The long night returned once more, carrying its cargo of grief and shattered memories as it invaded Elise’s sleep.

Except it was never truly a dream.

It was a wound carved into her life, a nightmare she had already lived through.

The abandoned warehouse by the docks was steeped in dampness, the stale scent of mold hanging heavily in the air. Cold seeped into her bones, spreading through every limb until it felt as though winter itself had wrapped its icy fingers around her body.

"Everyone in North City says you and Dylan are the definition of true love. They say you, the precious daughter of the Harper family, stood by him when he was nothing but a useless young man and helped him claw his way up to become the heir of the Bennett empire."

"People talk about your devotion like it’s some legendary romance. So explain this to me." The kidnapper sneered. "You’ve been kidnapped, yet Dylan won’t even answer a single damn call. Tell me the truth. Are the two of you playing games with us?"

The baseball bat slammed violently against the concrete floor beside her.

The deafening crack exploded through the vast emptiness of the warehouse.

Elise was tied tightly to a wooden chair. Coarse ropes had already shredded the skin around her wrists and ankles, leaving angry, bloodied marks. Her swollen belly rose and fell with every ragged breath she struggled to draw as terror gripped her chest.

The babies inside her seemed to sense their mother’s fear.

Their movements became frantic.

Again and again, the kidnappers used Elise’s phone to call Dylan.

Again and again, the calls went unanswered.

Sweat trickled down her temple as she fought to steady herself.

Dylan had never ignored her calls before.

Never.

If he wasn’t answering, there had to be a reason.

He must have already learned about the kidnapping. He must have been making arrangements. He must have had a plan.

She clung desperately to that belief.

She had to stay calm. She had to trust Dylan. Especially now.

But as the unanswered calls piled up, the kidnappers’ patience wore thinner and thinner.

"You think ignoring us means we’re powerless?" one of them laughed coldly. "Don’t forget, sweetheart, you’re not alone anymore. Judging by that belly, you’re about ready to give birth. Here’s how this works. Every time I call Dylan and he doesn’t answer, I’ll bring this bat down on your stomach once. Then I’ll call again. And again. Until he finally picks up."

When the first blow landed, Elise still believed Dylan would come.

She believed he would save her. She believed he would save their children.

But one strike became another.

Then another.

And another.

Dylan never appeared.

Blood pooled beneath her until it spread across the floor like a crimson ocean. The world around her twisted and fractured, dissolving into a blur of agony and scarlet.

After that, her memories shattered into disconnected fragments.

Consciousness drifted in and out like a flickering candle struggling against a storm.

More than once, she thought she was dying.

"The patient is hemorrhaging uncontrollably!"

"We can’t detect a fetal heartbeat anymore—"

"Mr. Bennett still can’t be reached. We can’t wait any longer. Prepare the operating room immediately."

The harsh white lights above the operating table blinked in and out of focus. Metallic instruments clattered together while tense voices exchanged urgent instructions around her.

They told her her babies were gone.

They told her they still couldn’t reach Dylan.

Blood poured from her body in an endless torrent, while tears streamed silently from the corners of her eyes.

She did not fight.

She did not pray.

Every instinct to survive simply vanished.

She surrendered herself to the darkness.

Somewhere between life and death, she found herself wandering through a dim, winding tunnel.

A voice echoed from the shadows.

Keep moving forward. Your children are waiting for you.

Desperation surged through her violently.

She ran. She ran with everything she had.

Then, from somewhere behind her, came a familiar voice.

"Elise... please wake up. Please... don’t leave me behind."

It was Dylan. The Dylan from five years ago.

He was crying. He was begging.

His voice cracked with despair as he pleaded for her to come back.

He said he needed her.

And in the end, she returned.

After brushing against death’s threshold and somehow finding her way back, she opened her eyes again half a month later.

Her children had already been cremated and buried.

She had never even gotten the chance to see them one last time.

They had been only a week away from full term.

A single week.

From that day forward, her world ceased to exist as she had known it.

The deaths of her children became a curse wrapped around her soul, chaining her forever to that horrific day.

For five years, she drifted between reality and delusion. She would sit clutching the prenatal reports of the twins she had never held, speaking to empty air as though they could still hear her. Every night she relied on sleeping pills to force herself into unconsciousness, only to wake moments later, screaming from the same nightmare of captivity and loss.

Five years.

More than eighteen hundred days and nights.

Grief seeped into every corner of her existence until sorrow became the only thing she truly knew.

On the anniversary of the twins’ death, Dylan did not appear until evening.

The hurt she had buried for years finally broke free.

She demanded to know whether he had ever intended to come at all.

She asked whether he had already forgotten their children.

To her shock, Dylan answered with fury.

He accused her of being unreasonable. He said five years was long enough. He said she should have stopped making a scene by now.

It was the first time he had ever looked at her that way.

Not with love. Not with concern. But with the cold, dismissive gaze reserved for someone unhinged. 𝑓𝑟𝑒𝘦𝓌𝑒𝑏𝑛𝑜𝘷𝑒𝘭.𝒸𝘰𝑚

Something inside her snapped then.

The argument that followed erupted before the gravestones of the son and daughter they had lost, becoming the most vicious fight of their entire relationship.