For the first time in her life, Seraphina felt a rage so intense it eclipsed her despair. With a primal scream, she lunged upward, wrenching the metal rod from Zheng’s grasp. She swung it with all her might, smashing it against his head.

Zheng, already unsteady from the alcohol, didn't even manage a whimper before he collapsed into a heap on the floor.

Seraphina used the rod to haul herself up. She looked down at the blood on the floor, tears streaming from her eyes. She had been useless; she couldn't protect her child.

But perhaps it was for the best. Ethan Cross didn't deserve to be a father to her baby.

Seraphina stumbled into the house, found a set of clothes, and dressed herself. Then, she dialed the one number burned into her memory.

"Dad... come get me at this address."

When Ethan finished his meetings and returned to his office, he found Eva lounging in his chair, lazily eating grapes. Seeing him, her eyes lit up. She tossed the grapes onto his paperwork and threw herself into his arms.

"Ethan! You’re so busy. Our wedding is tomorrow—come look at the venue with me, please?"

Ethan frowned, no longer having the energy to correct her behavior.

"Be a good girl. I have to go out. Go look at it yourself. I don't care what the wedding looks like; as long as you're happy with it, I’m fine."

He pulled her arms off him, offering a hollow comfort. All he wanted was to go get Seraphina back immediately. After two weeks of thinking, he had reached a conclusion: Seraphina was safest when she was under his thumb. He would make her apologize and admit she was wrong, of her own free will.

Just as he was about to tell Eva to leave, his intercom buzzed. The receptionist's frantic voice came through.

"Mr. Cross! Mr. Zheng ignored our security and forced his way into the elevator! He’s heading for your office!"

Ethan’s heart gave a violent thud. Before he could respond, the door was kicked open. Zheng stood there, his face covered in dried blood, shouting with a murderous intensity.

"Ethan Cross! You owe me an explanation!"

Chapter 13

The moment Eva saw the intruder, her face went pale, and she rushed forward to try and push Zheng out.

But Ethan’s sense of dread had already reached its peak. He beat Eva to the door, towering over Zheng with a frigid aura.

"Where is Seraphina?"

Zheng spat on the floor. "Bah! That bitch Seraphina Thorne cracked my skull and set my house on fire with her in it!"

"Ethan Cross, you’re going to pay for my losses! If I hadn't been trying to get rid of that brat in her womb like you wanted, she never would have gotten the drop on me. After she lost the baby, she went completely insane..."

With every word Zheng spoke, Ethan’s face grew darker. By the time he heard the words "baby" and "fire," Ethan’s expression was a mask of pure, absolute horror.

The words were forced out between his clenched teeth.

"What baby? Who set a fire?"

"Who else? Seraphina! She was carrying your child. After I beat it out of her, she lost her mind and committed suicide right in my house... Ugh!"

Seraphina’s baby was gone? Seraphina was... dead?

A deafening roar exploded in Ethan’s head. The world began to spin. A crushing tide of despair nearly caused him to black out on the spot.

Before Zheng could finish his sentence, an enraged Ethan grabbed him by the throat, hoisting him off the ground and pinning him against the wall. Ethan’s eyes were lethal, looking at Zheng as if he were already a corpse.

"Who told you to touch her?"

Ethan’s knuckles turned white from the force. Zheng kicked his legs futilely, his face turning a deep purple, his tongue protruding as he wheezed out broken words.

"It was... it was Eva... she said... she said you wanted that baby dead..."

Thud!

Ethan slammed Zheng onto the marble floor with a sickening thud. Zheng clutched his chest, coughing violently as blood leaked from the corners of his mouth. Ethan stood over him, his foot grinding into the back of Zheng's hand, his gaze a predatory fire.

"Where is the body?" Ethan forced the words out.

Zheng screamed in pain. "At the hospital! The hospital!"

Ethan bolted for the underground garage. Before Zheng could breathe a sigh of relief, bodyguards swarmed him and a terrified Eva, shoving them both into a car and racing toward the hospital.

At the hospital morgue, Ethan’s hand shook violently. Several times, he reached for the white sheet, but he couldn't bring himself to pull it back. His eyes were burning, his throat parched; he couldn't utter a single sound.

A doctor walked over to him, his expression difficult to read.

"Mr. Cross, the deceased is not Seraphina Thorne."

Ethan spun around, eyes wide with a mix of shock and hope.

Eva, who had been trembling with fear, shrieked in an octave-breaking voice when she heard the result. "Impossible! If it's not Seraphina, then whose body is this? It must be a murder! Seraphina killed someone! Call the police and arrest her!"

Ethan’s icy gaze shot toward Eva.

The doctor shook his head in annoyance. "Miss Thorne didn't kill anyone. This is a highly realistic medical mannequin. Unless you perform an autopsy, most people wouldn't realize it was a fake."

Ethan felt his heart finally settle back into his chest. He let out a long, shaky breath, and then his eyes landed back on Zheng.

"Start talking. Every detail. What did Eva tell you?"

Nearby, Eva was shaking so hard she could barely stand, but she tried to grab Ethan’s arm, feigning composure.

"Ethan, don't listen to his lies! He’s just traumatized from Seraphina’s attack, he’s trying to frame me..."

"Shut up!"

Ethan threw her hand off him with such force that she stumbled and fell to the floor. His gaze remained locked on Zheng like a predator.

"I’m asking one more time. I want every. Single. Detail."

Chapter 14

Zheng, crushed by the agonizing pain in his hand, quickly stammered out the truth.

"Half a month ago... Eva Vance found me. She said she could help me rebuild my career, but in exchange, I had to win the auction for Seraphina Thorne and torment her."

He paused to gasp for air, swallowing hard while cautiously observing Ethan’s expression. Fearing Ethan wouldn't believe him, he hurriedly fished a crumpled set of transfer records from his pocket. "This is the deposit she sent me first, look..."

Ethan snatched the phone. The screen clearly displayed transfer records from Eva’s account. The timestamp was exactly one day before he had handed Seraphina over to Zheng.

A vision of Seraphina clutching his trousers and begging him as she was dragged away by Zheng flashed through his mind. Ethan felt a sharp, pulsing pain in his temples. He rubbed his brow forcefully and growled, "Continue."

Zheng’s next words nearly stopped Ethan’s heart.

"Later, Seraphina said she was carrying your child. I let her make the call. But that night you were with Eva... and you said with your own mouth that you didn't want anyone’s child except Eva's."

"The next day, Eva called me again. she said before Seraphina was returned, the child had to vanish, or she would make sure I went bankrupt again."

Ethan immediately recalled the night he had been deliberately plied with alcohol. It was the same night he had slept with Eva. His tolerance had always been high; if he hadn't found Eva in his bed the next morning, he wouldn't have been too panicked to notice the anomalies of the night before.

His drink had been drugged, and for every night that followed, Eva had persistently continued to drug him. That was why he had fallen into a deep sleep the moment he hit the bed, and why he never had the chance to go save Seraphina.

From the very beginning, this entire thing had been a meticulously planned deception by Eva Vance.

Zheng clung to Ethan’s leg, crying out loudly.

"Mr. Cross, this has nothing to do with me! I was only following Eva’s orders!"

"Eva Vance!"

Ethan kicked Zheng away and spun around. The chill in his voice caused the temperature in the entire office to plummet.

Eva’s face was as white as paper as she shook her head frantically.

"It's not true! Ethan, this is a forgery! He’s framing me!"

Zheng immediately pulled another phone from his pocket and held it high.

"I’m not lying! I have recordings! Mr. Cross, everything I said is true!"

Eva’s expression shattered, but she was too late to stop him. Zheng pressed play. In the recording, Eva’s voice was stripped of its usual sweetness, replaced by a chilling, endless malice.

The more Ethan listened, the colder his gaze became. Seeing the murderous look in Ethan’s eyes, Eva’s body stiffened. She suddenly scrambled up to run, but was intercepted by bodyguards arriving at the door.