Shadows Of A Forgotten Spring

Chapter

98

She had scheduled sessions with a child psychologist, desperate for any help to battle his fears, but progress was slow. Each night when he whimpered in her arms, she had whispered promises of safety, of a world where justice prevailed and monsters didn't walk free,

but now she wasn't sure she could keep all those promises.

And then there was Annie. The woman who haunted her life like a relentless shadow. Annie took to the press shortly after Adam's death, oozing with insincerity. She granted the press interviews, her facial muscles stretched and twisted into a picture-perfect mask of grief and tear for her future as a mother. She spoke of the 'tragic incident with a saintly sorrow, her hand resting protectively over her growing belly. Her words became sharp daggers, to carve sympathy from her clueless

And when the crocodile tears slid down her cheeks on national television, Emma felt bile rise in her throat, burning and acrid. The sheer audacity of Annie's performance made her stomach churn

The world saw a grieving, expectant mother caught up in a horrible accident: Emma saw a manipulative liar who was willing to destroy anyone to protect her secret.

The Blackthorn Hospital issued a formal statement of apology, die legal team scrambling to keep the fallout at bay. They promised reforms, tight security, and swore that such a tragedy would never happen again. But the words were not enough for Emma. There was nothing that could replace what had been taken from her. Nothing to return Adam to her and rub the scars off Ethin's soul and the other kids' souls.

With the sun down, making longer shadows in her living room, there came a knock at her door. Emma's heart stuttered. For one frightening moment, she thought it was one of those journalists who had managed to make it into the compound, but when she peeped through the peephole, there was Jaden standing there with a sea of worries within his eyes.

reach her all day, but Emma had been ignoring him; seeing him now, she

he said softly, stepping inside. Without another word, he wrapped her in a hug, his arms strong

storm that raged inside

her composure cracked, and the tears she had been holding back fell freely. She clung to him, the

she whispered into his

"You can't blame yourself for this.

wanted to believe him, to take comfort in his words, but the weight of what was lost was

countertop, the sound reverberating through the empty room. The sharp clink of glass against stone felt like a scream bottled up inside her, threatening to shatter. She had had enough of watching. Emma

was out there, bathed in the light of public sympathy, gathering supporters who believed in her innocence, Jane's life was spiraling into an unrecognizable mess. Her parents, always teetering on the edge of disapproval, now seemed ready to write her off completely. The

her gut. She couldn't bear the thought of being cast out, of losing their last shred of faith. in her. She needed a way out.

half-empty but no longer offering the comfort she sought. She picked

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Chapter 98

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burning gulp, and let the liquid sear down her throat. It was time to stop waiting, time to stop playing by rules that no longer served her. If she was going down, she wasn't going down