He Forgot Our Sacrifices, I Took Back Mine

Chapter 3

A muffled, wet thud rang out as the short jade blade sank deep into my shoulder.

I had given this white jade dagger to her as a gift for her eighteenth birthday.

Who would have thought the orphan girl I took in was actually a venomous snake waiting to strike?

Warm blood quickly seeped from the wound, blooming into a dark stain across my shirt.

Dylan's eyes blew wide, and his Adam's apple bobbed once.

"Lena, why did you not dodge?" he asked. "Sure, your leg does not work right anymore, but you could have dodged that easily, could you not? Everyone in the underworld knows your name, Night Reaper. Sia was only sparring with you. How did you get so damn slow now?"

He was right, I thought. How had my fighting skills become this dull?

When I was twenty-five, I was pregnant with Dylan's child, only days away from my due date, when I was kidn*pped.

Dylan nearly lost his mind. He threw everything away just to save me, charging straight into the enemy's stronghold completely alone.

The whole thing was a trap from the start. They had taken me just to lure him in. They injected a poison straight into his brain.

Then they tossed us both into a basement to rot.

He huddled behind a pile of junk back then, his gaze empty and hollow, drool dripping down his chin as he mumbled over and over, "Scared, scared."

My heart seized so sharply at that moment that I could barely draw breath.

I ignored the tight, cramping pain coiling through my belly, gritted my teeth, and crouched down to wrap my hand around his trembling one.

"Dylan, come with me," I said.

I turned, shielding my belly with one arm, and took a bullet straight to the back for him. The searing, stabbing pain crumpled my knees and sent me crashing to the concrete.

The last thing I remembered before blacking out was shoving him into an elevator with every last bit of strength I had left, jabbing the button for the rooftop, where we had stashed our escape plan ahead of time.

When I woke up again, he had lost all memory of that whole ordeal. He could not even control his bladder or bowels, no better off than a helpless invalid.

I was left weak and frail too after miscarrying our baby. But he remembered nothing. He never even knew we had lost a child at all.

Once upon a time, we would have given our lives for each other. I never would have guessed that people's hearts could change in the blink of an eye.

I bit back my rising anger and ground out my words.

"All the Morrowdale businesses are my bottom line," I said. "Besides, Sia is all grown up now. It is not proper for her to keep staying with us. She can stand on her own two feet now. Send her away."

He rubbed the space between his brows with a tired, exasperated sigh, brushed off my words completely, and flicked his hand to summon someone.

"Someone come," he ordered. "See that the madam gets her wound treated, then escort her home to rest."

My brow snapped into a deep frown, and I stared at him like I was staring at a total stranger.

Dylan, I barely recognized you anymore.

That brave young boy who pulled me out of the red-light district was gone, vanished into thin air.

What I did not know then was that the two goons escorting me had already been bought off by Sia. They never had any intention of taking me home.

They taped my mouth shut, bound my hands and feet tight, and threw me into a small compartment.

Sia strolled out with a bright, cold grin, looking down at me from where she stood.

"Mom," she said, "you taught me yourself, did you not? A real strong person does not rely on weapons. They rely on being ruthless enough and playing the situation right."

She pressed that same white jade dagger right against my throat and purred, "What do you think? Have I learned what you taught me well?"

"You are the one who told me I have to fight for everything I want with my own two hands," she continued. "So I slipped a little something into your godfather's drink. Just stay here nice and quiet, and listen closely."

The sharp blade sliced open the vein in my neck, and the coppery tang of blood only made Sia's eyes light up with more excitement.

My hidden lookout tensed, ready to move, but I halted them with a sharp glare, holding them back.

Dylan, I wanted to see just how unrecognizable you had become.