Reborn at Eighteen The Billionaire's Second Chance novel Chapter 45

Reborn at Eighteen: The Billionaire’s Second …

Chapter 45

Elara

Lily was almost three when they stopped reducing my medication

entirely.

“There’s no point,” Tristan said. “You can’t produce work anymore. We

need to focus on keeping you stable.”

“Stable” meant semi–comatose.

I’d wake up and Lily would already be at the nurse’s apartment. I’d

sleep through dinner. Through baths. Through bedtime stories.

“Mama?” She’d stand in my doorway sometimes, her little voice

uncertain. “Are you sick?”

‘Yes, baby. Mama’s sick.”

“When will you be better?”

“Soon. I promise.”

But I never got better.

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Three weeks after Lily’s third birthday, Tristan came with the lawyers

and the CPS worker.

I was lying on the couch in yesterday’s clothes. There were dishes in

the sink. I’d forgotten to shower. The apartment smelled stale.

Lily wasn’t even there–she was staying full–time at the nurse’s

apartment now, only visiting me for an hour each day under

supervision.

“Elara, we need to talk about Lily’s welfare.”

I couldn’t even sit up properly. The medication made everything

swim.

“We’re filing for emergency custody. The court hearing is in two

weeks.”

“No-”

Look at yourself. You can barely function. You haven’t painted in

over a year, so the reduced medication protocol is no longer medically

justified. You need full–time care yourself, let alone being able to care

for a child.”

The CPS worker was taking photos. The dirty dishes. The unmade bed.

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Me, slurring my words, unable to stand without swaying.

“This is what you did to me,” I whispered. “You did this.”

“You did this to yourself,” Tristan said calmly. “You refused to accept

help. You refused to acknowledge your mental illness. And now Lily is

suffering because of it.”

The court hearing was a blur.

I couldn’t focus. Couldn’t articulate my thoughts. Cried on the stand.

Julian testified. “She’s unable to provide adequate care.”

Tristan testified. “We’ve provided three years of medical support and

housing. She’s only deteriorated.”

The nurse testified. “The child barely knows her mother anymore. She

cries when forced to visit.”

Sloane testified in her suit, her voice soft with regret. “I’ve tried to help. But Elara has made paranoid accusations against me. I worry

about what Lily might be exposed to.”

Judge Morrison read the verdict.

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“Parental rights terminated. Child to be placed in foster care pending

adoption proceedings.”

Just like that.

Lily was gone.

I saw Tristan afterward in the courthouse hallway.

“Why?” I could barely stand. “Why did you destroy me?”

He looked down the hall where Sloane was waiting, radiant in the

afternoon light.

“She mentioned once that it bothered her. Seeing Julian’s daughter

with another woman. It made her feel insecure about their future

together. She cried about it.” His voice went soft, reverent. “She didn’t

ask me to do anything. She would never ask. But I knew what needed

to happen. What would make her happy. What would give her and

Julian the clean start they deserved.”

“You took three years of my life. You destroyed my mind. You took my

daughter. All because Sloane cried?”

“I did what was necessary for the family.” But his eyes betrayed him-

he’d done it for her. For love. For the desperate hope that maybe,

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someday, she’d see him as more than Julian’s brother.

And she never even knew what he’d done in her name.

The memory released me and I was back–back in the hallway with

Tristan’s hands around my throat and his face twisted with rage and

behind his glasses I could see it now, could see the truth I’d been too

drugged and desperate to understand before.

He’d done it all for Sloane.

Every document. Every lie. Every needle full of poison they’d pumped

into my veins.

Not because Julian asked him to. Not even because the family

demanded it.

Because he loved her. Because he thought if he cleared away all the

obstacles, all the complications, all the ugly messy proof that Julian

had touched someone else–maybe, just maybe, she’d finally look at

him with something other than polite gratitude.

And she’d never even known.

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Or had she?

Had she whispered in his ear, sweet and worried, “I don’t know what

to do about Elara and that baby“? Had she cried on his shoulder and

let him promise to fix everything? Had she thanked him after, with

that perfect smile, and never asked what “fixing” meant?

I’d never know.

But it didn’t matter.

E

Because Tristan had made the choice. Had signed the papers. Had

locked me in that white hell and thrown away my daughter like she

was garbage to be disposed of.

“You.” I forced the word out through his crushing grip. “You killed…

Lily…”

“You’re fucking insane!” His hands tightened. “See? You’re crazy! Just

like I said!”

“TRISTAN!”

The voice was old but commanding, and Tristan’s hands released

instantly.

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I collapsed, gasping, my throat on fire.

“Dios mío!” Mamá’s voice, high and panicked. “My baby! My baby

girl!”

She crashed to her knees beside me, her hands fluttering over the

marks on my neck–vivid red fingerprints already darkening to

bruises.

Mr. Vane Senior stood at the corridor’s end, his cane planted firmly on

the marble floor, his expression thunderous.

“To the study. Now.” His voice left no room for argument.

Tristan’s face was still flushed, his glasses askew. “Grandfather, she-

she was spreading lies about me–saying terrible things—”

“Now.”

Tristan shot me one last venomous look and stormed off, his

footsteps echoing down the hall.

Mr. Vane Senior approached slowly, his cane tapping a steady rhythm. He looked down at me–not at my injuries, not at Mamá crying over me–just at my face, measuring, calculating.

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When he spoke, his voice was different. Colder.