Chapter 5 The Price of My Name

"Marriage..."

The word echoed through Seraphina's skull like a curse.

Her legs didn't move at first. She stood frozen in the middle of Nate's penthouse, unable to breathe, unable to think. Then all at once-snap-something in her brain clicked.

She bolted.

Her heels slapped against the marble floor as she ran, the doors slamming behind her, the air hot and suffocating in her lungs. She practically threw herself into the elevator, punching the buttons until the doors closed. Down, down, down she went-her body trembling, her heart ricocheting inside her ribs.

As soon as she hit the street, she flagged down the first yellow cab she saw and stumbled inside.

"Where to?" the driver asked, his accent thick with fatigue.

She swallowed hard. "34B, Winston Crescent. Mainland."

He gave a grunt, adjusted the mirror, and drove.

--

The cab rattled along the bumpy road, the buildings turning grimier the farther they got from the island. But Seraphina didn't notice the streets. She didn't notice the honking horns, the shouting vendors, or even the ache in her chest.

She was too busy choking on questions.

"How did they know? About Ivy. About the kidnapping. About what happened in that fire..."

No one knew except her and Nate.

Not even her parents.

Unless...

Unless they were the ones who sent those men.

Her stomach turned. "No. No, they wouldn't. Would they?"

The car slowed in front of the narrow beige building she once called home. Seraphina handed the driver some cash with shaking hands and threw the door open before he even finished thanking her.

She sprinted up the steps, heart thundering.

When she pushed the door open, the air knocked out of her lungs.

"Mom! Dad!"

She rushed inside, the smell of blood hitting her first. Then the chaos.

The living room-if it could be called that-was trashed. A broken table. Shattered plates. Her father sat on the floor, wheezing, his arms wrapped tightly around her mother, who lay unconscious in his lap, a deep cut bleeding above her brow.

Her knees buckled.

"Mom! Dad!"

Her father looked up slowly, face swollen and streaked with blood.

"Seraphina?" he rasped. "No, no-you shouldn't be here. You need to go!"

She dropped beside them and reached for her mother's wrist, checking her pulse. It was faint.

Too faint.

"She needs a hospital," she whispered urgently. "We need to-"

"No," her father growled, gripping her arm. "We can't leave. If they find out you're here, they'll come back. They might not give us another warning."

Seraphina swallowed the rising scream in her throat.

Her mother stirred then, groaning softly. Her eyes fluttered open in confusion and pain.

"Angel?" she whispered, her voice fragile.

"I'm here, Mama. I'm here," Seraphina said, brushing back her mother's graying hair. "What happened? Why... why would they do this to you?"

Her mother didn't speak. She only reached out and held her daughter's hand like it was the last safe thing in the world.

Seraphina turned to her father. "Tell me everything. Now."

He exhaled shakily, pressing his fingers against a bruised rib. "We didn't have a choice."

"What do you mean you didn't have a choice?! Loan sharks? Mafia bosses? Dad-what the hell were you thinking?!"

His eyes welled with tears, and she saw the shame in his face before he spoke. "We did it for you."

Her breath caught. "What?"

"You wanted to go to medical school," he murmured. "We didn't tell you. We wanted it to be a surprise. Your mother and I... we applied for a small loan. Just to cover the first tuition deposit. But then... you changed your mind. You said you weren't going to school anymore."

Seraphina's face paled. She remembered.

The fight.

The tears.

The way she'd screamed that she didn't need school because Nate would take care of her. That she didn't want to waste four years reading textbooks when she could be planning a wedding instead.

Guilt slammed into her like a freight train.

"I... I told you to cancel everything," she whispered, horror blooming in her chest. "I- it's my fault..."

Her mother blinked at her through swollen eyes. "Of course it's your fault," she said gently, a bitter smile on her cracked lips. "But you are our daughter. We can't blame you for being young... and in love."

Seraphina lowered her head, shame crashing over her like a tidal wave.

All this-every bruise, every drop of blood-it was because of her.

Because of a boy who didn't love her.

"The loan shark boss..." She bit her trembling lip, then lifted her chin, eyes filled with glassy resolve. "I'll marry him."

Her father flinched. "No-absolutely not."

"You will not!" Her mother screamed.

"I'll do it," she said louder. "If that's what it takes to erase the debt, I'll marry the mafia boss. Whatever he is. I'm the reason you both are in this condition."

Her mother gasped, then broke into panicked sobs. "No, baby. No. You don't understand. Those men-they're not like us. They don't see women as people. You'll be a prisoner. A tool. They'll use you, break you, and throw you away when they're done!"

Seraphina's jaw clenched. "Then I'll escape."

Her father shook his head. "You don't get to say things like that. You don't walk out of the underworld once you walk in. These people... they kill traitors. They don't forgive. They don't forget."

"They also don't give second warnings," Seraphina said softly, glancing at her mother's bloodied temple.

Her mother covered her face and cried harder.

"Don't do this, please," she sobbed. "You're all I have. If they take you away from me-"

"They already took everything else," Seraphina said quietly. "All that's left is my name. And if my name is the price to keep you both alive, then they can have it."

Her father exhaled like a broken man.

"How much do we owe them?" she asked softly.

Neither of her parents answered.

"I said how much."

Her father exchanged a helpless glance with her mother, then finally said, "A little over three thousand."

Seraphina blinked.

Her ears rang.

"Three... three thousand?"

He nodded.

She let out a low, bitter laugh. "I threw away my life... for someone who wouldn't even buy me a cake. And you risked your lives... for a debt Nate could've cleared without blinking."

She stood up, slow and steady, as if building herself from broken bones.

"I'll do it," she said again. "It's final."

Her mother wailed, "No! I won't let you! Those men-they'll treat you like a baby-making machine. They'll marry you, lock you away, and breed you like livestock-!"

Seraphina's voice dropped. Cold. Detached.

"Isn't that the calling of a woman?"

Her mother gasped.

"Don't say that," her father growled. "Don't ever say that!"

Seraphina didn't flinch. "You both look down on me like I'm weak. But I've survived worse. I'll survive this. I'll marry him, find out what he wants, and then when the time is right-" She raised her chin. "I'll escape."

Silence fell. Tense. Broken.

Then-

A knock.

One sharp bang on the front door.

Then another.

Seraphina's breath caught in her throat.

Her father paled.

Her mother whimpered, "They're here."