Six

Seraph 

The sound echoed through my apartment. Slow. Deliberate. Not the frantic banging of a delivery guy. Not the rhythm of Sloane when she forgets her keys. Three knocks. It paused. Like the person knew I was listening. 

My phone was still in my hand. The text glowed on the screen. "Welcome home, sister. We're just getting started." 

The footsteps outside my door had stopped. Whoever it was, they were waiting. 

I didn't move at first. My eyes flicked to the peephole. I could see a shape, but the hallway light was dim. I told myself it was paranoia. The video had just dropped. Two million views. #Seraph'sWorld #FamilyDrama. People were picking sides. Anyone could've found my address. 

The knock came again. Three times. I set my phone down, slowly. My hand drifted to the drawer in the entryway table. I kept pepper spray there. Not because I was scared but because I was done being caught off guard. 

"Who is it?" I called, my voice steady. 

Silence. 

My lips gaped to ask again. 

"Seraph? It's me." 

Melanie. 

I exhaled so hard my shoulders dropped. I unlocked the bolt, then the chain, then opened the door. 

She stood there in a hoodie and joggers, hair in a messy bun, holding a paper bag that smelled like french fries and ketchup. It was Melanie. My best friend since uni. The only person who'd ever seen me ugly cry over a failed prototype and still told me the stitching was "made in heaven." 

"You're not dead," she said, scanning me up and down. "Good. I was worried." 

I rolled my eyes at her. "Is that a valid reason I should be killed by you this morning, you should have called." I stepped aside.

She walked in like she owned the place. "Please. Sloane said I should come over, she thinks you're too soft hearted that you can't process all what happened alone. She literally spammed my mail and social media with messages. I figured this could count as an emergency." She dumped the bag on my kitchen counter. "You look like hell." 

"I look fine," I said, closing the door behind me and double locking it. 

"You look tired ," she corrected me. She turned, her eyes sharp. "And skinny. What happened to the hips I used to use as a pillow during all nighters?" 

I almost smiled. "They're still there." 

"Girl, no. I haven't seen you for like two weeks and you've lost this much weight." She came closer, poked my arm. "Where'd it go? Did grief burn calories? Because if it did, I'm signing up." 

I leaned against the counter. The tension in my chest is reduced." I've been working. Training. Running. Less stress eating. More ... Surviving. "

Melanie opened the paper bag and slid a container towards me." Eat. You're no good to anyone if you pass out. Especially not to yourself. "

I took a fork. The french fries were hot, sweet and perfect with the ketchup. For a minute none of the both of us talked. Just the sound of forks and the hum of my fridge. 

" You saw it, "I said finally. The video. 

" Everyone saw it. "She didn't look up." Sloane sent it to me five minutes after it hit X. Two million views. Seraph's World is trending higher than the deal. "

I nodded." I know. "

" You okay? "

I thought about it. The truth. " I thought I was. I took the deal. I cut Ronan out and I set the terms. I walked out of the restaurant with my head high. "I set the fork down." Then he said it. Elena's pregnant . Three months. His." 

Melanie's expression didn't change." And?" 

"And it still hurts." I admitted it because it was her. "Not because I want him back. Because for five years I blamed myself. For not being enough, for not being the kind of woman who got to have that. And hearing it out loud, from him.....it felt like confirmation. Like I was right to feel broken back then. "

Melanie reached across the counter and took my hand." You weren't broken Seraph, you were human. There's a difference."

I squeezed her fingers." Thanks. "

She let go and dug into a container.

" So what now? Are you going to spiral? Burn the contract? Move to Paris?" 

" No."  I stood and walked to the living room. My laptop was open on the coffee table. The pitch deck for tomorrow's Tradefare board meeting glowed on the screen." Now we build. "

Melanie followed me. She looked at the laptop, then at me." Tradefare. Tomorrow. 9:00 a.m."

 I nodded." Brian moved the meeting up. They want Seraph's World presented to the investors. Full expansion plan. London, Dubai, Nairobi, Nigeria. Eighteen months."

" You ready?"

I stared at the slides. Numbers. Projections. Fabric samples scanned and inserted. Marketing strategy. the word ' Seraph's World' in bold at the top. My name. My brand. My revenge, disguised as a business plan.

"I should be,"  I said. "I've rehearsed it a hundred times." 

 Melanie sat on the couch beside me."  Then why do you look like you are about to throw up ?" 

I laughed,but it was weak. "Because tomorrow Ronan will be there."

She froze. " What?"