I Raised His Heirs, They Shot Me Off a CliffChapter 1
"Please… please… just help me leave. I can't take this anymore…" My voice broke into fragments as I clutched the phone so tightly my knuckles turned white, as if it were the only thing tethering me to sanity, the last fragile thread keeping me from completely falling apart.
"Seraphina? What's going on? Where are you?" The voice on the other end was sharp with concern, urgent, grounding, but it felt so far away, like it was coming from another world I no longer belonged to.
I dragged my sleeve roughly across my face, smearing tears and blood together without caring. My whole body trembled uncontrollably as I forced the words out in a hoarse whisper, each one scraping painfully against my throat. "I'm done… I can't stay here anymore. I'm leaving Enzo… and the kids."
The moment the words left my lips, something inside me seemed to collapse.
My fingers loosened without strength, and the phone slipped from my grasp, hitting the bed with a dull, lifeless thud.
Silence followed.
I stood there for a long moment, breathing unevenly, before my gaze slowly lifted toward the mirror.
The woman staring back at me felt like a stranger.
Bruised. Blood smeared across her temple. Lips cracked. Eyes hollow and empty, like all the light inside had been drained out.
I looked… ruined.
Like someone who had crawled out of a battlefield, barely alive.
And in a way… I had.
Two hours ago…
I had been standing in front of the same mirror, twirling slowly, forcing myself to smile.
The royal blue dress clung perfectly to my body, hugging every curve. The color made my dark hair look richer, softer. It was elegant. Beautiful.
Catarina's favorite color.
For a brief second, I almost believed I looked… worthy. Acceptable. Good enough to sit at the table when the family gathered, good enough that no one would whisper about why the Acting Boss kept a wife he never touched in a house she wasn't welcome in.
Thud!
The impact came out of nowhere.
Pain exploded across my skull, sharp and blinding, and my vision went white for a split second. My body staggered backward, and I slammed hard into the dresser behind me, the force knocking the air out of my lungs.
A crash echoed through the room. Somewhere down the corridor, a soldier posted outside the east wing would have heard it. None of them would come. They never did.