Seraphina
I spent the day in the library, surrounded by books and ledgers. Rain tapped steadily against the tall windows, a rhythm that matched the tension in my chest. Every few minutes, I caught myself glancing toward the door.
He was always watching. Always observing and I hated how much I wanted him to.
I thought about Elias. About the betrayal. About how fragile everything was. About how quickly a single mistake coulddestroy everything I had been trying to build for myself, and for him.
The thought scared me, but it also made me burn with something I didn’t want to name. Desire? Fear? Obedience? Something darker.
CHAPTER 26
Lucien
I walked the estate alone, rain dripping from my coat, boots clicking on the marble floors. Security reports had come in, minor disruptions at the southern docks. Probes. Tests. Nothing I couldn’t handle.
But my attention was elsewhere.Alwaysher. AlwaysSeraphina.
She moves through this estate as if it were already hers. That confidence, that sharpness, it excites me and terrifies me simultaneously.
I think about what would happen if she left. If she ever stepped away from this world. From me.
I shiver, not from cold, but from the thought of the fire I would unleash.
The Syndicate has rules. Rules about loyalty, rules about betrayal, but rules do not apply to her. Not anymore.
I would burn the world to nothing but ash to keephersafe.
I allowed myself a small, quiet smile. Control is everything. Desire is everything andshe is mine, in ways the world cannot begin to comprehend.
CHAPTER 27
Seraphina
I couldn’t stand it anymore. It started as a whisper in my chest, a hollow ache I had been carrying for months, missing him, my father. The way his laugh used to echo through the hallways, the smell of his cologne, the warm grip of his hand when I was scared. I had tried to bury it beneath control, beneath work, beneath the careful composure I’d built since that night, but it had grown too loud.
Every shadow in the estate, every quiet room, every corridor I walked down reminded me of what I had lost and tonight, it hit me fully.
I stormed down the grand hallway, heels clicking hard against marble, each step pounding my anger into the floor. I didn’t think before I opened the door to Lucien’s office. I didn’t care about protocol or composure or even the calmness he exuded.
“Why?” I shouted before he even turned. My voice ricocheted off the tall windows, echoing through the dark office. “Why did you do it? Why did you kill him?”
They could’ve handled it differently, couldn’t they?
He stood at his desk, calm. Too calm. Hands resting lightly on the polished wood. Eyes locked on mine, unblinking, unshaken.
“He was a liability,” he said quietly, deliberately.
“He was my father!” I screamed, pacing the room in frustration, grief spilling into fury. “Do you even understand what that means? Do you even understand what you took from me?!”
He stepped closer, just a fraction, and I felt the weight of his presence pressing against me. I tried to take a step back, tried to put space between us, but I couldn’t escape the magnetic pull that always drew me to him, even when I wanted to hate him.
“You think shouting changes anything?” he said, voice low, unshakable. “It doesn’t. It won’t.”
I shook my head, fists clenched. “You…You can’t just decide who lives and who dies!”
“I did what had to be done,” he said simply, stepping closer again. His gaze burned into mine. “It was necessary.”
Rage, grief, and something darker, something I didn’t fully understand surged inside me. I could feel it twisting me, dragging me toward him, even as I screamed. My chest heaved, tears pricking my eyes, but I refused to let him see the soft, broken pieces of me. Again.
