Chapter 5 Two years

She returned the way she had always lived unapologetically.

Seraphina Hart stepped out of the black car like a goddess returning from Olympus, long legs wrapped in silk, her signature red lips curled into a knowing smile. Reporters swarmed like bees. Flashes lit up the courtyard of the Blackwood estate as if the sky had cracked open.

Adrian stood at the top of the steps, waiting.

Elena watched from behind a curtain in the upstairs hall. Her hands clenched the fabric tightly. She felt nothing and everything.

Seraphina was still stunning. Even after two years abroad, she looked untouched by time. Her golden hair fell in waves over her shoulders, her perfume drifted through the corridor before she even stepped inside.

"Elena," her voice rang out like a bell as she entered. "You're still here?"

Elena stepped forward, steady despite the storm in her chest. "For now."

Adrian said nothing.

"I suppose I should thank you," Seraphina said with a lazy smirk. "You kept him warm while I was gone."

Elena didn't flinch. "And you abandoned him without a word."

Seraphina's eyes flickered, just for a second.

"I had reasons," she said. "We both did."

"I wasn't given a choice," Elena replied. "You were."

Silence.

Then Seraphina turned to Adrian, her smile back in place like armor. "You still mad at me?"

Adrian's jaw tensed. "I'm not mad."

"Then what are you?"

He looked past her to Elena. "Confused."

Elena's heart thudded once. But she turned away.

Later that evening, Seraphina cornered Adrian in his study.

"Tell me the truth," she said, lounging on the leather couch. "Do you still want me?"

Adrian leaned against the desk, his hands in his pockets. "You left."

"I came back."

"You didn't come back for me."

"I came back because I could," she said with a shrug. "Because maybe I missed the life I left. You. Us."

He was silent.

"You still look at me like I'm the sun," Seraphina added, watching him closely. "But do you even realize the one who stood in the dark all this time?"

Adrian stiffened.

"Your wife," she said plainly. "Elena."

"She's not really-"

"She is," Seraphina interrupted. "You married her. She lived here. She endured you."

Adrian swallowed, throat dry. "I never asked her to love me."

"But she did anyway."

The words lingered.

And for the first time, Adrian didn't deny them.

Elena packed in silence that night.

No tears. No rage. Just resolve.

Seraphina was back. And Adrian would never love her the way he once loved her sister.

Tomorrow, she would leave with her dignity and nothing else.

Let them have each other.

She was done being the replacement.