SERAPHINE – POVThe room felt too small, too bright, too loud, even though no one was speaking yet. Mary shoved the phone toward the doctor, her voice sharp with urgency.“Call Marco. Now.”The doctor froze. He held the phone like it was some dangerous object, staring at it instead of dialing. I watched his throat bob as he swallowed. His fingers trembled slightly.I stepped closer. “Are you sure about this?” I asked Mary. My heart thudded hard in my chest. Marco… calling him didn’t feel safe. Not for the doctor. Not for any of us.“Yes,” Mary snapped. “He should call Marco. Just do it.”She said it like it was a simple thing. But it wasn’t. Even I knew that. Marco wasn’t some normal man you could speak to freely. He was unpredictable, violent, and suspicious by nature. One wrong tone and he could erupt. And we were asking a trembling doctor—gentle, quiet, academically brilliant but socially fragile—to handle that?Mary leaned in toward him. “Don’t show fear. Be wise.”Julian’s voice

SERAPHINEI couldn’t stay still. My steps kept dragging me from one side of the hallway to the other, my palms damp, my heartbeat thudding against my ribs.Every breath felt thin. If Marco discovered we were using his son as bait… if he sensed even a hint of deception… he would snap, and Ryan would be the first person he’d condemn.The thought struck like a blade each time it crossed my mind.Mary watched me with a frown. “You need to calm down,” she said. “The security team knows what they’re doing. Just breathe.”I dragged air into my lungs but it didn’t help. “And if he realizes it’s a setup? What then? He’s unpredictable.”Julian answered before Mary could. His voice carried that steady, cold certainty he always slipped into during operations. “He won’t. As Mary said, our team is capable. Stay out of the way and let them handle him.”He spoke like everything was already under control, but that didn’t quiet the dread curling in my stomach. I imagined Marco entering the building wit

RACHELI pressed the cloth hard against the spot on my arm where they had injected me. The skin still burned, a dull sting pulsing under the bandage. I didn’t know if it was the needle or the humiliation that hurt more. I kept my hand over it as if hiding the mark would erase what they had done.In my head, the curses were vicious, sharp, burning.These Cassian bastards. Sons of bitches. They think they can use me just because I brought my daughter here. They think they own me.I kept walking, forcing myself to breathe through the anger. The warehouse lights were harsh, buzzing overhead, making everything feel colder, tighter. My fingers tightened around the cloth, holding it to my skin like a shield. I didn’t want them to see the red swelling. I didn’t want them to see anything that made me look weak.I marched toward the group of scientists huddled near the monitors. Their coats were spotless, their expressions blank, as if injecting me—using me—was just another calculation on their

MARCO They dragged me into a small room and tied me to a chair, the rope biting into my wrists. My heart hammered so hard I could barely breathe. All I could think about was my son—my boy lying in some hospital bed fighting for his life. I didn’t care about anything else.The chair scraped loudly against the floor as the security team shoved it closer to the wall. The leader sat opposite me, expression calm in a way that made everything more terrifying.“Where is my son?” I snapped, struggling against the rope. “Just get me my son! Take the money and save him—doctor!”My voice cracked. I didn’t even try to hide it.But the doctor… he couldn’t even look at me. His head stayed down, shoulders tense, like he already knew this situation had spiraled too far.Then two women stepped in front of me—Seraphine and another woman I didn’t know. They stood there like they’d been waiting for this moment. I latched onto the only hope I saw.“You two,” I said desperately. “Please… you’re women. You

SERAPHINEMary drove fast, her hands tight on the wheel, eyes locked on the road ahead. The Cassian convoy followed close behind us—three black security vehicles and a helicopter slicing through the sky above. The air inside the car felt heavy, like it carried the tension of everyone breathing in it.Marco sat in the back seat between two armed guards, wrists cuffed, face pale and exhausted. He looked like he hadn’t slept in days. Or maybe guilt had been keeping him awake longer than any night could.We were finally closing in on Ryan’s location. The Cassian trackers had picked up movement that matched Marco’s earlier route, and every mile we drove, my heart thudded harder.Mary kept her focus, expression cold. I could tell she was trying not to think about what might have happened to Ryan already.“We need to bring Marco back to the hospital,” I said quietly.Mary scoffed, almost laughing. “What are you saying?”“He needs to see Leo. His son is—”“He has to show us where Ryan is,” Ma