Chapter 2

Seraphina POV

At three in the morning, I pushed open the front door. The house was dark.

My right hand, still untreated, was crudely wrapped in a bandage.

A figure sat on the living room sofa.

"Finally decided to come home?"

Julian's voice was hoarse, laced with mockery.

The lights flared on.

I raised my hand to shield my eyes, a movement that pulled at my fresh wound.

Julian wore a black shirt, his collar open, revealing a dark red hickey on his collarbone.

It was new.

"What's wrong? Didn't please Mr. Hayes enough? Got kicked out?"

Julian stood, stepping closer, one slow stride after another. A wave of stale cigarette smoke, tainted with a cloying, unfamiliar woman's perfume, hit me like a physical blow.

I said nothing, trying to walk past him and go upstairs.

He grabbed my wrist, his fingers clamping down right on the shattered bones of my hand.

A raw scream ripped from my throat.

My reaction seemed to enrage Julian further, and he tightened his grip.

"What are you playing at? Three months ago, when you pushed Valerie down the stairs, I didn't see you acting so fragile."

"I didn't."

It was a phrase I'd repeated countless times over the past three years.

"Didn't?"

Julian flung my hand away.

I slammed into the entryway console, my right hand taking another heavy blow.

I curled into a ball, cold sweat dripping onto the floor.

Julian loomed over me.

"The doctor said Valerie's leg has permanent damage; she'll never dance again. Seraphina, your hand being broken is just karma. You deserve it."

He picked up a document from the coffee table and threw it at me.

The sharp corner of the paper grazed my cheek.

"Sign it."

I picked up the document with my left hand.

A 'Cornea Donor Consent Form'. Recipient: Valerie.

I looked up at Julian.

"What happened to her eyes?"

"Complications from her car accident a year ago. Retinal detachment. She needs a transplant."

Julian's tone was flat.

"Your cornea is the highest match."

"I won't sign."

I threw the document back at him.

"You don't have a choice."

Julian bent down, pinching my chin.

"Caleb's still in the ICU at St. Jude's, isn't he? Time for his surgery payment this week, too?"

The five million was still processing; it wouldn't arrive until tomorrow at the earliest.

If Julian cut off the hospital's medication now...

"You're a monster."

"Not as much as you."

Julian released my chin, then meticulously wiped his fingers on a tissue as if I was something vile.

"Back then, to marry me, you drugged Grandpa, forcing Valerie to leave the country. What part of that wasn't despicable?"

I opened my mouth.

Explain?

Explain that Valerie swapped Grandpa's meds? Explain that she skipped town because she got paid off by Sterling Corporation, Julian's biggest rival?

It was useless.

All the evidence had been destroyed. Only Valerie's perfectly crafted, fake 'diary' survived.

Julian only believed what he saw.

"Sign it, and I'll cover Caleb's surgery."

Julian said, his final words.

I looked at the document.

One cornea.

For Caleb's life.

It was a fair trade.

What did it matter? I'd be gone in seven days. One less eye wouldn't stop my disappearance.

"Okay."

Julian's movements froze.

He frowned, looking at me.

"Pen."

I extended my left hand.

Julian handed me the pen.

I scrawled my name clumsily in the signature box.

The handwriting was ugly, the messy scrawl of a useless lefty.

"When is the surgery scheduled?" I asked.

"Next Monday."

Next Monday.

The seventh day.

I calculated the timing in my head.

If I could just delay until the last moment before the surgery, Valerie wouldn't get the cornea, and Julian would be so preoccupied with the surgery preparations that his guard would be down.

Perfect.

"Fine." I handed him the document. "But I have a condition."

"You're in no position to bargain."

"These next few days, I'm staying in the guest room. Also, find me a doctor to set my hand."

I held up my hand, swollen like a pastry.

"Otherwise, if it gets infected, it'll mess with my vitals, and the cornea quality will drop. You want that?"

Julian stared at my hand for a few seconds.

"Mr. Davies will bring a doctor."

He snatched the document and turned to leave.

He stopped at the staircase, not looking back.

"Valerie moves in tomorrow. You'd better stay out of her way. Don't let me catch sight of that grim expression on your face."

"Got it."

Julian's back stiffened for a moment, then he strode upstairs.

The master bedroom door slammed shut, shaking the house.

I slid down the wall, collapsing to the floor.

I pulled out my phone and sent a message to "Liam".

"Plan change. Evacuation moved to Sunday night."

Sunday night. The eve of the surgery.

That would be when Julian was least vigilant, and most consumed by his fury.

I glanced at the closed door upstairs.

Julian, you want atonement? Here it is.

But you'll never get this eye.