Chapter 4

Amy was practically hyperventilating over the phone. I froze. "Calm down, take a breath. Tell me what happened."

Amy blurted out that Seraphina had hit a pedestrian with her sports car earlier. The victim was rushed to the ER, and Seraphina was currently detained down at the precinct.

Hearing that, my heart dropped into my stomach.

When I rushed into the police station out of breath, the first thing I saw was Seraphina clinging tightly to Julian's arm, fast asleep on his shoulder.

I froze in my tracks. Just as I was agonizing over whether to turn around and leave, sharp-eyed Amy spotted me.

"Cole!"

She flailed her arms like a wind turbine, leaving me with no choice but to walk over.

Amy pointed right at me and told the officer, "This is Seraphina's husband. He's here to post her bail."

The cop gave me a suspicious, sideways glance, then looked over at Seraphina and Julian cuddled up intimately. His expression turned utterly complicated.

"Sign here, pay the two thousand dollar bail, and you can take your wife home."

I signed my name and walked up to stand right in front of Seraphina.

"Seraphina. Time to go home."

Seraphina fluttered her eyes open in a daze. Seeing me standing there, she blanked out for several seconds.

"I can leave now?"

"Yeah."

I cut my eyes toward Julian. He offered me a faint, apologetic smile.

"I just didn't want to wake her, so I didn't push her away."

"How did you two end up together?"

I looked straight at Seraphina. She let out a casual hum and shrugged dismissively.

"I woke up feeling hungry, and Julian happened to bring me some hangover broth, so we grabbed a bite together."

She said it so casually, so unapologetically.

It made me, the legal husband, look like a petty, jealous lunatic.

Amy stole a nervous glance at me, whispering softly, "Cole, please, just get her out of here."

I let out a heavy sigh, looking down at Seraphina with utter exhaustion.

"Let's go, Princess."

As I turned around, I caught sight of Julian’s hands balling into tight fists.

Since Seraphina's car had been impounded by traffic enforcement after the accident, and it was well past midnight, the two of us walked silently down the empty, chilly street.

Seraphina trailed behind me with her head hanging low, not saying a single word.

When I suddenly stopped walking, she bumped straight into my back.

"Ow!"

Rubbing her sore nose, Seraphina glared up at me. "What is your problem?!"

"Do you have anything you want to say to me about Julian?"

I turned around to face her. Seraphina arched a brow. "Say what? You know our whole history inside out, don't you?"

I scoffed under my breath, pointing directly at my own chest.

"Except I am your husband right now."

The mocking smirk on Seraphina's lips froze, and her gaze hardened as she glared at me.

"Cole, what are you trying to say?"

"You knew exactly how crucial tonight was, yet you blew off the annual family dinner anyway," I said, looking dead into her eyes, my voice flat. "Anyone who skips the family dinner faces punishment. You're a Vance, blood family—they'd never lay a hand on you. But what about me?"

Seraphina blinked innocently, without a shred of remorse. "It's just kneeling on the cold marble floor for twenty-four hours. You're a grown man, what are you so terrified of? Chill out, I'll sneak food in for you."

Looking at her indifferent, entitled face, the very last shred of love and hope I had held for her shattered completely into dust.