Chapter 3 After the silence

ELORA'S POV

Three Years Later.

"I never should have sent you off."

Selene's tone sliced through the quiet hum of the city outside the apartment window, and I could see her hand clamped firmly onto the edge of her coffee mug.

I didn't answer right away. I sat before her, legs folded up beneath me on the couch, staring blankly at the steam rising from my own cup, the warmth barely seeping through the ceramic to my palms.

"I just figured.maybe it would help you find some kind of peace," Selene said, her voice soft with regret.

"Closure, maybe. I don't know. But if I'd known it would break you like that-if I'd known what he'd do, El, I swear to God, I would've prevented you from going."

I raised my eyes slowly to meet hers. There was no anger in them, not anymore. Weariness, yes- a deep, bone-deep tiredness that time hadn't erased, no matter how hard I'd tried to outrun it. "It wasn't your fault."

"It does feel like it was," Selene muttered, her gaze dropping to her hands.

I sighed as I settled deeper into the couch, the soft fabric cold against my elbows. Manhattan light streamed in through the window, casting a golden ray around us, as if trying to warm the chill that lingered in the air.

It had been years-three? Four? Days blurred together, slipping through my fingers when I wasn't paying attention.

Time moves differently when you stop expecting anything at all, when each day is just another step to get through, no anticipation, no hope.

"I've got no calls from them, Selene. Not one. Not even a single message." My voice trembled, and I hated how fragile it sounded, how raw the pain still was after all this time. "I wonder sometimes if my own daughter remembers me."

Selene set her mug down gently on the coffee table and sat beside me on the couch, placing her hand softly on my knee- a small, steady anchor in the chaos of my mind. "Of course, she remembers you. She was just a child. She probably isn't aware of what really happened."

I laughed bitterly, the sound hollow in my own ears. "She doesn't need to know. Lucian saw to that. He cut me loose from her so neatly, it was as if I never existed. As if I was just..a phase."

The silence that followed wasn't awkward, just deafening- heavy with all the things we didn't say, all the pain we couldn't put into words.

I thought back to the day I first landed in Manhattan, fresh off the subway, still reeling from the humiliation Lucian had heaped on me.

I could barely breathe then; the city was noisy, fast, a jarring shock to the throbbing quiet that had taken up residence inside me. But I survived anyway- I always did.

That first night, after I hauled my suitcase into the small apartment Selene had leased for me, I cried on the floor until my eyes were dry, until my throat burned, until I had no tears left to give.

Then I stood up, washed my face, and typed out my letter of resignation. No hesitation, no second thoughts. I didn't even hesitate to resign from Weston's company.

I printed the letter the next morning and took it to headquarters myself- Lucian's name was still emblazoned on the building, and I wanted nothing to do with anything that had to do with him, nothing that bore his mark.

That part of my life was over. At least, that's what I tried to tell myself, even when the lie felt heavy on my tongue.

Then I started over. Selene found me a position at a tech company, one where no one knew my name, no one knew my past- a clean slate.

I worked tirelessly, days and nights, even weekends, whatever it took to keep my mind busy, to keep the memories at bay.

I moved up quickly; I got promoted after a year, and with that promotion came an endless stream of achievements, all of which silenced the pain for a little while. but never truly filled the empty space I'd lost when Lucian took Nora away.

But even then, I walked away from it sometimes- moments when the sorrow crept in, unannounced, like an approaching wave that I never saw coming. A child in the subway, clinging tightly to her mother's hand.

A father yelling his daughter's name in the park, laughter echoing. Every time I heard the name "Nora"- a name that used to be my whole world- it felt like a knife to the chest.

Each time, I'd smile, pretending it didn't hurt. I'd blink away the burn behind my eyes and keep going- keep working, keep living, keep breathing. Because what else did I have left to fight for?

"I was mad at him," I whispered, the words barely audible, even to myself. "But I think I was more angry at myself. For thinking he would fight for us. For thinking he wouldn't shove me out the minute he found his true mate."

"Maybe he was afraid..or confused," Selene offered gently, trying to give him the benefit of the doubt- a kindness I couldn't bring myself to extend.

"No," I answered flatly, the word sharp with the weight of all my disappointment. "He was selfish."

Selene didn't argue. She simply nodded, letting me pour out the thoughts that had been festering in my heart for years, letting me say the things I'd never dared to voice out loud.

"I suppose a part of me. a small part of me expected he would call one day. Maybe he'd want to explain, or ask how I was doing, or at least let me talk to Nora.

But he didn't. He never did. And I didn't bother either." My throat tightened, and I struggled to swallow past the lump there. "What sort of mother does that make me?"

"A hurting one, El. One that's going through a lot." Selene exhaled, her hand squeezing my knee softly. "A woman who did all she could."

I turned my face away, my eyes stinging with tears- but I had promised myself, so many times, that I wouldn't weep again.

Not for him. Not for a man who had chosen to cut me out of his life, out of Nora's life, as if I meant nothing.

"I suppose I just have to accept it," I said to her, my voice steady despite the tears threatening to spill. "That she's gone. That he made sure I'd no longer be a part of her life. And he probably sleeps just fine at night because of it."

I stood up and walked to the window, arms crossed tightly across my chest as I glanced down at the city below- a sea of people, all with their own lives, their own happiness, their own families. I envied them, even as I knew I shouldn't.

Selene stood beside me, her shoulder brushing mine. "Don't ever think you're not enough. Because that's never true. He made a choice. That choice doesn't define your worth."

I let my forehead fall forward, my eyes shutting as I whispered, the words breaking on a breath. "I just miss her. That's all. Just her."

We stood there together for a while, the city humming around us, the silence now softer, less overwhelming.

I had no clue what the future would bring. Maybe Nora would one day come looking for me. Maybe Lucian would one day face what he'd done.

But in that moment, I had this life- the one I'd built with my own hands, brick by brick, even when it felt impossible. It wasn't much. But it was mine.

And that was enough- at least for now.

I decided to step back to my desk and get some work done, anything to distract myself from the ache in my chest.

My fingers hovered over the keyboard, the sound of the keypads suddenly loud in the quiet of the apartment.

I leaned back in my chair, rubbing my temples- the weight in my chest hadn't gone away; it had just learned to hide under routine, under the busywork, under the pretense that I was okay.

Then the phone rang.

I glanced at the screen- an unknown number. I stared at it, telling myself it was probably spam, or someone from work, calling to ask me to take on an extra project.

I nearly let it ring out, my finger hovering over the ignore button- but something, a gut feeling, a flicker of hope I thought I'd long since extinguished, made me reach for it.

"Hello?"

Silence.

I almost hung up, my patience already wearing thin.

Then a voice called from the other end- familiar, in a way that made my breath hitch and my heart ache, a voice I hadn't heard in years, a voice I'd tried so hard to forget.

"Elora."

For a second, I couldn't breathe. My hand trembled, the phone nearly slipping from my grasp. Years of silence, years of pain, years of pretending I didn't care- and now. this. My heart pounded so hard I thought it might shatter, right there in my chest.

Then I swallowed hard, forcing the words out, my voice shaky but clear.

"Lucian?"