Se connecterSera broke completely.“Please!” she screamed, her voice raw, desperate, echoing through the empty warehouse. “Please don’t do this, take me, just me, leave him out of this,please...”Her body shook with the force of it, tears falling uncontrollably now.“I’ll disappear, I swear, I’ll make sure Damian never finds me, I won’t come back, I won’t exist, just let him live...”Her voice cracked.Lysandra watched. Every second of it, every tear, every plea and her smile only grew.Because this was exactly what she wanted.“See?” she said softly, almost pleased. “This is what happens when you don’t listen.”She turned slightly, her voice shifting back into command.“Get ready.”The men moved and Sera could only sit there, trembling with her heart pounding.Metal scraped against concrete as a machine was dragged into place.It was crude, industrial. The kind used on construction sites to chew through debris like it meant nothing.Sera’s breath came in broken pieces as she watched them set it
Meanwhile Sera’s body slammed forward as the door was yanked open before she could even catch her breath.“Please, please, I have a child...” her voice cracked as she struggled, her wrists bruised from the grip holding her. “I have a son, you can’t...”Rough hands grabbed her and dragged her out.Her feet barely touched the ground as they pulled her across gravel, her dress catching, tearing slightly as she stumbled.“Please!” she cried again, her voice breaking sharper this time. “I’ll do anything, just don’t...”No one answered.The warehouse loomed ahead, abandoned and dark. Its doors already open like a mouth waiting to swallow her whole.They dragged her inside.The air was cold, empty and echoing.Then she saw her, Lysandra, seated, calm and perfect. Like she had been waiting for her.A slow, satisfied smile curved her lips as she leaned back slightly, watching Sera being dragged closer.And when Sera was finally thrown to the ground, Lysandra laughed.“Oh please, please, I have
“My mom…” he repeated again, breaking down completely now. “My mom… she’s gone…”His voice cracked into sobs, raw and uncontrollable.Damian’s chest tightened hard. “I’m coming,” he said again. “I’m almost there. You’re not alone, alright? Stay on the line with me.”Nikolai nodded even though he couldn’t see him, curling slightly into himself as he clutched the phone. “I’m scared…”“I know,” Damian said softly. “Just keep talking to me.”But Nikolai couldn’t, not properly. His words didn’t make sense anymore.Fragments.Fear.Tears.And through it all Damian listened.Every second stretching too long as the car sped through the night.“Hold on, Sera…” he murmured under his breath.The car didn’t fully stop when they arrived before Damian reached for the door.“Sir...” Anton started, but it was already too late.Damian stepped out and his body betrayed him immediately.His leg buckled.A sharp, brutal pain shot up from his knee, his balance collapsing as he nearly hit the ground. Anton
Silence hit for half a second then “Move!” one of the men barked.They grabbed Sera again, dragging her past the fallen bodies.Past Adrik.His eyes locked onto her, desperation raw, unfiltered.“I’m sorry…” he rasped, the words barely forming as blood filled his mouth. “I’m...”His voice broke because he couldn’t finish it.He couldn’t save her.The maid lay beside him now, blood pooling beneath her, her breathing shallow, uneven. She turned her head slightly, her voice barely there. “…failed… mission…”Adrik clenched his jaw, his vision darkening. “No,” he forced out, shaking his head weakly. “No...”But the world was already slipping.His eyes struggled to stay open, fixed on the door where Sera had just been taken.Rage.Guilt.Helplessness.All crashing into one unbearable weight.“I should’ve...”Darkness swallowed the rest.Upstairs a completely different world existed.Nikolai sat cross legged on his bed, headphones on, eyes locked on his screen.“Rush left, rush left!” he mut
Lysandra let out a sharp, disbelieving laugh, the sound brittle as it broke out of her.“Damian Blackwell… apologizing?” she muttered, shaking her head slowly. “For her?”Her grip on the glass tightened further. “Impossible.”But it wasn’t.It was happening.Right in front of her.In one move, he had turned Seraphina from a target into something untouchable.Protected.Legitimized.Dangerous to go against.Lysandra’s expression darkened, her jaw tightening as something colder began to settle beneath the disbelief.“So that’s how you want to play it,” she murmured.Her eyes narrowed slightly.Everything she had done…Every move she had made…Her lips curled faintly, but there was no humor in it.“Then why didn’t you act sooner?” she wondered aloud, pacing now, her heels clicking softly against the floor. “Why pretend? Why wait?”Her steps slowed.“No,” she muttered immediately. “No, no… you don’t get to just fix it like that.”“She left you,” she continued, almost like she was remindin
Damian's gaze lifted back to Sera, steady, careful, like he was choosing every word before it left him.“Come back,” he said.“Come back with me,” he added, his voice quieter now. “You don’t have to stay there. You don’t have to keep your distance like this.”Sera held his gaze for a second.Just a second.And in that moment, something in her almost shifted.She then looked away to Adrik.It was subtle.Quick.But it was enough.Adrik noticed and that alone gave her answer weight before she even spoke it.“I’m not coming back,” she said.Damian didn’t flinch.“I didn’t say forever,” he replied.“I know,” she said. “And I’m still not coming back. I’m staying here at the Volkov estate,” she continued. “With Adrik.”Sera glanced at him briefly before continuing, “But I’ll still come to the facility.”Her gaze returned to Damian.“I’ll continue your treatment. Nothing changes there.”Damian held her gaze for a moment longer. Then he nodded. “Alright.”Behind her, Nikolai shifted again, as
Meanwhile the apartment was quiet in that deceptive way that made every sound feel suspicious.Sera stood in the hallway outside Nikolai’s room, one hand still resting on the doorframe of her own bedroom, heart beating a fraction too fast for no good reason at all.She was certain of it. Certain sh
Sera knew.Of course she did.She knew why Adrik’s eyes had lingered a second too long when he asked. Why his voice had softened, why the question hadn’t really been meant for an answer at all. She knew the shape of that silence, the weight behind it.And she ignored it.She reached for her glass i
Nikolai yawned suddenly, the adrenaline fading. “Hey,” he said sleepily. “If someone wanted to… you know… pursue my mom…”Damian stiffened. “Pursue.”“Yes,” Nikolai said. “They’d have to bribe me first.”Damian blinked. “Bribe you.”“Obviously,” Nikolai said. “I’m important.”“What kind of bribe.”
Almost.“What do you tell her when you’re quiet like this?” he asked.“I say I’m watching anime,” Nikolai replied. “Which is technically true.”Damian laughed under his breath.“You’re dangerous,” he said.“I know,” Nikolai replied proudly.The word dangerous lingered between them, heavier than it







