The door closes, and Seraphina stands still behind her oak desk for several seconds, her chest tight. Then she slowly takes her hands off the keyboard because they’re shaking too much to keep working. She realizes that she has just signed away, withher own signature, the clean, bright life she herself has pushed Nerissa toward.
“I’ve lost her forever.”
Seraphina Chapman has thrown her happiness away.
On Sunday afternoon, Isobel and her husband’s backyard is filled with lively voices, the aroma of barbecue, and wine glasses clinking beneath a cloudy sky. The children run across the perfectly manicured lawn, chasing each other with laughter, while several neighbors discuss upcoming summer vacations and fluctuations in the private markets with that privileged nonchalance that has always been a natural part of their world.
Seraphina moves among them as if she were a malfunctioning machine, with a forced smile that doesn’t reach her eyes. She nods when someone speaks to her. She helps Isobel pass out drinks and clear away plates. But inside, she feels such a brutal disconnect that at times she has the impression of watching her own life from the outside, like a spectator witnessing a bad comedy.
“The merger is going to take you to a whole new level,” comments one of Elliot’s partners as he accepts a glass of wine. “Fifty million doesn’t come along every day. You’ve done an impressive job.”
Elliot smiles proudly from the grill, turning several pieces of meat.
“The truth is, Seraphina has worked magic with the numbers,” he replies. “I’m just trying to keep all the agreements in order without showing how clumsy I am.”
Several people laugh knowingly. She pretends to laugh too, even though the comment makes her feel deeply sick. Magic. If only they knew. If only everyone could see the photos from Chester. Her hands clasped with another woman’s on the Roman walls. The way she looked at Nerissa with love, thinking she was safe far away from Manchester. This whole facade would come crashing down in a matter of hours.
“You have an admirable marriage,” Isobel says, approaching with a tray of fresh salad. “Really. You don’t find couples like that anymore these days. You can tell you love each other and that you’re still a team.”
Seraphina feels something twist violently inside her. She looks at Elliot. He’s talking with other friends by the barbecue, relaxed, attractive, and perfectly at home in that life. The impeccable father. The brilliant lawyer. The husband who still looks at her with affection even after months of distance and lies.
Guilt pierces her again.
“Thank you, Isobel,” Seraphina murmurs, lowering her gaze for a moment. “That’s what we try to do… make it work every day.”
Isobel smiles warmly.
“Besides, the kids adore you. You can always tell by the way they behave. Oliver and Ivy are a delight.”
Seraphina looks down at Oliver and Ivy, who are playing near the rose bushes in her neighbor’s garden, oblivious to the storm brewing in their parents’ lives. And the fear returns. Not the fear of Adrian. Not the fear of scandal. The fear of losing them. Because until now she’s tried to convince herself she could sustain both lives at the same time: the perfect mother, thesecret lover, the impeccable executive. But the lie is no longer holding up. It’s destroying everything.
The smell of grilled meat begins to feel suffocating. The superficial conversations, the forced laughter, the investment funds, the recommendations for private schools. Everything that once represented stability now seems like an elegantly decorated prison. She looks at the garden, the big house, the perfection of that existence built up over the years. And for the first time, she feels no pride. Only exhaustion. A deep, corrosive weariness.
Because she realizes she has spent too long living to maintain an image rather than living for herself.
As evening falls and all the guests have left, Seraphina helps Isobel clean up and takes home a tray of leftover food. Decorative lights illuminate the lawn of her own house.
In her kitchen, she stands in silence for a moment, listening to Elliot’s distant footsteps in the living room, to the children laughing in their rooms. And then it happens. Something snaps inside her for good.
She can’t go on like this. She can’t keep letting Adrian control her life while she destroys Nerissa in an attempt to protect her. She can’t keep looking at her children and pretending there’s still honesty in that house. She can’t keep hurting the man who has loved her so deeply by continuing to lie to him like this.
The decision comes suddenly, brutal and clear. She’s going to tell Elliot everything. That very night. The affair. What she has with Nerissa. The blackmail. The photographs. Everything. Even if the divorce destroys her. Even if she loses money. Even if the board expels her. Even if Adrian tries to ruin her. She canno longer bear living in hiding. She can no longer bear becoming someone Nerissa barely recognizes.
She leans against the counter for a few seconds because her heart is beating too fast. She’s afraid. Terribly afraid. But for the first time in months, she also feels something like relief. The possibility of finally putting an end to the lies.
She lets out a shaky breath and leaves the kitchen. She crosses the hallway slowly. Each step echoes in the stillness of the house as if she were walking toward an inevitable execution. When she reaches the living room, she stops in the doorway and feels that something isn’t right.
The wall clock ticks away the seconds with unbearable clarity.
Elliot is standing by the large window overlooking the garden.
With his back to her.
“Elliot, we need to talk,” Seraphina says.
Then she swallows and feels her pulse pounding in her throat.
“There’s something I have to tell you… I’ve been keeping secrets, and I can’t take it anymore. I need to be honest with you.”
