Chapter 3: Death and Rebirth

SERAPHINA POV

“Seraphina…”

He continued in that clipped, almost irritated voice.

Behind him, Selena sat up slowly, pulling the sheet around her chest with theatrical modesty. Her eyes glistened with fake tears.

I stood there, trembling, the pregnancy report still clutched in my hand like a lifeline I no longer believed in. The hallway felt too bright, too suffocating. Every breath hurt.

“How long?” I whispered, my voice cracking. “How long has this been going on?”

Ethan sighed, running a hand through his disheveled hair. “This isn’t how I wanted you to find out, but since you were spying outside the door like some jealous child—”

“Spying?” The word burst out of me, sharper than I intended. “I came home excited to share news with my husband, and I heard you laughing about divorcing me tomorrow!”

Selena let out a soft sob, dabbing at her eyes. “Seraphina, please… it’s not what you think. I never wanted to hurt you. Ethan and I… we just connected on a deeper level. You’ve always been so focused on the family image, the perfect wife routine. I tried to tell you to give him space.”

Her performance was flawless—tears, quivering lip, the gentle tone that had fooled our parents for years. But I saw the triumph flickering behind the crocodile tears. My twin. The one person who should have been on my side.

Rage, hot and long-suppressed, finally broke free after three years of silence.

“Space?” I laughed bitterly, stepping forward despite the way my legs shook. “I gave you everything, Ethan! I turned down opportunities at Hart Group so I could support your career. I stayed up nights learning Knight International’s reports just so you wouldn’t look at me like I was empty-headed. I defended you to my father when he questioned the merger. I ignored every cold night, every canceled dinner, every time your eyes lingered on her instead of me. And for what? For you to call me a convenient package?”

My voice rose, years of swallowed pain pouring out like poison finally expelled. “I loved you! I actually believed this marriage could become real. But you never saw me as a wife. I was just a business asset. A stepping stone for your ambition. You never loved me LEthan, not once.”

Ethan’s face hardened, irritation flashing into something colder. “Don’t be dramatic, Seraphina. This was always a merger. You knew that from the beginning. Acting like a heartbroken victim now doesn’t change facts.”

Tears streamed down my face, but I refused to look away. For the first time, I saw him clearly—not the charming fiancé I’d fallen for, but the selfish man he truly was. “You’re right. I was the fool who thought love could grow. But you? You’re pathetic. Hiding behind contracts and power while sleeping with my sister under our roof.”

Selena’s fake sobs grew louder. “How can you say that to him? After everything he’s done for our families?”

I ignored her, my gaze locked on Ethan. My hand moved protectively over my stomach. The words came out before I could stop them. “I’m pregnant, Ethan. Six weeks. I found out today. I bought tiny shoes for our baby. I planned a dinner to surprise you because I still believed we could be a family.”

For a moment, genuine shock crossed his face. His eyes widened, lips parting. Something flickered there—regret? Calculation? A brief flash of what might have been humanity. He opened his mouth, but Selena cut in first, her voice ice-cold and sharp.

“Good,” she said, wiping her fake tears with a smirk. “The divorce will be more expensive now. Child support, alimony… we’ll handle it. But honestly, Seraphina? This changes nothing. He never wanted you or that child.”

The cruelty landed like a final blow. Ethan didn’t contradict her. He just stood there, silent, the shock already fading into that familiar mask of indifference.

Pain exploded in my chest, sharper than any physical wound. I couldn’t stay here another second. Not with them. Not with the life I had built on lies crumbling around me.

And so I finally listened to that inner voice that had been nagging me. I turned and ran.

“Seraphina, wait!” Ethan called after me, but there was no real urgency in his voice. Just annoyance.

My vision blurred with tears as I fled down the hallway. The grand staircase loomed ahead, marble steps gleaming under the chandelier light. My heels slipped on the polished floor. I missed the first step—my foot catching on the hem of my dress—and the world tilted violently.

Time slowed.

I tumbled, arms flailing desperately for the banister. Each impact slammed into me like thunder—my shoulder, my hip, my head cracking against the edge of a step. Agony ripped through my abdomen as I curled instinctively around my stomach, trying to shield the tiny life inside.

Please, I begged silently, tears mixing with blood on my face. Not my baby. Not like this.

The fall seemed endless. Pain bloomed everywhere. Warm blood trickled down my temple. The ultrasound report fluttered down the stairs beside me like a dying butterfly.

In the distance, I heard shouting—Ethan’s voice, servants screaming—but it all faded. Another voice cut through the chaos, deep and desperate.

“Seraphina!”

A male voice, it wasn’t Ethan’s. It was stronger and filled with raw panic.

Through fading vision, I saw him at the bottom of the stairs—Alexander Knight, Ethan’s uncle. His usually cold, composed face was twisted in horror as he rushed toward me. Our eyes met for one fleeting second. In that moment, I remembered a charity gala years ago, his quiet gratitude after I’d helped him through a difficult night without knowing who he was.

He reached for me, but it was too late.

Darkness swallowed everything.

********

I gasped awake, bolting upright in bed.

Sunlight streamed through familiar lace curtains, casting soft patterns on the pink walls of my childhood bedroom. My heart hammered wildly. Sweat clung to my skin. I clutched the silk sheets, disoriented, waiting for the pain to return.

But there was no pain, no blood and no staircase in sight.

I looked down at my hands—it was smooth and unbruised. My stomach was flat and weirdly empty. The clock on the nightstand read 7:15 AM. I turned to my phone and gasped in shock as I stared at the date glowing on my phone screen.

15th May, 2023. Exactly a week before my engagement ceremony to Ethan Knight.

Memories crashed over me: the betrayal, the fall, the crushing darkness. The life I had lost. The child I had lost. Alexander’s face in those final moments.

This wasn’t a dream. This was real.

I swung my legs out of bed, standing on shaky but solid ground. The girl I had been—the devoted, hopeful Seraphina who sacrificed everything—was gone. In her place stood someone new. Someone who remembered.

Tears of fury and determination burned in my eyes as I stared at my reflection in the vanity mirror.

“This time, if truly I’ve been given another chance at life,” I whispered fiercely to the woman looking back at me, “everything will be different. I won’t let them destroy me again.”

The engagement banquet was coming. And this time, I wouldn’t be walking toward Ethan Knight.

I would choose my own fate.