My Cold-Hearted Husband Wants Me Back
Chapter 101: The Price of A Moment

Chapter 101: The Price of A Moment

Lunara instantly rushed toward the entrance of the indoor playground, her breath tight in her chest. Every instinct screamed that something was wrong, terribly wrong.

Her eyes scanned the corridor, and that was when she saw it.

Just a few meters ahead, a woman walked briskly, holding a little girl in her arms. The child’s floral top, soft yellow with tiny pink dots, was far too familiar.

"Mila!" Lunara’s voice rang out, louder than she meant, breaking through the quiet of the mall.

Naomi, startled by the sudden shout, looked around wildly. "What? What is it?"

But Lunara was already moving.

The woman didn’t turn. In fact, the moment she heard Lunara screamed Mila’s name, her pace quickened. Her head stayed low, face hidden behind a large mask and oversized sunglasses.

Lunara’s heart slammed in her chest. "Stop!" she shouted, picking up speed, feet pounding against the tiled floor.

"Mila!" she called again, voice cracking now.

Naomi’s eyes finally landed on the woman ahead and gasped. "She’s running!"

The hallway blurred around Lunara as she sprinted forward, weaving past startled shoppers. Her lungs burned, but she barely noticed. Her mind was a storm of panic and disbelief. Mila. Just get Mila.

She couldn’t feel her feet anymore, just the rush of movement, the beat of her heart thundering in her ears.

"Security!" Naomi cried behind her, her voice trembling as she pulled out her phone. "Someone’s taking a child! Please, help!"

The woman with Mila glanced back and immediately broke into a run.

Lunara pushed harder, ignoring the numbness in her legs. She couldn’t lose them. No, never.

Then she heard it, small, weak, but clear.

"Mommy!"

The cry cut through the air like a blade, straight into Lunara’s chest.

It was Mila.

Her little arms reached out from the woman’s hold, wriggling, desperate. And that one word ’Mommy’, ripped the world apart.

Lunara stumbled for a beat, her heart crashing against her ribs.

She couldn’t even remember how long it had been. A month? Maybe more?

But it was enough.

Enough to fall in love with her smile. Enough to learn every tiny sound she made. Enough to know the difference between her playful cries and her frightened ones.

Enough for Mila to look at her and see her as a mother.

People were turning to stare now, but no one reacted fast enough. The woman bolted past the last row of stores and shoved through the glass doors, bursting into the open space outside the mall.

Lunara was seconds behind, gasping as daylight blinded her for a moment. She blinked through it, eyes locking on the figure just ahead.

Naomi followed, breathless, tears already stinging her eyes. "She’s heading for the road!"

She turned a corner, shoving past startled pedestrians, and burst through the automatic glass doors of the mall. Outside, the street roared with cars and chaos, but she didn’t slow down.

The woman glanced back, panic flashing across the small part of her face not covered. She turned sharply, her feet stumbling slightly before she broke into a desperate sprint toward the traffic.

"Stop, give me my daughter back!" Lunara shouted, her voice breaking, raw with desperation. "I will give you anything you want! Just give her back!" Her voice was shaky, and her breath was ragged, barely keeping up with the pounding of her feet and the thunder in her chest.

The woman didn’t stop.

"Please!" Lunara cried out, her throat started to feel dried. "She’s just a child!"

Mila was screaming now. The sound pierced through the wind and the noise of the street. "Mommy! Mommy!"

"Mila!" she tried again, forcing her legs to carry her faster. Her vision blurred as she ran, every step was filled with desperation.

"MOMMY!" Mila’s voice cracked through the air, filling with fear it made Lunara’s chest seize.

The woman, clearly rattled by the cries and the pursuit, darted off the curb without checking.

A horn blared.

Lunara’s vision narrowed, her heart freezing as a black SUV skidded violently, the tires screeching against the pavement. The woman turned her body, shielding Mila instinctively but it was not enough.

The impact came with a sickening sound, and everything else, the crowd, the cars, Naomi’s scream, all fell away.

"NO! NO!" Lunara screamed, her heart lurching as the car barreled toward the woman and Mila. She reached out, as if to stop it, but it was too late.

The collision was a blur of motion and Mila’s small body flung from the woman’s grasp, her arms flailing through the air as she tumbled toward the ground.

The sound of metal crashing against the pavement and another sound of tires screeching.

Time stopped.

For a split second, everything was still. Lunara’s body froze, her breath caught in her throat. She could hear her heartbeat, pounding against the silence, as though the world itself had paused.

The woman collapsed to the ground with a sickening thud, her limbs twisted from the impact. For a moment, she didn’t move.

But then, slowly, she raised her head, blood trailing down her temple, her mask torn halfway off. She looked toward Mila, who now lay motionless a few feet away.

With trembling arms, she began to crawl, desperate, dragging herself inch by inch along the asphalt, her fingers stretching out as if she could still reach the child she’d stolen. She needed the money.

But her strength gave out.

Just before she could reach the child, her arm collapsed beneath her. Her head dropped to the ground, eyes fluttering closed as she finally lost consciousness.

Lunara’s legs gave way, and she stumbled, scraping her knee hard against the pavement. The pain shot through her body, but it didn’t matter. Nothing mattered except Mila.

She could barely feel the burn of her scraped skin, the sting of the gravel embedding in her flesh. Her heart pounded in her ears, the only thing she could hear was the rush of blood in her head, her body moving before she could even think.

"Mila!" she screamed, her voice hoarse, cracked.

She pushed forward, ignoring the pain, her feet a blur as she ran toward Mila, ’her daughter’.

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