you did. Empty. Shattered. And when I realized what had happened, I wanted to kill the person who set that up. But I couldn't. Because I didn't even know who you were."
My breath caught. His words slammed into me.
For years, I had imagined him as the villain. The monster. The shadow behind the betrayal. But standing here, his pain was raw, palpable, too real to dismiss.
"You expect me to believe you?" My voice cracked. "Lucian Dreven, the god of this city, the man everyone fears helpless? Do you know what it feels like to wake up not knowing if you were… ruined… forever?"
His voice broke, jagged. "Yes. Because I lived it too."
I flinched. My tears blurred him, but his outline was unshakable towering, furious, broken.
For the first time, I saw not the billionaire, not the untouchable king of Arden, but a man scarred as deeply as me.
Silence thickened, broken only by the sound of my own sobs.
Finally, he spoke again, voice quieter, dangerous in its calm. "We'll do it."
I looked up, startled. "Do what?"
His gaze locked onto mine, unrelenting. "Be a couple. Even if it's just pretend. For them."
The words sliced through me.
I wanted to scream, to say no. To fight. But the image of Isla and lila's tear-streaked faces chained me.
"For them," I whispered.
But inside, I knew pretending might destroy me.
Destroy us both.