Claudia POV
I could only watch helplessly as my daughter tumbled down the spiral staircase—along with Lara. They stopped at the foot of the spiral staircase, lying motionlessly on the ground.
For a split second, it felt as though my heart shattered like fragile glass at the sight before me, then I snapped.
"No! No!"
My vision blurred as I fought back my tears. My body jerked and moved on its own, nearly tumbling down the stairs in my haste to reach my daughter. I dropped to my knees and pulled Aurora into my arms.
My hands trembled with fear and horror when I realized she had hit her head so hard that it was bleeding.
"Aurora… oh God… no!" I sobbed. "Baby, please wake up!"
I pressed my palm against her head, desperate to stop the bleeding, all while fumbling for my phone and dialing 911.
I barely remembered what I said to the operator. All I knew was that I was screaming for an ambulance to come as soon as possible.
"Stay with me, Aurora! Open your eyes!"
As if responding to my voice, Aurora's eyelids fluttered open and stared at me weakly, her gaze unfocused.
"M-mommy… it… hurts…" she whispered before her eyes closed again.
"AURORA!"
There was nothing else on my mind except Aurora's safety. My vision tunneled as I completely shut out the witch who had pushed my daughter down the stairs.
However, I did notice the other helpless child who had fallen alongside Aurora as Lara's condition was no better.
In fact, the wound on her head looked even worse as blood gushed out freely and pooled on the ground.
My motherly instincts took over. I pulled Lara into my arms as well, pressing my hand against the open gushing wound on her head while waiting desperately for the ambulance to arrive.
Then, the voice of a man rang out, "Aurora! Lara!"
I lifted my head immediately and glared at Miles, who had just arrived at the bottom of the staircase. He kneeled in front of me, wanting to touch his bloodied daughter, but before he could do so, Clarissa stopped him with a single sentence.
"Remember our plan, Miles."
Miles' hand stopped midair, and we turned our heads at the same time towards Clarissa, who walked downstairs slowly while her heels were tapping the floor.
"C-Clarissa, this is too much. I—"
"You agreed to it," Clarissa interrupted him again. "You said that you don't want daughters to begin with, so it's okay to use them as bait. I even told you the whole plan!"
"W-what is the meaning of this, Miles?" I asked. He looked back at me before dodging my eyes and said absolutely nothing. "MILES!"
"It's all part of our plan, dear sister," Clarissa showed a crooked smile, the same damn smile that she had whenever she had successfully tortured me in the past. "And Miles has been in on this from the start. We want to make sure you have no way to escape."
"Miles said that he's getting annoyed by your constant nagging, and the fact that you act so high and mighty in this house while he's the man who should lead the household to begin with," Clarissa said. "So, we planned to push these little bitches and blame it all on you. What do you think? I'm such a genius, right?"
My chest felt tight as it became difficult to breathe. What Clarissa said sounded so twisted and unbelievable that I turned my head towards Miles, demanding an explanation, "Tell me that she's lying, Miles."
"Claudia, I—
"TELL ME!" I snapped at him. I couldn't control my emotions right now, and the only reason why I hadn't jumped on them was because my hands were busy covering the open wounds on these little girls!
Miles' body jolted at my voice. He looked so scared that he kept looking at Clarissa, as if he was asking for help, and the witch giggled, "Don't worry, we can always pretend that everything is all well, and these two girls simply fell by accident. But you have to accept our terms."
"Why don't you tell her the terms, Miles?" Clarissa smiled at Miles. "It's you who wants her to do everything that you want, right? Now's the time to make her submit, since you claimed to be an alpha male before."
However, Miles continued hesitating to the point that I could see fear in his eyes.
"C-Clarissa, this is too much. My daughters are bleeding, and I—"
"Miles Hoffman—" Clarissa's smile disappeared and was replaced with a cold glare. "Don't you always want a son to pass on the mantle and continue your bloodline? It doesn't matter if these two girls are dead, because we can always try to get me pregnant and continue aborting until we get a son."
"But you can't do that with this loose bitch. You were the one who told me that Claudia had three miscarriages before having her daughter, and the obstetrician said that it's difficult for her to conceive after giving birth to Aurora."
"So why are you hesitating? We'll sacrifice these two girls and start anew with a son that will carry your legacy!"
My heart sank when I heard that from Clarissa. I didn't want to believe my husband could be capable of something like this.
"Miles… These are your daughters she's talking about killing! You can't be serious!" I screamed out.
Miles refused to meet my eyes or defend the girls. Hurt, disbelief, rage, and disappointment whirled within me, and I wanted to stab this bastard in the chest to see if he still had a beating heart inside.
Then, I heard the sound of the police sirens and the ambulance entering our driveway.
"Miles! This is our only chance!" Clarissa yelled, and something inside Miles changed, because he looked at me as if I were an animal that needed to be caged.
Miles gritted his teeth for a second before whispering, "You only have yourself to blame, Claudia."
Then, his entire expression changed, and so did Clarissa's. Like a seasoned actress, her malicious grin vanished and tears streamed down from the corner of her eyes as she threw herself towards the girls.
With his strength, Miles grabbed my neck and pushed me away from the girls, and then pinned me down, "What have you done to my daughter! You—you're batshit insane, Claudia!"
Meanwhile, Clarissa hugged the girls, smearing her dress with their blood, and wailed, "No! My daughter! Please save my daughter! I don't want her to die!"
The medics and police officers broke in and saw this devastating scene.
The officer tried to pull Miles away from me, but not because they wanted to protect me.
"You evil witch! How could you do this to your own daughter!" Miles yelled, looking distressed as if he was about to strangle me.
He looked at the police officer who restrained him and yelled, "Officer, arrest her before she does something worse to my daughter! She's been suffering from paranoia! She's going insane!"
The theatrics that Clarissa and Miles put on were so convincing that even I began to question whether I was the crazy one, especially when one of the police officers restrained me as well.
I didn't react. I was too stunned, too numb, and completely outnumbered.
At that moment, I felt like the whole world was crumbling right in front of my eyes, and there was nothing I could do.