Still, after much consideration, he decided to tell her.

He expected Seraphina to be overjoyed, but she simply shook her head.

"It’s okay. This is fine," Seraphina said with a bitter smile. "Besides, I’m planning to leave. I only have three days left."

Dr. Miller was surprised, but he respected her decision and didn't pry further. He promised to keep her whereabouts a secret.

Over the next few days, Seraphina recovered in the hospital. When she was able, she visited the nursing home to talk to her mother.

Evelyn Vance suffered from Alzheimer’s and didn't recognize many people. But when Seraphina appeared, she instinctively called out her nickname. "Sera."

Seraphina’s eyes immediately turned red. She stroked her mother’s white hair and whispered, "Mom, I’m going to find a cure. I promise. You have to stay strong."

Seraphina was an orphan.

She had been adopted by the Vances when she was six.

Three years later, her father had passed away, and the family’s fortunes had plummeted. Yet, Evelyn had never thought of giving her up. She had worked tirelessly to raise her.

But just as Seraphina was finally able to provide for her, her mother had been struck by this incurable disease. Her memories were fading; at her worst, she didn't even know who Seraphina was.

The medical facilities here weren't nearly as good as those in Switzerland. She would take her mother with her.

They would leave it all behind—the people, the events, the city of Seattle—forever.

Seeing that her mother’s IV drip was almost empty, Seraphina composed herself and went to find a nurse.

But when she returned with the nurse, her mother was gone.

Panic surged through her. She checked room after room, but her mother was nowhere to be found.

The nurse was also frantic and called for security.

Just then, a sharp scream rang out from the center of the lake not far away.

"Help! Someone help! Someone’s fallen into the water! Help!"

Chapter 6

A jolt of panic shot through Seraphina. She sprinted forward, pushing past the onlookers. When her eyes locked onto the figure of her mother thrashing in the center of the lake, the blood in her veins turned to ice.

Without a second of hesitation, she tore off her heavy down jacket, preparing to dive into the freezing water.

But in the next instant, an iron-like grip clamped onto her shoulder from behind, and she was violently shoved to the ground.

As she scrambled to get up, she heard Clarissa’s voice dripping with fake concern.

"Sister Seraphina, don't be so reckless. It's freezing. We should wait for the professionals to save her."

Matching the triumphant glint in Clarissa's eyes, Seraphina understood everything in a heartbeat.

Fury surged up her spine and scorched her reason. Yet, Clarissa and her friends stood like a wall, blocking her path, refusing to let her move an inch.

"Clarissa, get out of my way!" Seraphina’s eyes were bloodshot as she screamed. "If anything happens to my mother, I will make you pay!"

"Oh? How exactly will you make me pay?" Clarissa leaned down, her voice a low, poisonous whisper. "I did it on purpose. What are you going to do about it? Besides, no one is here to help you now."

With that, she suddenly stumbled backward, throwing herself onto the ground.

When she looked up again, her face was covered in tears.

"Sera, I was only thinking of your safety! How could you push me?" Clarissa wailed at the top of her lungs.

This was the scene Julian Sterling walked into.

He strode over and pulled Clarissa into a protective embrace. After ensuring she wasn't seriously hurt, he looked up, his gaze sweeping over Seraphina with chilling indifference.

"Seraphina Vance, you escaped the asylum once, but you won't escape it a second time."

"I'll go! I'll go back! I'll do whatever you want!" Seraphina pleaded, her voice breaking. "Julian, please, save my mother! There’s no time!"

Julian stared at her tear-filled eyes, and his heart skipped a beat.

He couldn't explain where this strange sensation came from; he only knew that seeing her cry made him feel profoundly uneasy.

However, just as he was about to relent, Clarissa clung to his arm, her voice deliberately weak.

"Baby, the wind is so cold here. Let's go back."

The flicker of guilt in his chest vanished. He lifted Clarissa into his arms and tossed an order to the bodyguards behind him: "Take her back to the asylum."

Julian’s cold indifference extinguished her last spark of hope.

Seeing the bodyguards closing in, Seraphina steeled her heart. Seizing a moment of distraction, she broke through the circle and dived headlong into the lake.

She swam toward the center with desperate abandon. She didn't care that her body was becoming numb from the cold; she used every ounce of her strength until she finally reached her mother.

A chorus of gasps rose from the shore, drawing Julian’s attention back as he was walking away.

When he saw Seraphina—her face ashen, her teeth gritted as she fought to swim back to shore—his pupils contracted sharply.

He almost instinctively set Clarissa down and stepped toward the water. But the moment he realized what he was doing, he froze.

What was he doing? What did Seraphina’s life or death have to do with him?

Though he tried to force the thought away, his eyes remained locked on her. When he saw her successfully pull her mother onto the shore, he felt an inexplicable sense of relief.

However, when the medical team finally arrived and rushed Evelyn Vance to the ICU, it was too late.

"Ms. Vance, we did our best. Because of the delay in rescue and her underlying condition, she is unlikely to ever wake up again."

The doctor sighed as he watched Seraphina’s face drain of all color.

"Based on our assessment and similar international cases, I must tell you that the damage is permanent and irreversible. The chances of her regaining consciousness are extremely slim."

Seraphina didn't know how she paid the fees or how she eventually walked out of the ward.

Her mind was a total blank. Her limbs felt weightless. It was as if her entire world had shattered into glass shards that could never be repaired.

Nurses came for rounds, and her best friend called to comfort her; Seraphina heard them, and yet she didn't.

She stared at her mother through the glass window for hours, etching her face into her heart.

Her tears had run dry, and her voice was a raspy ghost of itself. She sat in the hospital hallway for a day and a night, refusing to eat or drink.

In the dead of night, her eyes bloodshot, she finally lost her battle with the crushing despair. A low, muffled howl of agony escaped her throat.

"Mom... I was wrong."

Wrong to have ever loved Julian Sterling.

Wrong to have given him chance after chance.

Only to end up destroying the person she loved most.

Chapter 7

Afterward, Seraphina spent a fortune chartering a helicopter to transport the stabilized Evelyn Vance to a top private hospital in Switzerland overnight.

Once everything was arranged, the "disappearance" agency sent her a message asking for the method and location of her staged death.

Seraphina thought for a long time before replying.

"At the coast. The method: suicide."

Started by the sea, ended by the sea.

The coast was where she and Julian had first fallen in love. It was where they had officially started their relationship. Back then, he had promised her the grandest, most beautiful seaside wedding in the world.

Now that everything was coming to an end, she would bury her last ounce of love for Julian—along with those sincere vows and that burning passion—deep within the ocean.

Besides, Julian loathed her so much that he constantly demanded she atone to Clarissa, didn't he?

She heard their wedding was only days away. Surely, seeing her corpse would make him happy.

The agency worked with ruthless efficiency. That evening, they arrived at her temporary apartment.

"Ms. Vance, here are your new identification documents and your ticket to Switzerland. After tonight, your old identity will be erased. Seraphina Vance will no longer exist in this world."

Seraphina took the folder without hesitation. Gripping her suitcase, she headed for the airport without a single backward glance.

It was a long drive, and she spent six hours in the car before finally reaching the boarding gate.

Suddenly, a thought occurred to her. She composed one final text to the agency staff.

"Deliver the 'drowned' body to Julian Sterling’s wedding tomorrow on time. It is my gift to him."

After hitting send, she blocked every contact related to Julian and tossed her old phone into a trash can.

From this moment on, there was no more Seraphina Vance in Seattle.

The boarding announcement echoed through the terminal. Half an hour later, the plane took off.

Seraphina leaned against the window, watching the sprawling city of Seattle shrink into a tiny speck. Her heart felt hollow.