The Billionaire Twins Need A New Mommy! - Chapter 434

Chapter 434: Second Life?
Proposing to Lola in a cemetery, under the pouring rain, and in poor condition, wasn’t in the plan.

What Atlas had envisioned was far from this. He wanted perfect weather, a cozy setting filled with warmth, maybe a quiet place where she could smile without pain behind her eyes. He wanted the kind of moment that would make her heart light, not heavy.

But as he stood there that night, soaked and surrounded by the remnants of her anguish, the only thing he could think of was taking her away. Away from everything that had hurt her, away from the ghosts of the past, and away from the ruins she had been forced to live in all her life.

He wanted to take her somewhere safe — somewhere her heart could finally rest.

Atlas had felt pain before. It was pain that molded him into who he was, that tempered him into steel. Yet what he felt now was different. Watching Lola crumble had shaken something inside him that he didn’t even know was capable of breaking.

For the first time, he wished he weren’t who he was.

He wished he could be like everyone else. Someone who knew how to comfort, who knew how to express the right words he never said, or someone who could take her pain and carry it himself. He could endure it; he could take the damage. That much he was sure of.

But he couldn’t take away hers.

*****

SLAM!

The sharp sound of glass meeting wood snapped him out of his thoughts.

Lola grinned, her eyes glimmering as she held the empty shot glass high. “This is nice!” she cheered, her tone too bright to be real.

Around the table sat Atlas, Penny, and Slater. The four of them were gathered in the mansion’s dining room, the storm long over but the weight of the night still lingering in the air.

Lola, however, acted like nothing had happened. Her laughter was loud, her smile wild, and her cheeks flushed from alcohol.

“You guys should drink too,” she insisted, reaching for the bottle again. Her gaze landed on Penny. “Penny, we’re sisters now, right? Drink up, girl!”

Penny let out a quiet sigh before forcing a smile. “I don’t drink,” she said softly, then raised a glass filled with grape juice. “But for you, I’ll make an exception.”

She downed it in one go, earning a giggle from Lola.

Lola turned next to Slater, who had barely touched his glass. “What’s wrong with you?” she asked, squinting playfully. “Slater, stop looking at me like that. If you’re here to cheer me up, then drink with me!”

She grinned, the mischief in her eyes betraying the exhaustion beneath. “Aren’t you happy? Your brother and I are engaged!”

Slater forced a half-smile and clicked his tongue. “Yeah, sure. The two of you are engaged — but what the heck kind of proposal was that?”

“Hehe. We’re weird,” Lola chuckled, turning to Atlas with a tipsy smile. “Right, Baby? Weird in a good way.”

Atlas shot her a sidelong look and reached for her glass, downing the rest of her drink in one gulp. His face didn’t even flinch.

“Mhm,” he hummed, meeting her gaze. “Good in a way.”

“Hehe.” Lola giggled, leaning closer to him as she faced Penny and Slater again. “See? We’re fine. If your brother didn’t ask for my hand, I would’ve gotten down on one knee myself.”

She laughed softly, though her hand trembled slightly as she poured herself another shot. She chugged it down quickly, then exhaled, eyes falling to the table. The smile she wore a second ago began to fade.

“You guys don’t have to feel bad for me,” she muttered, her finger tracing the rim of her glass. “I can take it.”

Her lips curved faintly upward, but her eyes stayed on the polished wood in front of her.

“This is nothing compared to everything I’ve gone through,” she whispered, her voice fragile under the pretense of calm. Then, another shallow laugh followed.

She thought about her life — every ugly, twisted part of it. The pain outweighed the joy by miles. And the rare good things that had ever happened to her all tied back to Loren. Her mother… and her lie.

Those memories used to be her treasure. Now, they were poison in her system.

“Even before I was born,” she began quietly, “I was already a tool for somebody else to climb the social ladder higher. My birth was supposed to seal that deal.”

Her voice hardened as she continued, “But because Jasmine Young underestimated another woman’s fury, I became a weapon. Loren Albert’s revenge against Jasmine Young — a tool to hurt one woman and protect another.”

Her lips twisted into a faint, bitter smile. “Sorry? Didn’t mean to? Wanted to make things right?”

Lola laughed again, but the sound cracked halfway through. “Who was she fooling?”

“If she really wanted to fix things,” she murmured, eyes darkening, “she would have. She was Loren Albert. She had power. But instead, she chose the lie. She built her peace on it and on me.”

Her chest rose and fell as her next words came slower. “Maybe she loved me,” she admitted quietly. “But at the end of the day… I wasn’t her daughter.”

The room went still.

Lola took another breath, eyes unfocused. “She had a choice,” she continued. “Not the one about swapping babies, but the one about telling the truth before she died. She could have, but she didn’t.”

Loren’s love had been an apology that came too late. Her sacrifice wasn’t for Lola; it was for the daughter she lost.

That was love. And it wasn’t hers.

When Lola finally lifted her gaze, she caught Penny and Slater’s tearful faces. Both tried to hold it in, but their trembling lips and glistening eyes betrayed them.

Lola blinked, startled for a moment, then smiled faintly. “Your little brother and sister need to toughen up,” she teased, leaning against Atlas’s shoulder.

She turned her bleary eyes toward them. “I’m okay, Penny. Slater. Honestly, I’m fine.”

She adjusted her head on Atlas’s shoulder, her voice growing soft and distant. “I’m okay… because your brother’s with me. Because you’re all here. I…” She trailed off, her words blurring as exhaustion crept in.

“I should’ve known better after living this life twice.” Her voice dropped to a hum, almost like a sigh. “This is nothing. This lifetime… is still better than the last.”

Her words faded into silence.

Slowly, her eyes fluttered shut, and her breathing steadied.

Around her, the room remained still. Atlas said nothing, his expression unreadable. Penny and Slater exchanged a look, both pale and wide-eyed.

Finally, Slater swallowed hard and whispered, “Did she just say… this is her second life?”