Ch: 5 The Disappearance of Nerissa Vane.

​Nerissa’s POV

​"Is anyone home?" I asked the empty foyer as I stepped into the Blackwood mansion, my voice bouncing off the marble walls. The silence was absolute because the family was still at the hospital fussing over Seraphina, but I didn't mind the quiet at all, so I walked through the halls where I had spent five years playing the part of the obedient wife.

Everything looked different to me now, like I was looking at a house where I had never truly belonged.

​I went straight to the master bedroom and pulled a small suitcase from the back of the closet, tossing in a few changes of clothes that I had actually bought with my own money.

I didn't touch the designer bags or the diamond jewelry Lysander’s parents had gifted me over the years, because none of those things belonged to the woman I was becoming again. I reached into the back of my vanity, pulling out a small, heavy lockbox that contained the original debt agreements from five years ago.

​"You really thought you were the one who saved this family on your own, didn't you, Lysander?" I muttered while I flipped through the papers that showed the massive infusion of capital from Vane Holdings.

I had worked so hard to hide my name behind a dozen shell companies back then, because I knew how fragile his pride was and I wanted him to believe his father handled the crisis, but I wouldn't be protecting his ego anymore.

​My phone buzzed on the bed, and I saw a message from my family’s chief legal officer asking for final instructions. I dialed the number immediately, waiting only a single second for the familiar, professional voice to answer.

​"Miss Vane, we are finally ready to move on the international expansion project for the Blackwood subsidiaries, should we proceed with the final signatures?" the man asked.

​"No, I want you to halt every pending agreement tied to the Blackwood overseas accounts immediately," I said, my voice steady while I walked toward the bedroom window.

"I’m not asking you to pull the existing support we gave them years ago, but those new untouchable contracts we were about to finalize? Cancel them completely, and let the market see exactly where they stand without the Vane safety net waiting to catch them."

​"Are you sure about this, Miss Vane? This will cause significant financial tremors for their quarterly projections," he warned.

​"I’m very sure, so please make sure the withdrawal is quiet but absolute, I want the tremors to start spreading through their investments by dawn," I replied and hung up the phone. I wasn't out for total destruction yet, but I was tired of holding up a man who couldn't even look at me when I was bleeding on the floor of a boat.

​I walked downstairs to Lysander’s study, pushing the heavy oak doors open to find a room that was a shrine to the life he actually wanted.

There were framed photos of him and Seraphina at various charity events and private dinners displayed openly on his shelves, but as I looked around the room, I couldn't find a single picture of our wedding or even a small photo of us together. I stood there in the center of the office and let out a soft, dry laugh because the irony was almost funny.

​"Five years of sacrifice, and I didn't even make it onto a bookshelf," I whispered to the empty room while I walked over to his massive mahogany desk. I opened the top drawer and pulled out the divorce papers I had prepared days ago, laying them right in the center where he couldn't miss them. I pulled the wedding ring from my pocket and placed it on top of the documents, the diamond looking cold and useless in the dim light.

​I took the ultrasound photo from my bag and stared at it for a long moment, feeling a strange mix of protection and sadness for the child that would never know this house, but I tucked it underneath the ring and grabbed a piece of stationery, writing a single sentence before I stood up to leave.

​I walked out of the mansion just as the first hint of gray light began to touch the horizon, my real passport clutched tightly in my hand. I didn't look back at the gates, I just got into the waiting car and gave the driver the address for the private airfield.

"Take me home," I said, and for the first time in five years, I didn't mean the Blackwood estate.

​Hours later, the front door of the mansion creaked open and Lysander stumbled inside, his shirt wrinkled and his eyes heavy with exhaustion from spending the night in a hospital chair beside Seraphina. He dropped his keys on the foyer table and made his way toward his study, needing to check on a few files before he allowed himself to sleep.

​He pushed the doors open and sat in his leather chair, his hand automatically reaching for the top drawer to find a pen, but he froze when he saw the white envelope and the jewelry resting on his desk. He picked up the ultrasound photo first, his brow furrowing as he stared at the tiny shape that looked so much like the one he had seen in Seraphina’s room earlier that night.

​His hands began to shake violently as he realized what he was looking at, and he quickly grabbed the note I had left behind, his breath hitching as he read the words over and over again.

​“You taught me that love cannot be begged for. Now I’m finally done begging.”

​"Nerissa?" Lysander called out, his voice cracking as he slammed the drawer shut and ran toward the hallway. "Nerissa, where are you!"

​He searched the dining room, the kitchen, and ran up the stairs to the master bedroom, but the open closet doors and the empty vanity drawers told him everything. He dropped to his knees by the bed, clutching the ultrasound photo to his chest while the heavy silence of the house settled around him. Lysander looked around the empty room, his heart racing while he suddenly realized the silence in the house wasn't just quiet—it was the sound of a woman who was never coming back.