What would you feel when you've spent a month searching for someone, only to finally discover that the person you're looking for is labelled insane and locked away in a psychiatric facility?
Relief?
Fear?
Closure?
Lucian felt none of those.
The moment the search results loaded, the only thing he felt was a pressure—sharp, suffocating, squeezing his chest until breathing became a conscious effort.
For the past few weeks, he had been searching through everything: every website, every public article, every report, just to find the person he saw in his dreams—someone who might be an essential part of his life.
Someone whose existence tugged at a part of his soul that hadn't healed since the day he died in his past life.
Seraphina Cross.
That single name had been his only lead.
Akasha had given him nothing else—no picture, no location, not even age.
So he searched everything related to the surname Cross, which he had seen once in a newspaper.
Soon, he found someone who might be connected to her.
Damien Cross.
CEO of Cross Industries—one of the biggest technology conglomerates in the city.
A man whose face was everywhere: shaking hands at press conferences, smiling beside his glamorous wife, giving interviews about innovation and progress.
He was the kind of man people admired from a distance—the picture of success, power, and control.
The kind of man who seemed untouchable.
Lucian hated him instantly.
He didn't know why.
He didn't understand why his blood turned cold the moment he saw Damien's face.
But every instinct screamed a single thing: This man is dangerous.
Damien's current wife, Evelyn Cross, was the Chairwoman of Hale Holdings—a beautiful, elegant woman whose life seemed polished and perfect.
Lucian searched her records too, hoping to find threads leading back to Seraphina.
No link.
No connection.
No mention of the woman he was looking for.
So he dug deeper into Damien.
And then he found it.
Evelyn was his second wife.
His first wife… was Seraphina Cross.
The woman Lucian was trying to find.
But the next discovery shattered him.
According to a report, Seraphina had been locked up in a mental facility due to her alleged abuse of her son.
She was accused of beating her child every day.
A child named Aiden… Aiden Cross.
A few months after the allegations, the boy went missing.
After a short investigation, he was declared dead.
No body.
No real evidence.
No solid conclusion.
Just a convenient declaration of death.
Even the scars and bruises on Seraphina were claimed to be "self-inflicted".
The reports claimed that she had self-harmed and was declared to be a crazy woman.
Even a person with an IQ of 2 could tell something was horribly wrong.
But no one questioned it.
And just five months later, Damien married Evelyn.
He wasn't stupid enough to miss what this meant.
[Will: +1]
A notification popped up in front of him.
His mind cleared like a storm suddenly parting.
And memories—broken, painful, fragmented—crashed into him.
Memories of a dark bedroom.
Memories of shattered glass.
His mother's shaking hands.
Her soft voice forcing a smile.
Her body shielding him from a bottle thrown across the room.
A man's voice screaming.
A slap.
A kick.
A choked cry.
His mother, Seraphina—
trying to protect him.
His father, Damien—
The monster who beat them whenever his company was losing money.
Whenever a deal fell apart.
Whenever he felt like it.
The man who took everything from them.
The man who destroyed their family.
Tears spilled down Lucian's cheeks.
He didn't remember everything—not yet—but he remembered enough.
Enough to know who loved him.
Enough to know who hurt him.
Enough to know who ruined their lives.
His mother wasn't insane.
She wasn't abusive.
She wasn't a monster.
She was the one who bandaged his wounds.
The one who hid him behind her trembling body.
The one who whispered, "It's okay. I'm here."
And that man—
that thing—
had ripped them apart.
Lucian's chest tightened until it hurt to breathe.
He couldn't imagine what she felt—
to lose the only person she loved,
the only person she protected with her life,
the only warmth she had in a world that treated her like nothing.
To be accused.
To be left alone.
To be locked away.
To be forgotten by everyone…
except him.
Lucian wiped his tears slowly, his eyes turning cold.
A storm grew in his heart.
A storm that whispered only one promise:
"I will bring you back, Mom."
And a second one, darker:
"And my piece of shit of a father… will pay for everything."