Seraphina's breath hitched. "I'll give you whatever you want. Name your terms."

Hearing this, Ethan fell silent for a brief moment, his eyes turning menacingly cold. "Transfer the shares of Vance Enterprises that Grandfather gave you over to Janice."

Chapter 8: If I Had Known

Seraphina’s eyes widened in profound shock, but with her father's life on the line, she couldn't afford to hesitate. She nodded heavily.

Ethan let out a cold snort, casually adjusting his cuffs. "Fine. I'll have someone deliver the money shortly."

With that, as if receiving a silent command, the driver pressed down on the gas pedal.

"No! No!" Seraphina gripped the door handle tightly, dragged forward along with the car. "My dad is lying on the operating table right now! Can you please give it to me right now?"

The car slammed to a halt once more, nearly pulling Seraphina under the wheels.

Seeing this, a sudden surge of irritation flared up in Ethan's chest. "Is waiting a few minutes going to kill him?"

Those words caused a sharp, agonizing pang in Seraphina's chest. "Please, I beg you..."

Under the pouring rain, that deeply submissive, desperate plea left Ethan feeling incredibly restless.

He stiffly looked away, gesturing for the driver to hand over a card. "Here is half. Tomorrow afternoon at two o'clock, I will be waiting for you at The Bella Vista Restaurant with the share transfer documents."

Seraphina's heart felt entirely chilled by the freezing rain, filled with a profound desolation that bordered on the absurd.

This was the man she had loved for so many years. He was so stingy that he wouldn't afford her even a shred of trust, suspecting her of lying even when it came to life-saving money.

Seraphina swallowed her overwhelming grief, her voice choking. "I agree." With a light splash against the puddles, the bank card was tossed onto the ground.

Seraphina quickly bent down to retrieve it, clutching it tightly in her hand. By the time she looked up again, the car had already driven off into the distance.

With reddened eyes, she was preparing to rush back to the hospital when the phone in her bag began to vibrate.

Finding a small spot to shelter from the rain, Seraphina hurriedly pulled out her phone. The moment she saw the caller ID was the hospital, her heart instantly leaped into her throat.

She didn't dare answer. She was terrified of hearing the worst possible news.

Yet, in the end, she forced herself to press the answer button, quickly speaking up first, "Hello, Doctor! I have the money ready!"

A heavy silence lingered on the other end for a moment before a low, somber voice gradually delivered the words, "I am terribly sorry... we were unable to save your father..."

A massive crash of thunder boomed across the sky, echoing the explosion inside Seraphina's head, completely shattering her consciousness.

Her dilated pupils trembled, her breathing freezing entirely at the doctor's words. Everything before her eyes slowly dissolved into pitch blackness before vanishing altogether.

...

Seraphina handled her father's funeral arrangements completely on her own.

From the moment she stepped into the funeral home, her phone rang continuously for two straight days, until it finally died on the third day.

Utterly soul-crushed, she returned to the villa, only to find Ethan sitting on the sofa, evidently waiting for her.

Ethan turned his head to look, his dark, brooding gaze snapping into a sudden freeze.

Seraphina was still wearing the clothes from days ago, her suit pants stained with mud and dried blood. Her pale face was completely devoid of expression, her dull eyes hollowed of even the faintest glimmer of light.

His throat tightened, and every word he had prepared completely vanished.

Seraphina acted as if Ethan wasn't even there, walking straight toward the stairs.

Ethan’s brows knitted tightly, his gaze turning increasingly complex. "Are you saying you don't want the other half of the money anymore?"

"My dad is dead."

The incredibly hoarse, broken voice hit Ethan like a sudden thunderbolt, leaving him completely stunned.

Her disappearance over the last few days had been to arrange her father's funeral?

Leaving those words behind, Seraphina kept walking forward.

Staring at her stiff, numb back, Ethan lit a cigarette, the two fingers holding it trembling slightly, though he remained entirely unaware of it.

A few minutes later, Seraphina came back downstairs, carrying only a small duffel bag.

Ethan’s gaze froze, the smoke he inhaled feeling completely trapped in his chest and throat.

Seraphina glanced at the share transfer documents on the table, walking straight over to pick up the pen.

The trembling handwriting of her signature only heightened the suffocating heaviness in Ethan's chest.

Staring at the name "Janice" on the document, Seraphina spoke with an empty, dull tone, "Is she really that wonderful?"

A trace of profound confusion filtered into her eyes. She couldn't understand why Ethan would love someone as deeply two-faced as Janice.

It took a long moment before Ethan's tense, thin lips slowly moved. "Eight years ago, she saved my life."

Hearing this, Seraphina's eyelashes fluttered as her memory suddenly flashed back to eight years ago.

At sixteen, she and her father had been picking up seashells on the beach when she rescued Ethan after he mistakenly fell into the sea.

Ethan had been unconscious back then, and it was Old Mr. Vance who had rushed over to take him away. But she couldn't understand why Ethan thought it was Janice who had saved him.

Was it solely because he thought she saved him that he harbored such feelings for her, falling in love with her because of it?

Seraphina lifted her gaze to look at Ethan, desperately wanting to ask, "If it had been me who saved you, would you have fallen in love with me?" But upon closer thought, there was absolutely no meaning left in asking.

Exhausted, she stood up, pulling the signed divorce agreement from her bag and placing it quietly on the table.

"If I had known she was the one you loved from the very beginning, I would have died before agreeing to marry you for Grandfather's sake."

Chapter 9: Witnessing the Blooming and Fading of Life

Seraphina's words, heavy with regret and profound grief, seemed to strike deep into Ethan's heart, causing the hand holding his cigarette to tremble.

Letting out a bitter, self-deprecating laugh, Seraphina turned and walked away, never once looking back.

The sound of the door opening and closing felt like a pair of shears, snapping a tightly wound string inside Ethan's mind.

Staring at the divorce agreement on the table, he suddenly felt an inexplicable, agonizing void tearing at his heart.

Ethan clenched his fist tightly and took a deep drag of his cigarette, only to find it tasting exceptionally harsh and suffocating.

Irritated, he crushed the cigarette out, leaning against the back of the sofa as he fell into a heavy silence.

The radio station, the director's office.

"I'm sorry, Director. I might need to ask for a few more days of leave. I want to clear my head and go away for a bit," Seraphina said softly, forcing herself to gather her spirits. "If the station finds it unacceptable, I... can resign."

The director patted her shoulder and sighed. "We are all deeply saddened by what happened to your father, and we hope you take care of your health. Don't worry, I will do my best to secure a half-month leave for you."

Hearing this, Seraphina's dry eyes grew damp once more.

In this world, there were still people who cared about her.

Looking at the director, she bowed deeply. "Thank you."

With that, she straightened up and turned to leave. "Where do you plan on going?"

Seraphina's hand tightened on the doorknob as she replied in a hoarse voice, "The Scottish Highlands."

That beautiful, sacred place was somewhere her father had always yearned to visit.

She still remembered when she was a child, before her father's brain was injured, he would hold her in his arms, pointing at the historical castles on the television screen and saying, "This is the place your dad yearns for the most. When you grow up, I'll take you there."

Although she never got the chance to have her father take her there, she could take him with her now...

Before her departure, Seraphina stared at Ethan's number on her phone. After her finger hovered over it for several minutes, she finally pressed the delete button.

Following a long and exhausting journey, Seraphina finally arrived in the Scottish Highlands.

Staring at the distant, snow-capped peaks of Mount Glenbrier, her hand clutching the bloody seashell trembled slightly. "Dad, do you see this? We made it..."

Carrying the seashell her father had left behind, Seraphina hiked up to the majestic Highland Citadel.

Inside St. Jude's Chapel, the faint scent of incense filled her nose, and the echoing hymns drifted into her ears. For the first time in a very long time, Seraphina felt her entire heart settle into a rare state of peace.