Chapter 5
I lifted my head and looked at Dominic standing in the backlit doorway.
A decade had been kind to him, carving his features into a mask of expensive granite
The black overcoat, the expensive watch, the steady authority in his posture… if anything, the years had carved him into
someone even more composed, more powerful.
For a moment, what I saw overlapped with a memory ten years old.
Through the visitation window at the psychiatric hospital, he had stood with his hands behind his back, watching coldly
as the orderlies dragged me into the isolation room.
Shadows swallowed most of his face, leaving only the chill of contempt gleaming through the glass.
Now he stood before me in the same angled light, his expression blurred, yet tinged with unease.
Ember blinked. “You know Amelia?”
Dominic looked at me, then answered without taking his eyes off me. “The charm she gave me-it’s in your hand.”
Ember stared at me. “Amelia, you said they were just regular customers.”
Her gaze shifted to the bracelet. “And you said it was trash.”
Dominic’s eyes darkened. I closed the ledger. “It is. If he wants it, give it back.”
Sensing the tension, Ember tossed the bracelet at him. Dominic scrambled to catch it, fingers trembling
“Amelia,” he asked softly, “these years… were you alright?”
I smiled. “Quite alright. Mayor, anything else?”
The macaron box in his hand had been crushed out of shape. He lowered his head, silent for a long time, before speaking
in a hoarse murmur.
‘I want cheesecake. Will you make it for me again? Just once.”
He had noticed already. The display case was filled with pastries, yet not a single cheesecake in sight
Ember immediately stepped forward. ‘Absolutely not. Amelia’s cheesecakes are only for me”
Dominic’s body tensed. His eyes locked on mine. “Amelia.
‘I’m sorry.” I said calmly. “This shop does not serve cheesecake You can try elsewhere”
Chapter 5
vibeshort_Seraphina
J
The light died in his eyes, leaving only the hollow rattle of his breath. His breath grew unsteady ‘Don’t do this id rather
you hate me again the way you did back then.”
Hate? Of course I had hated him. I carried him home from the snow when he was sixteen and half dead I waited for
him three years. I stood beside him through every storm.
Everything I could give. I gave. And in return, I ended up broken, tormented, mocked by the entire city Casted out of it
even
Snow had fallen thick that night. Winter cut like a blade. I lay face-down in the snow, freezing from skin to bone
But even then, I wasn’t willing to give up. I clawed my way out of that snowbank and found his house.
With fingers cracked and bleeding from the cold, I pounded on the iron door and screamed his name.
I clutched a shard of glass, desperate to slash his face, desperate to make him feel what betrayal tasted like.
Instead, his men seized me. They called me a lunatic. A delusional woman hoping to climb into power. A disgrace.
I had no idea how long I was held there before Dominic finally appeared. He had one arm wrapped around Rhea.
Rhea, once timid and soft, now wore a custom cashmere coat, every strand of hair polished into luxury. Her eyes carried
the languid arrogance of someone cherished beyond measure.
She sighed, her voice dripping with pity. “Amelia… why make things so hard on yourself?”
Dominic did not even look at me. He spoke only to his right-hand man.
‘Handle it by the family rules,” Dominic said coldly. “I don’t want to see her here again.”
He paused ‘Next time, shoot her.”
Chapter 5
vibeshort_Seraphina
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