SERAPHINE POV
My hands won't stop shaking as I throw another dress into my suitcase.
I should fold it. Mother—no, Lucasta—always said wrinkled clothes show a wrinkled mind. But I don't care anymore. I just need to get out. Away from this city. Away from him.
My phone buzzes on the bed. Theron's name lights up the screen for the fifteenth time tonight.
I reject the call and zip my suitcase so hard the zipper nearly breaks.
Three days ago, everything was normal. Well, as normal as life gets when your older brother controls every breath you take. I was in the break room at Aldric Pharmaceuticals, making coffee, when James from accounting walked in.
James was nice. Quiet. He always said good morning and never stared at me like I was a piece of expensive jewelry, the way most people did when they learned I was an Aldric.
"Seraphine?" He'd fidgeted with his coffee mug, cheeks turning pink. "I was wondering... would you maybe want to have dinner with me sometime?"
My heart had fluttered. An actual, normal guy asking me on an actual, normal date. Not some business associate trying to get closer to the Aldric fortune. Not some friend of Theron's who'd been "approved."
Just... James.
"I'd like that," I'd said, smiling. "Let me think about it?"
He'd grinned, relieved. "Of course. No pressure."
The next morning, I walked into the office and James's desk was empty. Security was escorting him out of the building, a box of his things in his arms. His face was red—from anger or shame, I couldn't tell.
"What happened?" I'd asked Susan from HR.
She'd lowered her voice. "Inappropriate conduct. Someone reported him for harassing female employees." Her eyes had darted to me. "Did he ever make you uncomfortable?"
My stomach had dropped like a stone. "No. Never."
But I knew. God help me, I knew exactly who'd done this.
Now, standing in my bedroom with my packed suitcase, I finally found the courage to confront him.
My phone rings again. Theron.
This time, I answer.
"Seraphine." His voice is smooth, warm, like expensive whiskey. The voice that used to comfort me when I had nightmares. Now it just makes my skin crawl. "Finally. I've been trying to reach you all evening."
"Did you get James fired?" My voice shakes, but I force the words out.
Silence stretches between us. I can hear him breathing on the other end.
"James from accounting?" He says it like he barely remembers the name. Like he didn't just destroy a man's career. "The one who asked you to dinner?"
"You're SPYING on me?"
"I'm protecting you." His tone doesn't change. Still calm. Still controlled. "He had a complaint filed against him two years ago at his previous job. Sexual harassment. Did you know that?"
My breath catches. "That's not—"
"I did a background check. Found the sealed record. Brought it to HR's attention." He pauses. "You're welcome."
"I didn't ASK you to do that!"
"You don't have to ask." Now there's an edge to his voice. Steel under silk. "I protect what's mine, little sister."
Those words. God, those WORDS.
"I'm not YOUR property!" I'm yelling now, and I don't care if the whole mansion hears. "I'm twenty-seven years old, Theron! I can choose who I date!"
His laugh is dark, dangerous. It raises goosebumps on my arms.
"Can you?" he asks softly. "Because every man who's ever tried to get close to you has mysteriously... disappeared. Remember Marcus from college? He transferred schools. Remember that artist you met at the gallery? He moved to Japan. Remember—"
"Stop." My voice breaks. "Just stop."
"You want to know what's really stopping me, Seraphine?" His voice drops lower. Intimate. Like he's right next to me instead of across the city in his penthouse. "It's not your age. It's not your career. It's the fact that you're my sister. That's the ONLY thing stopping me from showing you exactly how much you ARE mine."
My heart pounds so hard I feel sick.
"You're insane," I whisper.
"Maybe." He doesn't deny it. "But I'm honest. Can your precious James say the same?"
I hang up.
My hands are trembling so badly I almost drop the phone. I stare at it like it's a snake that just bit me.
Twenty-seven years. He's been doing this for YEARS. Everyone I ever liked, ever trusted, ever wanted—gone. Because of him.
The brother who was supposed to protect me has been keeping me in a cage I didn't even see.
I pull up a travel website on my laptop. London. Far enough away. Big enough to disappear in. I book a one-way ticket leaving tonight at midnight.
I can pack one suitcase. Leave everything else. Start over.
My bedroom door opens.
I spin around, heart in my throat.
Theron stands in the doorway.
How did he get here so fast? His penthouse is thirty minutes away—
"Going somewhere?" He's wearing his black suit, the one that makes him look like a beautiful devil. His storm-blue eyes fix on my suitcase, then on me.
"Get out of my room."
He steps inside, closes the door softly behind him. "We're not done talking."
"Yes, we are." I grab my suitcase. "I'm leaving. Tonight. And you can't stop me."
"Can't I?" He tilts his head, studying me like I'm a puzzle he's solving. "Seraphine, be reasonable—"
"Reasonable? You just admitted you've been sabotaging my life!"
"I've been PROTECTING your life." He moves closer. I back up until I hit the dresser. "Those men didn't deserve you. None of them did. They saw the Aldric name, the money, the pretty face. They didn't see YOU."
"And you do?" My voice is bitter.
"I'm the only one who does." He's right in front of me now. Too close. I can smell his cologne—cedar and smoke. "I've known you since you were seven years old. I've watched you grow up. I know you hate strawberries but love strawberry-scented candles. I know you cry at sad movies but laugh at funerals because you're uncomfortable. I know you hum when you're nervous and bite your lip when you're thinking."
He reaches out, and I flinch. His hand freezes mid-air.
Pain flashes across his face. Actual pain.
"I would never hurt you," he says quietly.
"You already have." Tears burn my eyes. "Every time you drove someone away. Every time you made me feel crazy for thinking you were controlling me. Every time you made me believe I was imagining it."
"Seraphine—"
"I'm leaving, Theron. Tonight. And if you try to stop me, I'll call the police."
His jaw tightens. For a long moment, he just looks at me. Then he steps back, hands raised.
"Fine." His voice is flat. "Go to London. Run away. But you'll come back."
"No, I won't."
His smile is small, sad, and somehow terrible.
"Yes, you will. Because in three days, Mother and Father are going to call you home for a family emergency." He walks to the door, pauses with his hand on the knob. "And when you come back, everything will change. You'll see."
"What are you talking about?"
He looks over his shoulder, and his eyes are blazing with something that makes my blood run cold.
"You'll understand soon enough, little sister. Some secrets can't stay buried forever."
He leaves.
I stand frozen, his words echoing in my head.
Some secrets can't stay buried forever.
What does that mean?
My phone buzzes. An email from an unknown address. The subject line makes my stomach drop:
"THE TRUTH ABOUT SERAPHINE ALDRIC - DNA TEST RESULTS ENCLOSED"
My hands shake as I open it.
The attachment loads.
I read the first line.
And my entire world shatters.