Semua Bab Chasing The Wife He Discarded: Bab 71 - Bab 80

Seraphina's POVI didn't sleep. I sat at Colette's kitchen table until the sky outside turned gray, turning the same question over and over.Rousset wanted proof I was still useful. Lysander wanted proof I'd tell the truth. Nerissa wanted me gone completely, one way or another. Three different people, three different threats, and not one of them cared what happened to me as long as they got what they needed.I was done being the one everyone used and nobody protected.I needed someone on my side. Someone who still had a reason to hate Nerissa as much as I did, who wouldn't ask too many questions before they agreed to help.Colette came in around six, saw my face, and didn't bother asking if I'd slept. She just set a cup of coffee in front of me and left me alone with it.I picked up the second phone and called Talia.She answered on the third ring, groggy. "Who is this?""It's me.""Seraphina?" She was awake fast after that, voice sharpening. "Where are you? Lysander's been calling ev

Talia's POVI couldn't stop pacing.Seraphina sat curled on my couch, calm as anything, sipping the tea I'd made her like we were just two friends catching up after a long week. I couldn't sit still the way she could. I never could, not when something this good was finally within reach."You're sure about this," I said. "You're sure this actually hurts her.""Nothing hurts Nerissa Vane like losing her children." Seraphina set her cup down, precise, unhurried. "She survived a boat exploding under her. She survived Lysander choosing me in front of everyone. The one thing she's never had to survive is genuine fear for those two kids.""God, I've wanted this for so long." I dropped onto the chair across from her, energy buzzing under my skin like I'd had too much coffee. "You have no idea what it's been like, watching her float through every room like she owns it. Like the rest of us are just background to her perfect little comeback story.""I have some idea.""Right. Sorry." I waved a h

Nerissa's POVThe parking lot filled up fast once word got around. Parents spilling out the side doors, phones already out, a few of them recording before anyone told them not to. Someone had called the police. Someone else had apparently called half the school's parent group chat first.I sat in the back of our car with both kids, doors locked, watching the chaos build through the window while Lucien stood guard just outside."She's not going anywhere," he said, leaning down to the window. "Two men on her. She's not moving.""Good."Nicole had stopped crying, mostly, tucked into my side with her thumb near her mouth the way she hadn't done since she was three. Nicholas kept asking questions I didn't have good answers for. Why did the lady lie about the puppy. Was she going to jail. Would she come back.I didn't know how to answer any of it honestly, so I just held them both and watched the lot fill with strangers.An ambulance pulled in maybe four minutes later, lights on, no siren,

Lysander's POVI made it back to the table somehow. Sat down. Picked up my fork like my hands weren't shaking."Everything all right?" my mother asked. "You two were gone a while.""Fine," I said. "Talia had a work thing."Talia didn't say anything. She sat back down across from me a moment later, cheeks a little too pale, and reached for her water glass instead of the food still sitting untouched on her plate. I felt her watching me from the corner of her eye, waiting to see what I'd do, and I didn't have an answer for her yet, so I just kept eating food I couldn't taste.My father asked something about the board meeting next week. I answered it, I think. I couldn't tell you what I said five seconds after I said it. Every part of me was still standing in that hallway, listening to my own sister talk about a woman getting caught in a parking lot like it was a shipment gone wrong.I made it through maybe ten more minutes before I couldn't sit there anymore."I need to go," I said, stan

Nerissa's POVPriya called at eleven at night.I sat up in bed, phone pressed to my ear, sleep already gone."I have something. Two things, actually.""Talk.""First, the texts. We've had eyes on Talia's phone since Lysander asked me to watch it. Tonight she sent a message to a number.No name attached." Papers shuffled fast on her end. "It was sent to a burner that's been active for exactly as long as Seraphina's been missing."My pulse picked up. "That's not proof she's staying there.""No. But this is." Priya's voice sharpened, pleased with herself despite the hour. "Lucien had one of his old contacts sitting on Talia's building since this afternoon, just watching, in case she led us anywhere. Twenty minutes ago, a woman matching Seraphina's build and hair came down to the building's side entrance, took out the trash, and went back up.""She's not just visiting.""She's living there. Has been, probably since the night the school thing fell apart."I thought about calling Lysander.