Take This Withered Love

The world spun as Elena's body crashed down the staircase. Pain exploded through her limbs, and warm blood streamed from her forehead, blurring her vision.

Benjamin and Charlotte stood at the top of the stairs, smiling maliciously.

Charlotte clapped her hands, while Benjamin made a face.

"Serves you right!"

"That's what you get for not giving us cake!"

Elena struggled to push herself up. Blood dripped onto the floor from her chin and her arm, cut by broken glass.

She looked at the two children before her and couldn't reconcile them with the children she'd once fought to bring into this world while lying half-conscious in the delivery room.

The front door flew open just then.

"What happened?"

Lucas' low voice rang out. Sabrina followed close behind him, and the two of them froze at the sight before them.

"Dad!"

The children's expressions shifted instantly as they rushed toward him in tears. "Mom threw the cake away and wouldn't let us eat it, and she said she doesn't want us anymore!"

Lucas's gaze fell on the cake in the trash, then shifted to Elena, who was covered in blood. His brows knit together. "Elena, why do you insist on making things difficult with your own children?"

His voice was icy. "How could you say something like that to your biological children? You don't deserve to be a mother!"

Elena braced herself against the wall and slowly stood up. Blood stained the collar of her clothes.

She looked at him and suddenly laughed.

"When have I ever deserved anything in your eyes?" she asked hoarsely. "Haven't you always treated me as nothing more than a tool to bear your children?"

Lucas' pupils contracted slightly.

"If the wife you want is Sabrina, and if the kids only want her as their mother, then I'll step aside and give the four of you the family you want," Elena said as she wiped the blood from her face.

The air seemed to freeze.

Lucas' expression darkened. He stared at her as though he was seeing her clearly for the first time.

"Don't forget, Elena," he said in a chilling tone. "Our marriage was an alliance between the Fischer and the Jennings families. There was never any love to begin with. What exactly do you expect me to give you? Love?"

He let out a short, humorless laugh. "I'm sorry. I can't."

Elena laughed, and tears slipped down her face as she listened.

He was right.

She'd been foolish enough to think she could soften him.

Lucas had softened once before, but not for her.

She should've known better.

"Lucas, that's enough," Sabrina said gently, taking hold of his arm. "The kids are frightened. Let's take them upstairs first."

Lucas looked at Elena for a long moment. Finally, he turned away, lifting one child in each arm and leaving with Sabrina at his side.

Elena watched their retreating silhouettes while blood continued to drip onto the floor.

She'd never felt regret this sharply before—regret for marrying Lucas and for giving birth to those two children.

In this lifetime, she wouldn't repeat the same mistake.

From now on, she would live only for herself.

…

Three days later, it was Benjamin's birthday.

The party was held at the most luxurious hotel downtown. Crystal chandeliers scattered brilliant light across the ceiling, and a towering champagne tower gleamed at the center of the ballroom.

As always, Lucas had booked the entire floor and thrown Benjamin a grand celebration.

Elena stood quietly in a corner.

She watched as Benjamin and Charlotte held Sabrina's hands on either side of her, circling her like two cheerful little birds. They clung to her the entire evening, deliberately leaving Elena alone.

Not far away, Lucas stood with a champagne glass between his fingers, his gaze drifting toward Sabrina occasionally.

The tenderness in his eyes was something Elena had never once seen directed at her.

"Mr. Fischer is such a devoted man. Despite all these years, he only has eyes for Ms. Miller."

"Of course. Even the kids take after him. They don't have eyes for anyone but Sabrina."