Chapter 2 Five Years Later

“Mummy!” Seraphina turned around, a big grin on her face as her five years old toddler ran towards her. She quickly packed her curly dyed blonde hair into a bun so it wouldn’t get in the way of holding him.

“Phoenix,” She breathed as she caught him in her arms.

“Oh my baby, I’ve missed you so much.” She sank into the warmth of the kid’s neck, closing her eyes to savor him.

“I’ve missed you, mum.”

Five years.

That was how long it had been since Seraphina buried her father... and lost everything.

Five years since her name vanished from the Moreau legacy.

Five years since she woke up sore, to an empty bed without the nameless stranger that now haunted her dream every night. Maybe Sheila would have stopped her from being reckless that night if she had known she was a virgin.

And maybe she wouldn’t have run away if she hadn’t seen the text that came onto his phone while he was sleeping that night.

She had almost fainted after realizing she had lost her virginity to a dangerous man. She wished she hadn’t seen the text but sadly…

And as fate would have it, two months later, she  had discovered she was pregnant for him. A total stranger.

Las Vegas became a war zone after her father's death. Her mother had died by committing suicide after evidences were pulled that she was the one who poisoned her father and made him sick.

Seraphina knew she wasn’t the one. Her mother loved her late father way too much. Even after all he did, Leah Moreau would never hurt him.

It wasn’t long after that Seraphina herself escaped a gunshot that was aimed at her.

So she did what anyone desperate enough to protect the growing bump in her tummy would do- She faked her death, and vanished. Or she would have been the next target.

Now, five years later, here she was in a quiet Seattle suburb- visiting the only reason she had fought hard to keep herself alive and not break down from mental trauma after she lost both parents within two months.

“Miss Sera? You didn’t inform us you were coming!” Maris’ voice rang from the porch, laughing as she stepped outside, wiping her hands on a dish towel.

Maris had cared for Phoenix since his first breath. She was more than a nanny Seraphina had found before she even birthed her son. She was family. A tall, brown-eyed woman in her forties who knew how to read Seraphina better than anyone.

“I wanted to surprise both of you,” Seraphina smiled as she lowered Phoenix to the ground.

“You did. Coffee’s on. I just made banana bread too.”

“God bless you, Maris.”

They stepped inside, and Seraphina took in the familiar scent of warm cinnamon and lemon cleaner. It always reminded her she made the right decision leaving everything behind. This peaceful, low-key life was worth it.

Her phone buzzed.

She picked it up- and there it was. A picture of her handsome fiancé. Damien Thorne.

He was winking at the camera, dressed in his usual stylish button-down shirt with two buttons undone to reveal worked-out abs. Beneath the picture, the caption read:

“Let’s skip work today. Dinner? Just you and me, baby girl.”

Seraphina’s lips curled into a smile. Damien was impossible to resist when he was like this.

She had never planned to fall in love. After all she’d lost, she didn’t think her heart would ever stretch that far again. But Damien proved her wrong.

When she met him, he was just a client in the firm she worked for as a cybersecurity analyst until he took interest in her. Though she had ogled his obvious attractive features, she never had romantic interest in him at first.

He had been patient, playful, and persistent. He’d pursued her like a man chasing a dream even when she closed off entirely and told him she had a son. For one whole year, he made her feel seen and safe.

He had proposed four months ago. A simple, quiet proposal on the balcony of his Seattle penthouse- with fairy lights, wine, and heavy kisses here and there.

And somehow… she’d said yes. She was tired of doing life alone and craved something real. Something that differed from her boring life as a cyber security analyst at a top firm in Seattle. Not for once had she stopped thinking about her father’s empire back in Las Vegas, but she had chosen silence. Because of Phoenix.

She texted back,

“Spending the day with Phoenix. Dinner tomorrow?”

He replied almost instantly,

“Fine. But I’ll miss you tonight.”

She chuckled to herself, shaking her head. He was soft in all the right ways. She changed her mind- she’d surprise him later tonight.

She glanced at Maris, who was sipping tea at the kitchen island. “Do you think I have time to sneak back out later?”

Maris gave her a look. “Are you asking for permission or telling me your plan?”

Seraphina laughed. “Both.”

That evening, after she tucked Phoenix into bed and whispered a prayer over his forehead, she left for her part of the city.

On getting to her apartment, she changed into a silky gray dress. The kind that hugged her in the right places but still looked elegant. She let her dyed dirty blonde curls cascade softly over her shoulders.

She sprayed her perfume- soft jasmine and something intense because the night could eventually get freaky so she had to be well prepared. Seraphina checked herself once in the mirror. Her heart felt light. Her gaze darted to the diamond ring on her engaged finger and she smiled.

She drove across Seattle to Damien’s house, already picturing the look on his face when she walked in.

She just wanted to see him, kiss him, maybe cook him something later and laugh about work. He’d been quiet lately, but she was aware of how busy he could be as the lawyer he was, hence why his text this afternoon surprised her. She didn’t want to miss the chance to spend a lovely night with her lover. She’d missed him.

When she reached his floor, she pulled out the spare key he’d given her a few months ago. He had once said, “This means I trust you, babe.” Those words had stayed with her. Anytime she remembered all she had lost, there was also the fact that she had Damien Thorne, her loyal and intentional fiancé who would go to the end of the world to fight for her.

When the door unlocked and she stepped inside, she expected a little mess in the living room from a long day at work, maybe Damien tired on the couch, or even asleep.

Instead, the place was too quiet. The TV was on mute, the vampire diaries series was playing on it. They both used to watch it together. A smile tugged at her lips as she remembered how they argued about being team Damon and team Stefan.

“Damien?” She called out, but was met with silence.

She walked in slowly, setting her black designer purse on the side table. Something didn’t feel so right as she treaded the floor of the dimly lit hallway. His jacket was on the armrest of the couch, and beside it, her eyes fell on… a pair of nude heels.

Her brows drew together.

She glanced at the shoes again. They weren’t hers.

Still, she kept moving, though her steps slowed. She hesitated for a second before cornering to his bedroom. Her heart was already pounding in her chest when she heard it.

She paused.

Then she heard Damien’s voice.

“She’s too soft,” he said with a laugh. “Give it a little more time, and I will bring her to Las Vegas to thumbprint the vault herself. She thinks we’re in love.”

Seraphina couldn’t think. She stepped closer to the hallway wall, careful to stay in the shadows, her breath held tightly in her chest.

“I still can’t believe she’s alive,” came the second voice- a very familiar feminine voice.

“You should see how she had teared up when she was telling me about her true identity and whatever tragedy befell her life. It bored me the hell out cos I already knew it all.”

The woman let out a mockery laughter. “You really pulled it off. Who knew the pathetic Moreau bastard daughter could find herself worthy of a love like yours.”

Seraphina’s heart was racing wildly; she thought it would fly out of her chest. ‘Moreau bastard daughter’

Only one person could have said that. No way this could be real. She must be dreaming.

Damien knew her before?

She ignored the tight pain she was starting to feel largely in her chest and inched forward, slowly, knees trembling as she neared the bedroom door. It was slightly ajar, the golden lighting inside illuminating faint streaks into the hallway. Her fingers rested on the doorframe as she peered inside.

Then she saw it.

Damien was standing shirtless near the bed. And sitting on the edge, one leg crossed over the other, was Talia.

Her stepsister. The current heiress of the Moreau Empire. Wearing a silky red robe that clung to her thighs and shoulders.

She had her back turned slightly, but Seraphina didn’t need to see her whole face. She recognized her step-sister from her side frame. Even after five years, she looked just as poisonous.

“I told you I’d make her fall for me. It’s delusional for any woman not to, I mean…” Damien said, his hand brushing over Talia’s bare thigh like it was routine.

“Gosh, she was easy to manipulate,” Talia replied with a sly smile.

Before Seraphina could blink, Talia rose and walked up to Damien, and kissed him. A deep, seductive kiss that he embraced like familiarity. Her hands were curled into his hair like she had done it numerous times before.

That was all Seraphina needed to see.

Something inside her snapped. Her legs gave way and she gripped the wall to stay upright, her chest heaving. Her vision blurred. Her ears rang. She stumbled back from the door like it had burned her.

She staggered down the hallway, bumping into the wall, breath shallow and quick.

“No... no...” she gasped, her hand flying to her chest. The pressure there was unbearable, like someone had cracked her ribs open and poured ice into her lungs.

She dropped to the floor, her back against the wall, knees bent to her chest, trying to breathe- trying not to scream.

Her hands trembled so badly, she couldn’t even pull her phone out of her purse.

Her vision was spinning.

All she could do was curl tighter against herself as her chest kept rising and falling in desperate gasps.

And just before the darkness closed in, she heard Damien’s voice echo from the room.

“Who is there!?”