5

"I’m all alone now, Chloe..." Seraphine said,, her voice barely a whisper against the quiet graveyard. She couldn’t bring herself to stand. Remaining on her knees beside the fresh earth of her father’s grave.

"You’re not alone." Chloe knelt beside her, rubbing her shoulder

"I’ve lost everything...." Seraphine kept her eyes fixed on the mound of dirt.

"You still have me,"" Chloe whispered, leaning closer. "and you have your three babies."

Seraphine shook her head... staring blankly ahead. "I don’t even have a home anymore,"

"We’ll find a home..."

"I.." Seraphine paused. Her hand trembled as she slowly slid it over her belly, feeling the slight curve beneath her coat, "....I don't even know how to raise them."

Chloe followed her gaze, her own eyes filling with tears, "You’ll be okay."

"What... if I fail?"

"You won’t."

"I’m so scared, Chloe..."

Chloe didn't say another word, she just pulled Seraphine’s frail body into a tight embrace, letting her sob into her shoulder.

They held each other for a long moment before chloe gently drew back. "Sera, come with me."

Seraphin blinked through her tears. "what do you mean?"

"I have a medical mission coming up on the other side of the world..." Chloe said, a sudden spark of hope in her eyes. "In New Zealand. Come with me, let's start a new life there. Forget the pain in New York and Boston, forget Arthur. We'll start all over from scratch.."

Seraphine froze. "But.. my whole life is here, Chloe."

"You can't have a life here, Sera. Arthur will never stop coming after you, he won't let you or your children live in peace, even with your father gone."

The words hit Seraphine like a physical blow,

Chloe was right... Arthur’s cold, mocking face at the funeral flashed behind her eyelids. His disgusting offer to make her his kept woman echoed in her ears. He would never let her go. He would never stop punishing her. New York and Boston were tainted by his hatred. As long as she stayed on American soil, she and the babies inside her would never be safe.

Seraphine looked down at her father's grave one last time, then back at her stomach. There were three little hearts beating inside her. Three innocent lives she had to protect. Arthur’s twisted revenge had to end with her. It could not touch her children.

"All right," Seraphine whispered. The trembling in her voice was gone, replaced by a sudden, freezing resolve. She wiped the tears from her cheeks with the back of her hand. "I’m coming with you, Chloe. Let’s get out of here."

Chloe let out a long breath she seemed to have been holding, squeezing her shoulders tight. "Thank God."

"I need to make the arrangements first," Seraphine said, her mind already racing.

She knew simply running away wasn't enough. Not with a man as powerful and clever as Arthur Ashford. She couldn't just leave; she had to vanish. She had to disappear so completely that it would feel as if the earth had swallowed her whole.

Chloe nodded, her expression grim but determined. "Tell me what to do. I’ll help you."

*

*

That very night...

With Chloe’s help, she sold off every remaining personal asset… the jewelry inherited from her mother and the copyrights to her unpublished fashion design sketches. Everything was converted into cold, hard cash, completely untraceable by New York’s mainstream banking system.

The next crucial step was to sever the information chain. Seraphine pulled out her old cell phone and scrolled to a few highly confidential numbers. They belonged to trusted associates of her late father, men who owed the Anderson family a great debt of gratitude.

She dialed Mr. Leden, a former head of immigration who now wielded significant influence within private document security networks.

“Mr. Leden, it’s Seraphine,” she said, getting straight to the point the second the call connected. “I need one final favor to repay my father’s kindness.”

On the other end of the line, the old man’s voice was heavy with sympathy. “What can I do for you, Mark’s daughter?”

“Please block all access to my movements after today. Delete flight manifests, medical records, and any digital traces under the name Seraphine Anderson outside the Boston area. Let the system record that my last activity stopped in Boston… as if I’ve gone into seclusion and refused to interact with the outside world.”

“That’s no easy task, Seraphine," Mr. Leden replied. "But for the sake of your late father, I’ll make sure Arthur Ashford's entire business intelligence network hits a dead end in Boston. You’ll become a ghost in their system.”

He understood the nightmare plaguing the Andersons, so he didn’t ask any further questions.

“Thank you, Mr. Leden. Thank you so much.”

After ending the call, Seraphine popped the SIM card out of her phone and snapped the small plastic piece in half.

She gazed out the window of the temporary hotel room. The city’s glittering lights stretched out before her, but they felt entirely foreign. And cold.

“Is that everything?” Chloe asked, pulling Seraphine’s large suitcase toward her.

Seraphine nodded. “Chloe... given my pregnancy, can I still have plastic surgery? I really want to disappear. I don’t want anyone to find me. I want to become a completely new person.”

Chloe stopped in her tracks. The heavy suitcase slipped from her grasp, hitting the floor with a loud thud. She turned around, her eyes wide with disbelief. As a doctor, Seraphine’s question instantly set off alarm bells in her head.

“Sera, listen to me carefully,” Chloe said. She stepped closer and gripped Seraphine’s shoulders firmly. Her voice dropped into a sharp, professional tone, stripping away her usual casual warmth. “Medically speaking, the answer is no. It’s absolutely out of the question right now.”

Seraphine looked at her, her eyes brimming with despair. “Why, Chloe? I just want to change the shape of my nose or my eyes a little. Just a minor procedure. I have enough money left to pay for the most expensive private clinic in this city.”

Chloe let out a long sigh, gently guiding Seraphine to sit on the edge of the bed. She knelt before her best friend, looking directly into eyes that seemed so fragile, yet so dangerously full of resolve.

“Sera, you’re pregnant with triplets. You’re already in your fourth month. This is a critical phase for fetal development,” Chloe explained slowly, trying to ground her. “Plastic surgery, no matter how minor, is an elective procedure. It is not a life-or-death emergency. And in the medical world, there’s an absolute rule: you never perform elective surgery during pregnancy.”

“But why? I can handle the pain, Chloe. I swear I can,” Seraphine interrupted, her voice choked with emotion.

“This isn’t just about your pain, Sera. It’s about the three lives inside your womb,” Chloe interjected, her voice firm yet gentle.

"Every surgical procedure requires anesthesia, whether it’s a high dose of local numbing or general anesthesia. The chemicals from those drugs can cross the placenta. They’ll enter your babies’ bloodstream."

Chloe paused for a moment, staring intently into Seraphine’s eyes to make sure the gravity of the situation sank in.

"At this stage of pregnancy, their organs are still developing. Anesthetics can disrupt that growth, cause severe birth defects, or worst of all lead to a spontaneous miscarriage because the uterus goes into shock."

Seraphine froze. Her grip on the fabric of her black dress tightened until her knuckles turned white.

“And that’s not all,” Chloe continued, gently rubbing the back of Seraphine’s hand. “During pregnancy, your body experiences a massive surge in hormones and drastic changes in blood volume. Your immune system is already working twice as hard just to protect your babies."

Chloe kept her gaze locked on her best friend, emphasizing her next words.

"If you force yourself to go under the knife right now, the risk of severe bleeding increases many times over. Your surgical wounds will heal incredibly slowly, opening the door wide to bacterial infections."

Chloe’s own breathing hitched slightly, her chest tightening with worry over Seraphine's fragile mental state.

"If your body catches an infection and you develop a high fever, your babies will suffer the consequences. The physical pain and psychological stress after surgery could easily trigger premature contractions."

Her voice choked up as she held back her own rising emotions. "Do you want to give birth to premature babies at four months, Sera? They won’t survive."

Hearing Chloe’s logical, terrifying explanation, Seraphine's desperate wish was instantly crushed. She lowered her head, staring down at her belly... the only true treasure she had left in the world. Tears fell once more, dampening her fingers.

“Then what am I supposed to do...?” Seraphine whispered hoarsely. “Arthur has connections everywhere. Without a new face, what if one of his men recognizes me at the airport? Or on the streets of Wanaka? I can’t relax, Chloe. I’m haunted by fear every single second.”

Chloe gave her a faint, empathetic smile. She moved onto the bed, wrapping her arms around her friend’s trembling body.

“We have another plan, Sera. As a doctor, I won’t let you take a foolish risk with your body. But as your friend, I promise to make sure the world can’t recognize you… without putting your children in danger.”

Seraphine lifted her face, wiping away her tears with the back of her hand. “What plan?”

“For now, we focus on a non surgical disguise. Something completely safe for a pregnant woman, but drastic enough to fool the average person,” Chloe said, a spark of confidence returning to her eyes. “Tomorrow morning, before we head to the airport, we’ll stop by a salon run by a close friend of mine. We’ll change your appearance completely using only styling techniques. No surgery required.”

Seraphine listened intently, the logic finally breaking through her panic. A visual disguise like that was much safer, and they could do it first thing tomorrow.

“Then... when can I have the actual surgery?” Seraphine asked, still desperate to completely sever any physical ties to her past life.

“The safest time is after you give birth, once the babies are at least six months to a year old,” Chloe explained in a calm, measured tone. “Why wait? First, after giving birth, your hormone levels and blood volume need time to stabilize. The risk of bleeding and infection will drop back to normal."

Chloe paused, making sure Seraphine was listening to every word.

"Second, delivering triplets takes an enormous physical toll. Your body will be completely exhausted. You’ll need months to recover your strength before you can handle the trauma of a surgical procedure. Third, there’s breastfeeding. If you plan to nurse the triplets, anesthetics and post op medications… like heavy antibiotics and painkillers, can seep into your milk and get into their systems."

"So, ideally, we wait until the babies have started solid foods, or until they’re no longer entirely dependent on your milk.”

Seraphine nodded slowly. Chloe’s words made perfect sense. The reckless urge to disappear instantly began to fade, replaced by a mother’s fierce instinct to protect her children above all else.

“So, here’s the play,” Chloe concluded. “We head to Wanaka undercover. You give birth there peacefully under my watch. Once the babies are born, healthy, and you’ve fully recovered… maybe a year after we land in New Zealand. I will personally find the best, most tight lipped plastic surgeon in Auckland. You can get the work done on your face there, and not a soul in New York will ever know.”

Seraphine exhaled a deep sigh of relief, a weight lifting from her chest for the first time since the funeral.

“Thank you, Chloe. I don’t know what I’d do without you,” Seraphine said softly, resting her head on her best friend’s shoulder.

“Now, let's pack up the rest of your things and get some rest," Chloe said, squeezing her tight. "Tomorrow is the first day of the rest of your life.”