He Buried Me, Then Begged Me to Return

Three Years Later

The man whose ankle she clung to shook her off with a harsh kick. He glanced back at her once, something like pity flashing across his face.

“Elena, you shouldn’t have crossed the wrong people.”

…

Snow fell in silence, settling over the pale face of the woman lying motionless on the ground.

Elena had no strength left.

At some point, the two lives inside her grew still.

A loud bang echoed in the distance as fireworks burst into the sky, lighting up the massive LED screen on a nearby high-rise.

“Tomorrow, Silas Crowe, heir of the Crowe family, will hold a grand wedding ceremony with Sabrina Hale…”

He was celebrating his wedding.

She was dying alone in the snow.

…

…

On the day of his wedding, Silas woke earlier than expected.

He hadn’t slept well. A faint crease lingered between his brows. Draped in a robe, he pushed open the window and lit a cigarette, letting the cold air clear his mind.

Beyond the snow-covered grounds, he caught sight of the butler hurrying in, clutching something in his arms, moving with unusual caution.

“What’s going on?”

Silas narrowed his eyes, his voice sharp.

“What are you holding?”

Zaid instinctively pulled the bundle closer, as if trying to hide it.

An inexplicable unease surged in Silas’s chest.

He headed downstairs and, without hesitation, snatched the bundle from Zaid’s arms.

The moment his eyes fell on the tiny face inside the blanket, his pupils contracted sharply.

A baby.

A newborn, barely the size of his palm, its body stained with blood.

“What is this?”

His expression darkened instantly.

Zaid dropped to his knees, trembling.

“Sir… this is Elena’s child. We just received news of her death. The hospital handed the baby over to us.”

Ash fell from Silas’s fingers as the cigarette burned unnoticed.

He stood frozen.

That woman… greedy, calculating, who had run away with another man and taken his assets.

She was dead?

*

Four years later.

Los Angeles. Children’s Hospital.

“Elena, your friend is here.”

The nurse’s gentle voice pulled Elena out of her exhaustion.

She had just woken from a nightmare. Her face was pale as she rubbed her eyes, unsettled by the image of Silas lingering in her mind.

“Elena, you look terrible. Are you sick?”

Mia Olsen walked in, carrying two takeout boxes. She set them down on the cabinet and looked at Elena with concern.

“Aiden will be fine,” she said softly. “I brought you something to eat. You haven’t had anything all day, right? At least have a few bites.”

The night before, Aiden had suddenly developed a high fever. It escalated so quickly that he went into convulsions and lost consciousness. Elena had been terrified, rushing him to the nearest children’s hospital in the middle of the night.

Now, a full night had passed.

Under the effect of the medication, his fever had subsided. A faint hint of color returned to his delicate, pale face.

His small hand clung instinctively to Elena’s fingers. His breathing was soft and even. Long lashes rested against his cheeks as he slept, quiet and obedient in a way that made her chest tighten.

That winter night four years ago, she had hemorrhaged in the snow, abandoned by the men Silas had sent.

If not for a passerby who found her and rushed her to the hospital, she would not have survived.

When Elena woke up, three days had already passed.

The two babies had been delivered by surgery. The nurse caring for her told her that one of them had been born without breath. The other was barely clinging to life. She was told to prepare for the worst at any moment.

But her child held on.

After a week in critical condition, he finally made it through and was taken out of the incubator.

Lying in bed, Elena carefully took the tiny bundle the nurse placed in her arms. The baby’s face was thin and fragile, yet uncannily similar to her own.

The warmth of that small, soft body seeped into her, easing the raw ache in her chest.

She held him close and broke down in tears.

From that moment on, she had family. Someone bound to her by blood. A reason to keep going.

Mia brought over a bowl of soup and placed it in Elena’s hands.

“It’s the weekend. I’m off work today, so I’ll stay with Aiden,” she said gently. “You have a shift this afternoon, right? Eat something, then get some rest. You look awful. If you keep this up, Aiden will recover and you’ll be the one collapsing.”

Mia was her roommate, fresh out of college and working as an intern at a design firm.

After six months together, she had grown close to Elena and her quiet, well-behaved child. The bond between them now felt no different from that of close friends.