Chapter 4

Seraphina POV

In the bedroom, I numbly stuffed my clothes into a suitcase.

I didn't even glance at the expensive jewelry or couture gowns Ethan had bought me. I only took the few old clothes I had brought with me, and a few worn design sketches.

Footsteps sounded outside the door.

"Mean lady, are you stealing our family's stuff?"

Leo stood at the doorway, clutching a Transformer toy, glaring at me with suspicion.

My hands paused as I packed, and I turned to look at the child I had cherished for five years.

Once, if Leo so much as coughed, I'd be too anxious to sleep all night. To help him with his health, I'd scoured medical books and personally brewed herbal remedies, burning my fingers with countless blisters.

But now, the defensiveness and disgust in his eyes were like a rusty, dull knife, repeatedly cutting at my heart.

"I'm not stealing anything." My voice was flat and emotionless. "Once I have my things, I'll leave."

But Leo was relentless. He rushed into the room and snatched the jewelry box from my bedside table. It was my mother's only keepsake, a delicate antique pocket watch.

"My dad bought this! You're not allowed to take it!" Leo screamed, throwing the jewelry box hard onto the floor.

"Stop it!"

I cried out, lunging to catch it, but I was too late.

With a sharp crack, the jewelry box flew open, and the delicate pocket watch shattered into several pieces.

I froze, my mind blank.

I tremblingly reached out to pick up the fragments, but my fingertip was sliced by a sharp metal edge. Blood instantly welled up, dripping onto the pristine white rug, a shocking sight.

"Oh, Leo, how could you be so clumsy?"

Elara's voice came from the doorway. She walked in on high heels, glanced at the broken pocket watch on the floor, and a barely concealed sneer played on her lips.

She stepped forward, her slender high heel seemingly accidentally treading on a larger piece of the watch, grinding it with force.

"Seraphina, I'm so sorry. Leo is still little; he doesn't know any better. You're an adult, surely you wouldn't hold it against a four-year-old child, would you?" Elara apologized falsely, her voice full of provocation.

I suddenly looked up, my eyes red, staring at Elara. I stood up abruptly, raising my hand to slap her.

"Stop it!"

A sharp male voice suddenly rang out.

Ethan strode in, seizing my wrist. His grip was so strong it felt like my bones would shatter.

"Seraphina, are you insane? How dare you cause a scene in the Thorne house?"

Seeing this, Leo immediately burst into tears, clinging to Elara. "Mommy, I'm scared! The mean lady wants to hit me!"

Elara hugged Leo tightly, her eyes slightly red, looking utterly wronged. "Ethan, don't blame Seraphina. It's all Leo's fault for accidentally breaking her thing. But... but Leo is your own flesh and blood, how could she be so harsh?"

Ethan's face was utterly grim.

He looked at my bleeding fingers, his eyes completely devoid of pity, only profound disgust.

"It's just a cheap old pocket watch, it's not worth anything! I'll buy you ten better ones." Ethan coldly flung my hand away. "Apologize to Elara and Leo immediately!"

I stumbled, my back hitting the wardrobe.

I looked at my husband, who was protecting another woman and child, listening to him disparage my mother's keepsake as a "cheap old pocket watch." I suddenly burst into laughter.

My laughter grew louder, but tears streamed from my eyes.

"Ethan, you want me to apologize to a little bastard who smashed my mother's keepsake? You're dreaming!"

Slap!

Ethan raised his hand without hesitation, delivering a resounding slap across my face.

My head snapped to the side, and five distinct red marks instantly appeared on my pale cheek. A trickle of blood seeped from the corner of my mouth.

The entire room fell into a deathly silence.

Ethan's hand froze in mid-air, a flicker of panic in his eyes that even he might not have noticed. But he quickly suppressed that emotion, replacing it with a cold, stern expression.

"Seraphina, this is to teach you manners. In this house, Elara and Leo are the masters."

I slowly turned my head, raising the back of my hand to wipe the blood from my mouth.

My eyes were completely dead, like a stagnant pool that stirred no ripples.

"Ethan, this slap has severed the last shred of affection between us."

Without another glance at the broken pocket watch on the floor, I picked up the suitcase filled with old clothes, straightened my back, and walked out of the mansion without looking back.

The night wind outside was cold, chilling my thin clothes. I looked back at the cage that had trapped me for five years, a cold smile curving my lips.

The New York night was just beginning.