เข้าสู่ระบบElena's POVThe light outside was blinding when they brought me out.The air was cold, but it carried the lingering heat of survival. Someone draped a fire blanket over my shoulders and sat me down in a temporary triage zone. A bottle of water appeared in my hands. My fingers were still trembling.It was only then that I realized I had actually walked out of that building alive.Around me, chaos.Stretchers moving in every direction. Paramedics sorting casualties. Firefighters still pulling people from the wreckage. Somewhere, someone was crying. Someone was calling a name. Someone else just sat in silence, staring at nothing.My throat burned. Even swallowing water stung.Then my eyes drifted to one side — almost without thinking.He was there.Lucien stood in a far corner, pressed against the wall. He had wedged himself entirely into the shadows, avoiding every angle of direct sunlight. But even so, the light crept in. His skin showed clear burn damage — the stretch of his arm was ch
Elena's POVFrom that moment on, he lost all restraint.In the hours that followed, Lucien threw himself into the rescue like a man possessed. He moved with terrifying speed, raw strength, tearing away collapsed equipment with his bare hands, dragging people out one after another. The fire was spreading, the smoke thickening, the temperature climbing — and he acted as if none of it existed."Stay behind me."Again and again, he put himself between me and danger."Don't move."I reached for a researcher trapped under a desk, but Lucien had already pulled him free, shoving the man toward safety with brutal efficiency."Lucien, get out of my way."I frowned.He didn't even look at me."You shouldn't be doing this right now."His tone was ice. Almost a command.I paused, then understood what he meant.I didn't argue. I just stepped around him and went back to treating the wounded.He watched me move and grew visibly more agitated. He grabbed my wrist."I said — don't move."I looked up at
Elena's POVI spun around on instinct.And there he was.Lucien stood a few feet from the window. He'd moved fast — the moment he was sure we were safe, he'd already retreated two steps back into the shadow, out of the direct sunlight.But it was too late.The stretch of his arm that had been exposed was charred black, the skin still giving off faint wisps of smoke. An injury like that would have been fatal for a human. But he acted as though he couldn't feel it at all.He just stared at me, his eyes red.All that control — all that composure he'd maintained for as long as I'd known him — was cracking open from the inside."Elena. Come here."His voice was barely above a whisper. There was a tremor in it that I'd never heard before.I stood still. Then I took a step back."Lucien, we're divorced."His pupils contracted.For just a fraction of a second, his expression broke.Then he stepped forward. Into the light.The smell of burning flesh hit the air immediately.His skin was being e
Elena's POVWhen the explosion hit, I was at the far end of the corridor, sorting files in a small lab.The air seemed to rip apart. A massive concussive blast tore through the building's core, shaking the walls hard enough to rattle my teeth. Before I could react, my ears filled with a piercing whine. The lights flickered once and died.The next second, a wall of heat and dust slammed into me.I staggered back, my shoulder cracking against a cabinet. Papers scattered everywhere.The entire structure began to shudder.Somewhere far off, screaming. Someone calling for help.I leaned against the wall and forced myself to stay calm. Quick assessment — no visible injuries, no fractures, breathing still clear.My abdomen — barely showing — felt fine. No pain. I could move.I straightened up, pushed through the door, and stepped into the hallway.It was chaos.Sections of ceiling had collapsed. Walls were cracked. Smoke and dust choked the air. People were on the ground. Some were dragging t
Lucien's POVI didn't remember how I left that room.The television was still on, the news cycling through details of the explosion, but I couldn't process a single word. Only one name, looping over and over in my skull.Elena Vale.It couldn't be.There were countless people with the same name. Elena was common enough, and Vale was her maiden name — she'd taken mine when we married. She wouldn't be on that list.I stood there, forcing myself to think clearly, to sort through the logic. Reason told me it was a coincidence. A meaningless overlap.Elena couldn't possibly be at a research institute across the ocean. She had everything here — the path I'd laid out for her, the resources, the life. Even divorced, she could have continued on perfectly well.But then I remembered the last look she gave me.That calm. That quiet relief.The kind of expression someone wears when they've said goodbye to everything.My breath hitched.I grabbed my coat and was out the door before I even knew I'd
Lucien's POVAfter that day at the hospital, Elena didn't come home.The first day, I thought nothing of it.Elena had always been like that — making decisions quietly, keeping her emotions to herself. I gave her freedom. Where she went, what she did — I never interfered.So her staying out, even not coming home at all, was within the normal range. I went on with my routine. Signing documents. Meetings. The endless machinery of business and power.The second day, I called her. No answer. I frowned and tried again. Still nothing. I was patient, so I called a third time — and she declined the call. I paused for a second, then dialed again. This time, the line was dead.She'd blocked me.I stood there, and for a moment, the whole thing felt absurd.She was upset. That was all. I was sure of it. In all these years, I had never denied her anything. She was used to depending on me, used to swallowing her hurt in silence and waiting in place until I found time to offer a few words of comfort.
Elena's POVSeraphina was there at dinner that evening.She sat beside Lucien — relaxed, elegant, as if that seat had always been hers.I barely touched my steak before making an excuse to leave. I'd been spending all my time in the medical lab lately. I smelled like disinfectant and had no appetite
Elena's POVTwo days later, I moved out of Lucien's castle. I didn't have much luggage, so I managed with just a dorm room on campus.My life no longer revolved around Lucien. Everything seemed to return to the way it used to be.After I signed the papers in his study that night, I didn't see Lucien
Elena's POVThat night, I didn't cry.I sat at the vanity, opened the drawer, and pulled out the documents I'd prepared weeks ago.They were short. Just a few lines.[Elena Blackthorne voluntarily terminates this marriage. No claim to marital assets.]My parents' deaths were a wound that could never
Elena's POVFrom the day I walked into the Blackthorne mansion in my wedding dress, I knew one thing.I didn't belong here.The servants bowed with their eyes lowered, never meeting my gaze. The nights held no warmth, no light — only endless darkness.And I was the only one who needed the sun. Fragi