Chapter 75: Broken

Ruan kicked the basement door. It hit the wall with a loud bang. He raised his gun, chest heaving as he stepped into the dark room.

"Show yourself!" he yelled.

Nobody answered.

The basement was completely empty. A small window near the ceiling was pushed wide open. The cold wind blew in. Ruan caught a faint scent of lavender in the air.

She was gone.

Ruan dropped his arm and cursed loudly, kicking a wooden box across the floor. He was too late.

Seraphina unlocked the door to her apartment. She walked inside and locked it behind her. She didn’t turn on the lights. Instead, she walked to a chair and sat down in the dark.

She looked at her shaking hands. Her dress was still wet from the rain. A tear dropped onto her skin. Then another. Soon, she was sobbing. It hurt so much, her chest felt like it was ripping open.

"I just wanted you to look at me, Ruan," she whispered to the empty room. "I just wanted my son back."

She closed her eyes. The painful memories hit her hard.

The house was bright. Little Ruan was holding her hand. He looked up at her and smiled. "Mommy," he said.

Then later her mind got sick. She cried for no reason, she screamed at the walls and she was terrified of everything.

Her husband didn’t pull her close. He didn’t help her get better, he just looked at her with disgust.

"Get away from her, Ruan," his father snapped. He pulled the little boy away roughly. "Your mother is a monster. She is crazy and she will hurt you."

"No!" Seraphina screamed, reaching out for her son. "Please don’t take him!"

The guards grabbed her arms. They dragged her out of her own home. Ruan's father just stood there. He watched them throw her in a car and shipped her off to a mental facility in Zurich. A few months later, he married Eleanor. He threw Seraphina away like garbage.

Seraphina wiped her face, she opened her eyes and stared at the wall. She remembered sitting in that hospital room. Years passed slowly.

Then, a nurse walked in one morning.

"Your husband died," the nurse told her.

Seraphina smiled that day. She packed her bag and sat by the door. She waited for Ruan to come get her, she waited for her son to finally bring her home.

Days turned into months. Months turned into twenty years.

Ruan never came.

He believed his father's lies. He thought she was a monster and he became a billionaire and left her to rot in that cage.

"Twenty years," Seraphina cried out loud. She hit her own chest hard. "You left me in a mental asylum!"

When Kai finally helped her escape the hospital, she made a promise. She would never let anyone take Ruan away from her again. She joined Arthur and agreed to marry him just to gain his power. She didn’t love Arthur. She just needed his money and connections to get back to her son.

Just like Liana.

Seraphina laughed in a broken way. She remembered sitting in Zurich a few years ago. She used her hidden connections to bribe a doctor.

"Tell Ruan he is sterile," Seraphina had ordered the doctor over a secret phone call. "Tell him he can never have kids."

It worked perfectly. Liana packed her bags and left him. Seraphina ruined their relationship because she wanted Ruan all to herself. No other woman was allowed to have him. She needed to make up for all the years they lost.

And then Aysel showed up. Aysel got pregnant and she stole Ruan's heart.

"She is a thief," Seraphina hissed.

She stood up from the chair.

"She took my boy," Seraphina said to the room. "She took the love that belongs to me."

Seraphina walked to the mirror, she looked at her messy hair and tired eyes, she was going to completely focus on her plan.

"You won't keep him, Aysel," she whispered to her reflection. "I lost twenty years. I will kill anyone who stands in my way."