Please Come Back, My Love novel Chapter 136

Chapter 136

Elena: POV

I stared at her. The words hung in the air between us like smoke that wouldn’t clear.

“What do you mean?’ My voice came out flat. Empty. Like someone had scooped out everything inside me and left just the shell.

Mom’s hands trembled as she lifted the silver locket from its velvet bed. The afternoon light caught the antique surface, making the intricate engravings

almost glow.

“I found you.” Her voice cracked. “Twenty-four years ago. You were maybe two years old, just learning to talk. Standing on the side of Interstate 95, crying.”

The room tilted.

“Interstate 95?” I repeated stupidly. “Like… the highway through Virginia?”

She nodded, still staring at the locket like it might bite her. “I was driving back from visiting my sister in Richmond. It was late-almost midnight. I saw this little figure on the shoulder of the road, and I thought I was seeing things. Her eyes filled with tears. “But then I got closer and realized it was a child. A baby, really. Wearing a dirty white dress and this.

She held up the locket. The delicate chain caught the light.

“It was around your neck. The only thing you had.”

I couldn’t breathe, Couldn’t think. My brain was trying to process what she was saying, but it felt like trying to grab smoke.

“Where were my parents?” The question came out barely above a whisper.

“I don’t know.” Mom’s voice broke completely. There was no one. No cars, no signs of an accident. Just you, standing there, crying ‘Mommy’ over and over. She wiped her eyes with shaking hands. I looked everywhere drove up and down that stretch of highway for an hour. Called the police. They searched for

days.”

“And?” My heart was pounding so hard I could hear it in my ears.

“Nothing.” She shook her head. “No missing persons reports matching your description. No abandoned vehicles. No witnesses. It was like you’d just…

г appeared out of nowhere.”

I stared at the locket in her hands. The engraved rose was so detailed-each petal had tiny thorns etched into the silver. The craftsmanship was insane. Old- world expensive.

“The police told me to take you to Child Protective Services.” Mom’s voice got stronger, more certain. “But I looked at you-this tiny thing with your big eyes and your little hands grabbing onto my shirt-and I couldn’t do it. I just… couldn’t.”

‘So you kept me.” It wasn’t a question.

“I took you home that night. She met my eyes. “Told everyone I’d adopted you from a private agency. Filed all the paperwork to make it legal. Changed your name to Elena Rose Vance. Her jaw tightened. “I became your mother.”

The weight of it crashed over me. Everything I thought I knew about myself-about where I came from-was a he.

3:05 pm

Chapter 136-

M

Why are you telling me this now?”

The question came out harsher than I meant it to, but I couldn’t help it. Twenty-four fucking years she’d kept this secret, and she was dropping it on me now? When everything else in my he was already burning to the ground?

Mom flinched like I’d slapped her. “Because I’m dying, baby. Her voice cracked again. “And you deserve to know the truth before I’m gone.”

“I don’t want the truth!” I stood up so fast the chair scraped against the floor. “I want you, I want you to be okay. I want- My voice broke. “I don’t care

about some goddamn locket or where I came from. You’re my mom. You’ve always been my mom.”

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