Chapter 277: Encounter At The Park 2

"I am not."

Alena forced the words out evenly, but her trembling fingers betrayed her.

"You were never good at lying, Alena."

His gaze lingered on her pale face before shifting toward the children.

"I’m actually surprised to see you here."

His eyes briefly settled on Randy, then Yana.

Something unreadable flickered across his face.

"So," he said coldly, "you found yourself a rich patron."

Alena’s heart twisted.

Once, she had believed this man truly loved her.

She had given him her heart despite knowing that he was someone she could never have. She had loved him quietly, desperately, knowing all along that their relationship could never have a place in the world he belonged to.

And in the end, she had paid the price for loving him.

Alena swallowed the ache rising in her throat.

"If that’s what you think, there’s nothing I can do about it."

She tried to sound indifferent.

She failed.

The man’s hands slowly curled into fists.

His jaw tightened, and the muscles along his cheek hardened.

He was about to speak when the little boy beside them suddenly looked up.

"Dad..."

The man’s expression softened almost imperceptibly.

"Who is this lady?"

The question was innocent.

The man glanced at Alena. For one brief moment, their eyes met. Then he looked away.

"She’s no one, son."

His voice was cold.

"Don’t mind her."

The words struck Alena like a blade. Her heart shattered. It felt as though a thousand needles had pierced straight through her chest.

She stared at the little boy.

At his round cheeks.

His dark-brown eyes.

The tiny curve of his lips.

Every feature was painfully familiar.

He was the child she had carried inside her for nine months.

The child she had given birth to.

The child she had nursed for four precious months.

The child who had been taken from her.

Her fingers trembled against the carousel horse.

He’s my son.

Yet to him, she was no one.

A nobody.

But perhaps that was exactly what she was in Carlos’s world.

He was no longer the man she had known.

Carlos Foran was a rising political figure in Novare—a brilliant young congressman whose name appeared regularly in newspapers and political circles.

And she?

She was a woman with a past that could become a stain on his carefully constructed reputation.

Carlos was married to a Montana, a family of prominent lawyers in the capital. Five years had passed since their marriage, yet they still had no child.

Three years ago, Alena had never imagined that the man standing beside her now would one day become someone so far beyond her reach.

Back then, when they first met at the massage parlor, Carlos had hidden his identity.

He told her he was nothing more than an ordinary office employee.

Alena believed him.

After their first massage session, he had told her he was pleased with her service and left an unusually generous tip.

Whenever Alena received a large tip, she gave eighty percent of it to Mama Sang.

It was the only way she knew to protect herself.

If Mama Sang was satisfied with the money Alena brought in, she wouldn’t be pressured into providing the additional service that many clients demanded.

Then, the following week, Carlos returned.

This time, he asked for that additional service.

Alena had immediately shaken her head.

"Sir, I’m already a married woman. I have two children."

She had spoken pleadingly.

Usually, that was enough.

Some clients would curse and leave. Others would persist, but Alena had learned how to handle them—finding ways to refuse without provoking them, sometimes satisfying them in other ways that stopped short of what they wanted.

But Carlos was different.

He didn’t leave. He simply stared at her.

"Where is your husband?"

"We’re divorced," Alena replied without blinking.

His eyes narrowed.

"How many men have used you?"

The blunt question made heat rise to Alena’s cheeks.

She lowered her eyes.

"I’ve only been intimate with my husband."

Carlos studied her suspiciously.

But he had already had her investigated.

He knew she had no disease, and the owner of the massage parlor had personally vouched for her.

That night, Carlos took her to bed. And afterward, everything changed.

He took Alena away from that hell hole and brought her to a small apartment in the suburbs.

At first, it felt like a dream. He pampered her, bought her clothes and jewelry.

He gave her money and treated her as though she was precious.

For a woman who had spent years struggling merely to survive, it was easy to mistake his possessiveness for love.

Until the day she discovered who he really was.

Carlos Foran...a man whose name carried weight in political circles.

A man who had lied to her from the very beginning.

Terrified, Alena tried to leave.

That was when the nightmare began.

Carlos changed. The gentle man she had known disappeared.

He became controlling, possessive, and frighteningly determined to keep her within that small apartment.

The doors were locked. Her movements were watched. Her freedom slowly disappeared.

And then she discovered she was pregnant.

Alena was scared.

She considered ending the pregnancy because she was afraid Carlos would never accept the child.

But when the moment came, she couldn’t do it. The tiny life inside her was innocent. She couldn’t bring herself to destroy it.

When Carlos finally learned she was pregnant, something astonishing happened.

He was happy. Genuinely happy.

For the first time, Alena saw something in his eyes that resembled joy.

After that, he no longer touched her.

He waited until she gave birth and nursed his son for four months.

And then—

He took the baby away.

Alena had never forgotten that day.

Nor had she forgotten the emptiness that followed.

...

The carousel began to move.

Alena blinked.

The memory dissolved beneath the cheerful music.

Brightly painted horses rose and fell as the carousel slowly turned.

Children laughed and parents smiled.

Music filled the air.

But Alena heard none of it.

Her eyes remained fixed on the little boy beside her.

Kai...her son.

After all these years, she was finally standing only inches away from him.

Close enough to reach out and touch him.

But she couldn’t.

Because the little boy who should have called her Mom had just been told that she was no one.

Alena’s eyes burned.

She quickly lowered her head, afraid that the tears gathering in them would betray her.

Then Kai suddenly turned toward her.

His dark eyes met hers.

For a moment, Alena forgot how to breathe.

There was something about his gaze.

Something so familiar that it hurt.

And then the little boy smiled at her.

A small, innocent smile.

The same smile she remembered from the child she had once held against her chest.

Alena’s lips trembled.

Does he remember me?

The question sent a fresh ache through her heart.

Of course he didn’t.

He had been only a baby when they were separated.

To him, she truly was a stranger and Alena wouldn’t dare to hope for something more.