CRACKS.

Vanessa didn't respond to Adrian in the car and silence grew between them and she noticed the difference immediately because Adrian was no longer listening to her. He acted like it but wasn't. The next morning, sunlight spilled in the house as it bounced against the marble floors and glass walls. It would have been a perfect day but Adrian barely seemed care about any of it. He sat at the head of the table in a fitted shirt, one hand held his coffee while he used the other to scroll through his phone and he didn't notice that his coffee had gone cold.

Vanessa watched him carefully from across the table, irritation slowly growing in her skin. Usually after arguments or stressful nights, Adrian would become quiet and hard to read or he'd bury himself in work and ignore everything else around him until the feeling passed but this wasn’t that.

This…for some reason looked worse, like he was distracting himself and Vanessa hated every bit of it.

“Adrian.” she called out to no response. His eyes remained locked on the screen and Vanessa forced a small smile and tried again. “Adrian?”

This time, he looked up slowly. “What?” His voice wasn’t calm, it was warm harsh and tired. Vanessa leaned slightly against the table, studying him carefully. “You’ve been quiet since last night.”

“I’m thinking.”

“About Seraphina?” and the atmosphere changed instantly. It was subtle but she noticed it immediately. Adrian’s eyes glowed slightly as he looked at her fully now and Vanessa started regretting the question the moment she asked it. Still, she continued smiling. “You know she was trying to manipulate you yesterday, right?” she said softly. “She wanted you to feel guilty.”

Adrian looked at her for a long moment before slowly placing his phone down against the table then he pulled his hand away from hers.

“I saw you piss her off.”

Vanessa’s smile twitched slightly. “Excuse me?”

“You heard me.”

“She insulted me first.”

Adrian leaned back in his chair slowly, his expression was still unreadable. “She ignored you.” and those words hit Vanessa harder than they should have because he was right…Seraphina hadn’t fought for his attention, she hadn’t screamed and hadn’t begged. She looked at Vanessa like she was trash and somehow that pissed her off more than any insult could. Vanessa squeezed her brows, “So now I’m the villain?”

“You pulled her hair in a restaurant full of people.”

“She grabbed me too!”

“After you dumped food on her table.”

Vanessa stared at him in shock. “Why are you even defending her?”

Adrian looked exhausted suddenly. He rubbed his hand slowly into his hair before standing up.

“I’m not doing this right now.” He grabbed his suit jacket from the chair beside him and slipped it on. Vanessa stood quickly afterward, her breathing…unstable.

“Adrian—”

“Don’t start this in the morning.” His tone remained calm but he was still distant enough to make something settle heavily inside her mind. He wasn’t angry because if it was anger, she'd understand…this? It felt like withdrawal, like his mind was now somewhere else entirely. Adrian adjusted the watch around his wrist before finally reaching for his car keys and Vanessa watched him in fear as he moved around the house for the first time since Seraphina signed those divorce papers…and fear crept into her chest because men like Adrian Vale never drifted away slowly. When they were done…they'd leave completely.

The house became awfully silent the moment he walked out and Vanessa just kept standing beside the dining table long after the doors closed behind him. Her thoughts spiraled violently through her head because something was changing and she could feel it then suddenly—her phone buzzed and she grabbed it instantly, expecting Adrian but the screen displayed an unknown number instead…her brows furrowed slowly as she opened the message and it was just one sentence.

“You should’ve let her hit you harder.”

Blood in Vanessa’s face drained instantly and before she could even process it properly, another message arrived…this time with a photo attached. It was taken inside the restaurant. A clear image of Vanessa grabbing Seraphina’s hair, taken from behind Adrian…her breathing stopped completely. Someone had been watching all of them.

Meanwhile, downstairs, Adrian stepped into the private elevator leading toward the underground garage. His expression remained cold and unreadable as usual but his mind was nowhere near work. It remained stuck inside that restaurant…on Seraphina…on the way she looked at him, the way her voice cracked slightly when she asked him how long he’d been touching Vanessa like that…the way she laughed afterward like she already knew the answer. He exhaled as the elevator doors slid open quietly then his phone buzzed.

Unknown Number and Adrian’s eyes darkened instantly because very few people had access to this number. Slowly, he unlocked the screen and a photo loaded…the moment he saw it…every trace of color disappeared from his face..It was Seraphina…sleeping peacefully on her white couch.

Her silk robe hung loosely around her legs while soft golden lighting illuminated her face gently and the angle and the angle was inside the house. Adrian’s breathing stopped for half a second, then another message came through.

“You should protect your ex-wife better.” and beneath it—

“She doesn’t lock the balcony door anymore.”