Shadows Of A Forgotten Spring

Chapter 149 Chapter 149

"I was protecting my kids!" Emma snapped, her voice cracking under the strain of her emotions.

"Protecting them from whom?" Alexander asked, his voice breaking with disbelief. He looked to his left and then to his right, as if to ask, Where is the bad man? "From me?" He scoffed in bitterness, shaking his head. "I never thought you'd stoop this low, Emma." Emma's chest heaved as she struggled to hold back her tears. "And I never thought you would divorce me for a woman you hadn't seen in years. You made your choice, Alexander, and I made mine. It is a win win, isn't it?

"Stop trying to justify yourself!" Alexander's voice thundered, raw with the pain he had bottled up for weeks. "If you had told me back then, I might have reconsidered everything."

"Reconsider?" Emma scoffed, the word bitter with resentment. "You were too blinded by your love for Annie to even notice me, Alexander. To you, I was nothing but an obstacle. A woman you were forced to marry in order to claim your inheritance."

"You hid my children from me!" Alexander roared, his anguish spilling over. "I missed four years of their lives, years I can never get back. And even when I finally met them, you told me to stay away, as if I'm some kind of threat

Emma furiously wiped away her tears. "They are my kids.

"They are our children." Alexander reiterated, firm but his voice soft and steady. "It's time, Emma, we did right."

Emma took some steps backward, her head shaking. "I won't let you take them from me."

trying to take them from you." Alexander said in a softer tone, though the hurt still resonated in his voice. "But I deserve to be in their lives. They have the right to know who their

as she turned and walked away, her heart shattering

her chest. She had heard every word, and the devastation coursing through her veins was unlike anything she had ever felt. The walls she had built around her lies had begun to crumble, and it now seemed obvious that her place in

not wanted the whole conversation to go that way,

help what Emma has done

betrayed him in the

street. His hands on the railings, he let go of all his emotions and let the tears roll

AAAAA

in bed as her mind refused to grant her even a moment's reprieve. If she had known that things would go this way, she would have

weight of her choices pressing down on her like a suffocating blanket. She knew Alexander too well, better than she cared to admit. He had always been a man of unyielding determination, someone

business deal or some trophy he wanted to claim. It was about her children,

gets up in the morning, her ray of sunshine through the stormiest nights. The thought of Alexander taking them from her sent

clenched tightly into the sheets as her resolve hardened. If Alexander thought to take her children from her, he was sorely mistaken. Emma was ready to fight tooth and nail for them, to protect them with everything she had. Annie ran into the bathroom for

looked in the mirror at her reflection staring back: circles were under her eyes, and there was an air of tenseness everywhere. She splashed cold water on her

signs of leaving the hospital. For a month, Annie had endured this nightmare: staying in a place she despised,