Panting heavily, her hand holding the umbrella trembled slightly. She stared at the brightly lit streets through a blur of tears, feeling completely swallowed by the helplessness, confusion, and terrifying worry swirling inside her.

Her father was her only remaining family. She couldn't lose him too!

Her pants were already soaked through by the rain, and the cold bit into her bones, but Seraphina forced herself to gather her strength to ask the next person.

However, preoccupied with her panic, she didn't notice the light was red. A Bentley came charging toward her.

Seraphina’s mind went entirely blank. She staggered back two steps and tumbled heavily to the ground, her umbrella rolling away to the side.

Following a sharp, piercing screech of brakes, the car came to a sudden halt just a meter away from her.

She lifted her hand to block the glaring high beams, squinting through the light, only to see Ethan and Janice stepping out of the vehicle.

Ethan never expected that this "blind" pedestrian would be Seraphina. Seeing her completely drenched from head to toe, her shoulders trembling, looking utterly wretched, a strange pang of sharp pain shot through his heart. Yet, his face remained cold as he barked, "Are you out of your mind?!"

Seraphina froze for a moment, then scrambled to her feet as if she had just seen a savior. Her freezing hands desperately clutched the fabric of his coat. "Ethan, my dad is gone. Please help me look for him, okay?"

A flash of surprise crossed Ethan’s eyes.

Janice, however, chimed in with feigned astonishment, "Cousin, Uncle almost ruined Ethan's business deal when he ran over to Vance Enterprises last time. Who knows where he wandered off to play this time? Asking Ethan to look for him is just openly embarrassing him, isn't it?"

Hearing this, Ethan’s face darkened several shades, and his gaze turned freezing cold.

He threw off Seraphina’s grasp. "Find him yourself."

With that, he climbed back into the car. Janice let out a smug, triumphant smirk, waved at her, and got in as well.

"Ethan..." Seraphina collapsed onto the ground, her face entirely pale.

The car drove away ruthlessly. Her heart constricted violently. She forced herself up to chase after it, but her foot sank into a mud puddle, and she slammed heavily onto the ground again.

Through the indistinguishable blur of rain and tears, the glowing red taillights smeared into a hazy mess. Seraphina let out a desperate, heartbroken cry, "Ethan!"

A sudden crack of thunder boomed across the sky, as if splitting Seraphina’s heart right open.

Having lost her umbrella, Seraphina wandered soaked and shivering down the increasingly deserted streets. The terror and dread in her chest felt like two heavy silk ribbons tightening around her heart, squeezing the breath right out of her.

"Dad... Dad! Where on earth are you?"

Her hoarse voice was completely drowned out by the downpour, leaving only her helpless, muffled sobs.

Suddenly, her foot slipped, and she pitched forward violently.

A sharp, burning pain flared up from her palm. She stared blankly at her scraped skin.

She still remembered the day her parents were in that horrific car accident—she had also fallen just like this, her hands scraped and covered in blood.

In an instant, her heart felt as if it were plummeting into a bottomless abyss.

Seraphina struggled back to her feet, calling out even more frantically, desperately telling herself that this was just an accident, nothing more!

Yet, in the dark, it felt as though some mysterious force was guiding her steps toward a specific direction.

A dozen people were gathered around the upcoming intersection. An SUV stood stranded in the middle of the road, evidently having been in an accident.

Seraphina’s heart seized. Countless horrifying possibilities flashed through her mind. She hesitated, her legs suddenly feeling as heavy as lead, unable to lift themselves.

She didn't dare go over, terrified that her worst fears were true, yet she desperately needed to go over to personally disprove the dread consuming her.

Her body made the choice for her. With her eyes locked onto the crowd, Seraphina broke into a stumbling, breathless run.

Pushing through the scattered onlookers, the sight before her caused her pupils to dilate in pure horror.

Her father lay on the ground, his face entirely covered in blood. The rain washed over the crimson pools on the asphalt, turning the streetlights' reflection into a shimmering, terrifying red lake.

"Dad—!"

Chapter 7: Transfer the Shares

A piercing, heart-wrenching wail startled the surrounding onlookers.

Seraphina threw herself over her father, wanting to hold him, yet terrified to touch him for fear of causing more harm.

Her trembling hands touched his rapidly paling face as she choked out, "Dad! Dad! Please wake up!"

Her father's skin was even colder than her own hands, a chill that pierced straight through her fingertips and into her heart.

As if hearing Seraphina's desperate, agonized cries, her father slowly opened his clouded eyes. His blood-stained lips moved slightly, but he couldn't utter a single word.

"Dad! Hang in there!" Seraphina sobbed hysterically, her hands shaking as she fumbled to pull out her phone, but the zipper of her bag seemed to be working against her, refusing to budge.

Panic seized her, driving her to the brink of absolute collapse.

Suddenly, the rain pelting down on her ceased. Seraphina looked up to see a woman holding an umbrella over her.

"Don't panic, sweetheart. Someone already called an ambulance," the woman comforted her gently.

Other passersby began to lean their umbrellas inward as well, sheltering Seraphina and her father from the downpour.

A passing car pulled over, and the driver got out, retrieving reflective traffic cones from his trunk to place outside the crowd.

In an instant, threads of warmth flowed into Seraphina's freezing heart. Clinging to her tears, she kept murmuring her gratitude to one kind stranger after another.

Suddenly, her wrist was loosely gripped by a rough hand. Seraphina froze, looking down at her father.

"Dad?" Her voice was incredibly hoarse.

With immense effort, her father raised his other clenched hand and let it drop into her palm.

Seraphina gasped. Resting in her hand was a pristine white seashell, stained bright red with blood.

Her father's voice sounded as if it were drifting from a vast, ethereal distance, yet every syllable was crystal clear.

"Dad..." Seraphina's voice shook violently.

With his eyes half-open, her father managed a weak, straining smile. "Seraphina."

That faint, barely audible whisper of her name caused Seraphina's tears to completely spill over. But before she could even react to the fact that he had remembered her name, his eyes slowly began to close, leaving only the lingering curve of that faint smile on his lips.

"Dad? Dad!" Seraphina's mind went entirely blank, her grief-stricken cries breaking the hearts of everyone watching.

The wailing siren of the approaching ambulance sliced through the endless, dark fabric of the night.

Only when they reached the doors of the emergency room did Seraphina gather enough strength to let go of her father's ice-cold hand.

With a heavy thud, the doors slammed shut, cutting her off from her dying father.

Seraphina collapsed against the wall and slowly slid down to the floor, her blood-stained hands tearing through her damp hair.

A moment later, a doctor stepped out. Seraphina scrambled up frantically and grabbed his arm. "Doctor, how is my dad? Is he going to be okay?"

The doctor looked troubled. "The patient had a previous severe brain injury, and his current condition is very critical..."

Seraphina froze. But when the doctor informed her that the surgery alone would cost one hundred and fifty thousand, and the subsequent treatments could drive the total up to three hundred thousand, she was completely paralyzed with shock.

Before marrying Ethan, they had signed a prenuptial agreement keeping their assets entirely separate.

Even though she was a radio host, nearly all of her earnings had been spent on her father's medical treatments and hiring caregivers.

There was no way she could afford three hundred thousand.

Seraphina's mind swirled with sheer panic and desperation, until Ethan's face flashed across her mind.

The Mirage Club.

Through the torrential rain, Seraphina stepped out of a taxi just in time to see Ethan walking out of the club with an expressionless face.

"Ethan!" Seraphina's hoarse voice was instantly swallowed by the sound of the storm.

Seeing that Ethan had already gotten into his car, she threw all caution to the wind and rushed forward, throwing herself directly in front of the vehicle.

The driver gasped and slammed on the brakes in a panic.

Seraphina bolted to the rear window. Shivering violently from head to toe, she clung desperately to the glass, refusing to let go. "My dad was in a car accident! He needs emergency surgery! Can you... can you please lend me three hundred thousand?"

Seeing her in such a wretched state caught Ethan off guard for a moment. But a second later, he averted his gaze, his voice chillingly cold. "On what grounds?"