SERAPHINA
(PAST)
Seraphina arrived at the office at noon, composed, immaculately dressed. At the reception desk, a cluster of voices dissolved the moment she slowed her step.
She didn't need to hear the rest.
By the time she reached her office, the rumor had already taken shape in her mind.
"Find the CEO's location," she told her assistant, placing her bag down carefully. Her voice did not rise.
The pin arrived before evening.
Room 409. East Wing.
It was never the same wing twice.
The pearl-white Range Rover slid into the Valecrest Hotel just after sunset. Seraphina's iPhone glowed once more with confirmation as she crossed the lobby—no hesitation, no questions.
The hallway was quiet. A cleaner paused mid-motion when she saw her, then looked away. Everyone knew where not to look.
The door to 409 was unlocked.
The lights were low. Adrian lay beside another woman, already half-asleep in the certainty of protection.
Seraphina said nothing.
She crossed the room, reached the bed, and pulled the woman out by her hair. The scream cut through the hallway, sharp and brief. No doors opened. No footsteps followed. This was not new.
The fight was ugly. Nails, slaps, breathless rage. Adrian stepped in too late, then too quickly—shielding the woman, placing his body between them as if that choice itself were neutral.
The mistress clutched his arm.
Seraphina stepped back.
She looked at him then—not with fury, but with clarity.
She walked to the table, picked up the wine bottle and a single glass, and left the room.
In the car, she placed the bottle carefully in the back seat. Compensation. That was what this had been.
She didn't feel better.
She felt exposed.
Emotion had not hurt him.
It had confirmed she still cared.
She started the engine.
By the time she reached her penthouse—the only space that belonged to her without negotiation—she understood the truth clearly:
Emotion was not strength.
It was access.
She would not grant it again.
That night, Seraphina learned the most dangerous thing a woman could give away was not her body—but her reaction.