Elena POV:
"Put her in the window," Adrian ordered, his voice devoid of all emotion. "Let her rot there. Let everyone see what happens to a monster who harms a child." His voice was a low growl, a venomous whisper that reached my ears.
My body, already a canvas of burns and bruises, was lifted roughly. The pain was an all-consuming fire, but my mind was numb. They attached chains to the heavy concrete blocks, hoisting them up so I was forced to stand, my arms pulled down by the unbearable weight. They moved me like a grotesque statue to the flagship store on Fifth Avenue and placed me in the main display window.
Adrian stared at my trapped form, a cold, satisfied sneer on his face. "Let her suffer. She brought this upon herself." He turned and walked away, Bella clinging to his arm, her victorious smile plastered on her face.
The world blurred. Pain. So much pain. Then, a shadow fell over me. A tall, imposing figure outside the glass. He didn't say anything, but I saw the horror in his eyes. I tried to focus, to see who it was, but it was impossible.
"Elena," a familiar voice whispered through the thick glass, thick with anguish. "My rose." The voice was raw, choked with emotion. "I swear to God, the people who did this to you will pay. Every last one of them."
Three days later:
Adrian POV:
He sat in his office, the lavish space feeling cold and hollow. Bella was still at the hospital with Leo, milking the sympathy of her followers, but he couldn't focus on her. Elena. He had ordered his men to leave her in the window for three days. Let her stew in her misery, then bring her back to her cage.
His phone rang. It was his head of security. "Sir, we have a problem. At the hospital."
Adrian's heart hammered against his ribs. "What about it?" he demanded, his voice tight.
"It's the boy, Leo. Ms. Bella has been refusing a full toxicology screening. The head of pediatrics found it suspicious and ran one anyway, discreetly. Sir… there was no poison. The boy's reaction was caused by a high concentration of synthetic poison ivy extract applied directly to the skin. An irritant, not a toxin. And... we found the empty bottle in Ms. Bella's personal trash."
The phone slipped from Adrian's suddenly numb fingers, clattering to the polished floor. The sound echoed in the sudden silence. His mind reeled. Poison ivy? Bella? It was impossible. He hated Elena. He despised her.
He grabbed his security chief by the lapels, his eyes wild. "What are you talking about?! Are you insane?! Bella? The mother of my son? That scheming, conniving woman... Elena... did this!"
The chief, a burly man who rarely flinched, looked uncomfortable. "Sir, there's more. The doctor who accused her? We checked his financials. He received a one-million-dollar transfer from an offshore account linked to Ms. Bella yesterday morning."
A searing pain erupted in his head, a blinding, throbbing agony that threatened to split his skull. Memories, fragmented and blinding, slammed into him. The scent of her hair, the softness of her skin, the way she used to laugh, her eyes sparkling like the lab beakers.
He crumpled to the floor, clutching his head, a guttural cry tearing from his throat. The cryo-room. The lullaby. My rose. It was all real. It was her.
"Elena!" he gasped, his voice raw. "Get her back! Now! Bring her home!"
His chief hesitated. "Sir… we went to retrieve her from the display window. But she's gone. The window was smashed. A black armored car drove right through it two days ago. She disappeared. No one knows where."
The world tilted. The air was sucked from his lungs. Gone. Elena was gone. He stumbled to his feet, his legs like jelly, and ran. He burst out of his office, down the opulent stairs, out the front door. He ran through the manicured gardens, past the gates, onto the street. He didn't care about his discarded shoes, the curious stares of passersby. He just ran.
He ran to the flagship store, his heart a frantic drum against his ribs. The place was swarming with reporters, with angry crowds still chanting Elena's name, calling her a monster. "Child abuser! Lock her up!" they screamed. He pushed through them, a man possessed, ignoring their curses and shoves.
He burst into the pristine lobby. The display window was boarded up. The concrete blocks were gone. No sign of Elena. No sign of the life he had just shattered.
A sharp, searing pain tore through his chest, a physical agony that mirrored the torment in his mind. He remembered her words, her final, defiant scream: "You, the man who lost his entire memory of love, only to be manipulated by a parasite!" He had dismissed it then, another pathetic attempt to manipulate him. But she had meant it.
He had always prided himself on his control, his cold logic. He had convinced himself that his occasional flashes of concern for Elena were just misplaced patriarchal protectiveness. He had told himself he didn't care for her, not really. He had tried to bury the confusing pull he felt towards her under layers of cruelty and indifference. But now, the dam had burst. He loved her. He had always loved her. And he had destroyed her.
He pulled out his phone, his fingers shaking, frantically calling every contact, every agency, every private investigator he knew. "Find Elena Wallace! I don't care what it costs!"
Hours later, his search yielded nothing. No trace. No leads. Just the crushing weight of his guilt.
His phone rang again. It was Bella. "Addy? Where are you? Leo is crying. You need to come home and comfort him." Her voice was whiny, demanding.
He paused, taking a deep, shuddering breath. Elena won't go far, he told himself, a desperate attempt at self-comfort. She's tied to this place. She'll come back. He ordered his security team to continue the search, then turned and headed back to his car. He had to deal with Bella. And the child.
He walked into the mansion, the sounds of Bella's incessant complaints filling the air. "Your son is impossible, Addy! He's so wild! He keeps throwing things and making messes!"
Wild. The memory hit him like a physical blow. The boy. Leo. The ice cream. The pruning shears. He remembered seeing Elena's burns, the raw skin, the agonizing pain in her eyes. He had yelled at Leo, furiously, for his prank. He had even tried to examine Elena's wounds, a strange, undeniable urge to soothe her. But then Bella had called, spinning a tale of Elena's "malicious delight" in their childish mischief, and he had pushed the concern away, convinced it was just another one of Elena's manipulative ploys.
He looked at Leo now, his innocent face smiling up at him. His heart, still raw from the returning memories, clenched. He forced a smile, stooping to pick up his son. His face, moments ago etched with grief and panic, softened into a mask of paternal affection.
He didn't notice the faint glow of Bella’s phone, resting on the coffee table. A single unread text message, partially obscured by a magazine. The doctor is secured. Elena will be ruined. Mission accomplished.
