The Perfect Wife.

~ Seraphina ~

The mirror didn't lie, but it certainly knew how to hide the truth. I stared at the woman reflected in the glass—a vision in hand-stitched silk and diamonds that cost more than a mid-sized sedan. My hair was swept up into a sleek, structural knot that felt like a crown of thorns, every strand lacquered into submission. This was the version of Seraphina Vale that the world was allowed to see: the elegant, silent ornament to a powerful man's legacy.

Perfect was a dangerous word. I had been raised on a steady diet of it. My mother had taught me that a woman's success wasn't measured in her achievements, but in her ability to be easy to love and easy to ignore. I had spent twenty-seven years perfecting the art of being a ghost in a designer gown.

I picked up a heavy gold cuff and snapped it onto my wrist, and for a split second, the sound echoed like the heavy click of the camera shutters from years ago.

I remember the night he proposed. We were at a vineyard in Tuscany, the air smelling of crushed grapes. Adrian hadn't been aggressive then. He had knelt in the dirt, ruining a pair of thousand-dollar trousers just to look up at me with eyes that seemed as if I was his whole world. "I want to give you the world, Seraphina," he’d whispered. "I want to be the man who protects you from everything."

I had been a little younger, a quiet little girl with a pedigree and no spine, and I hadn't realized that the world he was giving me was just a smaller, prettier box. I hadn't seen that his protection was actually a systematic hollowing out of my personality until there was nothing left.

The memory dissolved as I stared back at the crown of thorns in the mirror. The man from Tuscany was a ghost, replaced by someone who I no longer recognized.

Tonight was the annual Black-Tie Gala for the Children's Foundation, and as the wife of Adrian Vale, I had a role to play.

I walked toward the master suite to find my husband, my heels clicking rhythmically against the marble floor. I needed him to zip the back of my dress—a small, domestic request that usually served as our only moment of physical contact during these events.

As I reached the heavy mahogany doors of his study, I stopped. The door was cracked just an inch, a sliver of warm light spilling onto the hallway carpet. I heard his voice. It wasn't the sharp, demanding tone he used with his subordinates or the bored, clipped accent he used with me. It was low. It was intimate.

"I know, I know," Adrian said, followed by a soft, genuine laugh that I hadn't heard in years. "The blue one. It brings out your eyes. I'll see you there in an hour. Don't make me wait."

I froze, my hand hovering over the door handle. My heart didn't race; it went cold, sinking into my stomach like a stone. I had known, of course. A woman doesn't live with a man like Adrian Vale for five years without sensing the shifts in the wind. I'd seen the late-night texts, the "business trips" that didn't align with his calendar, and the faint scent of perfume that wasn't mine.

But hearing it was different. Hearing the warmth in his voice—a warmth that had been systematically drained from our marriage—felt like a physical blow to my chest.

I pulled my hand back. I didn't burst in. I didn't scream. That wasn't what a perfect wife did. Instead, I stood there in the shadows of the hallway, my hands steady, which terrified me. I was so repressed, so conditioned to avoid conflict, that even in the face of blatant betrayal, my first instinct was to check if my lipstick was smudged.

The door to the study swung open. Adrian stepped out, adjusting his cufflinks. He was handsome in a way that felt aggressive—all sharp jawlines and expensive tailoring. He looked at me, his eyes skimming over my body with the same clinical interest he'd give a new car.

"You're ready," he said. It wasn't a compliment; it was a statement of fact. "Good. The car is downstairs. Don't forget to mention the donation to the governor's wife."

"Adrian," I said, my voice finally finding its edge.

He paused, his hand on the banister. "What?"

I wanted to ask who was wearing the blue dress. I wanted to ask when he had decided that I was so insignificant that he didn't even need to whisper his infidelities. But the words died in my throat, choked by years of being told to stay quiet.

"Your tie is crooked," I lied.

He didn't even look in the mirror. He just straightened it with a smirk. "Make sure you smile tonight, Seraphina. You've been looking a bit... tired lately. People notice."

He turned and began walking down the stairs, leaving me standing at the top. I watched his broad shoulders disappear into the foyer.