Tears finally spilled from Seraphina Quinn's eyes.
She didn't struggle, just stared silently, endlessly, at the man before her, a vein throbbing on his temple in anger.
After a long moment, just as she was about to reveal the truth, a clear little girl's voice piped up from behind her. "Daddy, Mommy said..."
At the sound of the voice, Damian Fairchild released his grip on Seraphina's neck and pulled his hand back.
He didn't spare Seraphina another glance, striding over to the four-year-old girl. "What did Mommy say?"
He bent down and scooped up the little girl in her nightgown, his expression transforming into that of a doting father.
"Mommy said the fruit is all cut and the tea is steeped. She told Cecilia to come get Daddy and... Auntie."
As Cecilia Fairchild spoke, her large, dark eyes, round as grapes, curiously sized up Seraphina.
"Auntie," she said in her sweet little voice, "why are you crying?"
Seraphina wiped her eyes, flustered. "I'm not. Something just got in my eye..."
Cecilia pouted. "Cecilia is four now, not three. You can't lie to Cecilia, you know."
Seraphina was mortified!
'Right now... she just wished the ground would swallow her whole.'
'What on earth was I thinking?'
'He's powerful, influential, with a wife and daughter. How could I have been so foolish as to even think of telling him the truth?'
"Mr... Fairchild, can you transfer the money to me now? It's an emergency."
Damian Fairchild's mood was as foul as the rainy night outside, utterly wretched.
He shot Seraphina a look of utter disgust. After a long moment, he called Seth Thorne.
Barely two minutes later, Seraphina's phone buzzed with a text message: a bank notification for a one-million deposit.
Before Seraphina could even open the message, Damian Fairchild was already ordering her out. "Get out of my house."
Her eyes red, Seraphina simply said, "Okay."
She looked utterly... wretched, even pitiful.
So, when she appeared in the living room to say goodbye to the lady of the house, Audrey Winslow, Audrey tried to persuade her to stay.
"Miss Quinn, it's pouring outside, and you look... so pale. Why don't you stay for the night?"
In the warm light, Audrey Winslow exuded a gentle warmth. She wasn't what one would call stunningly beautiful, but she had an incredibly comforting presence.
But how could Seraphina possibly have the nerve to stay?
'Not only was I involved with this woman's husband, but I'd also come to their home to demand money from him. If I stayed now, what would that make me?'
"That won't be necessary."
"Thank you, and I'm sorry for the trouble."
Audrey's tone was gentle. "You're one of Damian's friends. There's no need to be so formal."
After a pause, she turned to Damian as he walked over carrying Cecilia. "Damian, it's hard to get a cab in this rain. Why don't you give Miss Quinn a ride?"
Seraphina fully expected Damian to refuse, but he didn't.
He planted a kiss on Cecilia's soft cheek, set the girl down beside Audrey, then grabbed his car keys and jutted his chin toward Seraphina. "I'll give you a ride."
"I'll give you a ride."
Those five words held no emotion, but to Seraphina's ears, they were as cold as a blade.
Three kilometers from The Shogun's Manor, Damian Fairchild pulled the car to a stop on the side of the road.
He grabbed an umbrella from the glove compartment and tossed it onto Seraphina's lap. "There's a subway station five hundred meters ahead. You can get out."
Seraphina's lips twitched, but she said nothing, simply pushing the door open and stepping out of the car.
The rain was heavy.
So was the wind.
The moment she opened the door, wind and rain slanted in, drenching one side of her body. The cold made her sneeze involuntarily.
Still, without a moment's hesitation, Seraphina started walking toward the subway entrance. Just then, Damian asked, his tone deceptively casual, "Why did you need the money so urgently?"
'I've already paid off the Quinn Family's debts.'
'I even helped her buy back Quinn Manor.'
'I even pulled some strings for Wyatt Quinn when he was facing prison time.'
'I can't think of any reason she would need money so desperately.'
'Could it be that old man Quinn has a terminal illness?'
"That's none of your business."
Seraphina's "That's none of your business" so enraged Damian that he slammed on the accelerator and sped away, disappearing in an instant.
The spray kicked up by the tires drenched Seraphina from head to toe.
However, Seraphina had no time to straighten herself out.
She sheltered from the wind and rain and, with the last sliver of battery on her phone, transferred the money to the hospital.
"Doctor Jordan, I've just transferred the money..."
Having already received the transfer, Doctor Jordan's attitude toward Seraphina was markedly more polite.
"Miss Quinn, doctors have a duty of care. Even if you hadn't sent the money tonight, we would still have done everything in our power to treat your son. Rest assured, the special medication has been administered. Your son is out of danger now."
Seraphina's voice was raspy. "Then... can I hear his voice?"
Doctor Jordan: "Er... Miss Quinn, your son just had his medicine. He's already asleep in the sterile room."
Seraphina: "Oh... alright then."
After the call ended, her phone died completely.
Seraphina hadn't brought any cash with her, and with a dead phone, she couldn't even pay for the subway.
She walked under her umbrella through the rainy night for nearly an hour before finally finding a 24-hour convenience store and borrowing a charger.
Once it was charging and she could turn it on, she got a hundred yuan in cash from the store owner.
She was starving and freezing, so she bought a cup of instant noodles to stave off the hunger.
By the time she returned to Quinn Manor, it was the dead of night.
Damian had said he was giving Quinn Manor back to her, but he hadn't given her a key.
She spent the night curled up at the base of a stone lion in front of Quinn Manor, only to be shaken awake the next morning while in a daze.
The person shaking her was Quincy Sterling.
"You damn girl, you really gave me a run for my money."
Quincy Sterling yanked Seraphina out from behind the stone lion.
But Seraphina had been crouched in the same position for too long. That, combined with a fever and Quincy's rough handling, caused her to collapse and faint on the spot.
Quincy's first reaction wasn't concern, but annoyance, as if this was some kind of jinx.
She ordered the driver to carry Seraphina to the car, all the while grumbling and cursing.
"I must have the worst luck in the world."
"Get her to the hospital, and fast. Don't you dare let her die. I'm still counting on this cash cow to make me more money."
As Seraphina was rushed into the emergency room, Audrey Winslow, who was at the hospital for an oncology appointment, happened to see the whole thing.
Throughout her years in a marriage of convenience with Damian, they had lived separate lives under the same roof, never interfering in each other's personal affairs.
But she could sense that Damian's feelings for Seraphina... were complicated.
With this in mind, Audrey approached Quincy, who was standing guard outside the emergency room. "Excuse me, what happened to Miss Quinn?"
Quincy had a sharp eye and could tell at a glance that Audrey was a woman of wealth and status. "This... ma'am, you know our Seraphina?"
"My husband is a friend of Miss Quinn's."
Hearing this, Quincy grew wary. "And your husband... is?"
"His name... is Damian Fairchild."
At that name, Quincy narrowed her eyes.
'She'd already done some digging. This Damian Fairchild was none other than Seraphina's broke ex-husband from five years ago.'
"So, you're Mrs. Fairchild," she said, her voice dripping with sarcasm. "No wonder Mr. Fairchild wants nothing to do with our Seraphina, the wife who stood by him when he had nothing."
Audrey Winslow frowned.
Damian Fairchild received Audrey's call ten minutes later.
"Damian, is Miss Quinn your ex-wife?"
Damian stopped the work he was handling, his voice sharp with displeasure. "Audrey, who she is has absolutely nothing to do with you."
Audrey said, "I'm calling to tell you that Miss Quinn has been hospitalized with acute pneumonia. Are you coming?"