Seraphina woke before her alarm.
For a few seconds, she remained still beneath the blankets, staring at the ceiling while the memory of her dream slowly returned.
The dark place.
The stranger wearing black.
The blood covering Lucien.
And those words that refused to leave her mind.
Don’t let them find him.
She turned her head toward the window.
Pale morning light slipped through the curtains, but instead of making her feel safe, it somehow made the room feel colder.
Her eyes dropped to her left hand.
The black cross was still there.
She rubbed her thumb over it carefully.
It didn’t hurt.
It didn’t glow.
It looked exactly as it had before.
Just a mark.
Except she knew better now.
Seraphina reached for her phone and opened Alexander’s contact.
She stared at his name for several seconds before pressing call.
The phone rang.
Once.
Twice.
Three times.
No answer.
She frowned and called again.
Still nothing.
“Grandpa, please pick up,” she whispered.
Five months.
That was how long Alexander had been away.
Five months of business trips, short messages, and promises that he would come home soon.
But lately, something about his silence felt different.
Seraphina lowered the phone and sat up.
She had no idea that, hundreds of miles away, Alexander Vale had already begun his final morning.
The room was quiet.
Alexander sat beside the window of the private medical facility, looking out at the trees beyond the glass.
His face had become thinner over the past few months.
There were dark circles beneath his eyes, and his once-steady hands sometimes trembled when he held a cup.
On the small table beside him sat his medication.
He reached for the bottle.
For a moment, he stared at it.
Then he swallowed the pills with a glass of water.
He didn’t notice that the bottle wasn’t the same one he had received from his doctor.
He didn’t notice the tiny difference in the label.
And he certainly didn’t know that someone had entered his room the previous night.
Someone who knew exactly what his illness was.
Someone who knew exactly how much medication he was taking.
Someone who had changed the pills.
Alexander placed the bottle back on the table.
A few minutes later, a sharp pain struck his head.
He closed his eyes.
“Not again…”
He tried to stand.
His knees suddenly gave way.
The glass fell from his hand and shattered across the floor.
Alexander collapsed.
“Mr. Vale!”
The door burst open.
Two nurses rushed inside.
One immediately called for the doctor while the other knelt beside Alexander.
“Sir, can you hear me?”
Alexander’s eyes opened slightly.
Everything around him had begun to blur.
He tried to speak, but the words barely came out.
“Seraphina…”
The nurse leaned closer.
“What did you say?”
Alexander swallowed painfully.
“My… granddaughter.”
The doctor rushed into the room.
“Get him onto the bed. Now.”
The nurses moved quickly.
Monitors were connected.
The room filled with hurried footsteps and quiet commands.
But Alexander could barely hear any of it.
His thoughts were somewhere else.
Five months ago, he had left home believing he could still find a way to survive.
He had searched for doctors.
He had tried treatments.
He had listened to specialists tell him there was no easy answer.
But throughout all of it, one thought had remained stronger than his fear of death.
Seraphina cannot know yet.
Not about her parents.
Not about the accident.
Not about the truth behind her adoption.
And certainly not about the promise he had made years ago.
Alexander’s fingers moved weakly toward the drawer beside his bed.
“There…” he whispered.
The doctor looked at him.
“What is it?”
“My drawer…”
His breathing became heavier.
“Second… compartment.”
The doctor didn’t understand, but one of the nurses opened it.
Inside was a small black envelope.
Alexander stared at it.
“Keep it…”
He struggled to breathe.
“For Seraphina.”
The monitor suddenly began screaming.
“His heart rate is dropping!”
The room erupted into movement.
At Alexandria Corporation, Seraphina sat at her desk with her phone in her hand.
She had called Alexander six times.
Nothing.
Her chest tightened.
Something was wrong.
She stood abruptly and grabbed her bag.
Lucien, who had been sitting across the office near the window, looked up.
“Where are you going?”
“I need to find my grandfather.”
Lucien’s expression changed.
“What happened?”
“He isn’t answering.”
Lucien stood.
“How long?”
“Since this morning.”
Lucien studied her face.
She wasn’t simply worried.
She was frightened.
“Let’s go.”
Seraphina nodded.
They had barely reached the elevator when her phone rang.
Unknown number.
She answered immediately.
“Hello?”
There was silence for a moment.
Then a man’s voice came through.
“Am I speaking to Miss Seraphina Vale?”
“Yes.”
“This is the medical facility where your grandfather has been receiving treatment.”
Seraphina froze.
“Receiving treatment?”
Lucien’s eyes narrowed.
The man continued.
“Miss Vale… I’m sorry, but you need to come here immediately.”
Her fingers tightened around the phone.
“Why? What happened to him?”
The silence on the other end lasted too long.
Then came the words that shattered everything.
“Your grandfather passed away twenty minutes ago.”
Seraphina stopped breathing.
The elevator doors opened.
People walked past them.
Phones rang.
Employees talked.
The world continued moving. This chapter was copied from g.com without permission.
But for Seraphina, everything had suddenly become silent.
“No…”
The word escaped her lips.
Lucien stepped closer.
“Seraphina.”
“No.”
Her eyes filled with tears.
“He can’t…”
Her voice broke.
“He promised me he’d come home.”
Lucien said nothing.
He simply reached for her hand.
Not the left one.
Her right hand.
And for once, the Devil had no words that could make the pain disappear.
The drive to the medical facility felt endless.
Seraphina sat in the passenger seat, staring through the window while tears continued sliding down her cheeks.
Lucien drove without speaking.
When they finally arrived, Seraphina rushed through the entrance.
A doctor met her in the hallway.
“I’m sorry.”
She looked at him.
“Can I see him?”
The doctor hesitated.
Then nodded.
Seraphina entered the room alone.
Alexander lay beneath a white sheet.
He looked peaceful.
Too peaceful.
She approached the bed slowly.
“Grandpa…”
Her voice trembled.
She reached for his cold hand.
“You were supposed to come home.”
Nothing.
She lowered her head against his hand and finally broke down.
Outside the room, Lucien stood silently.
His expression had changed.
He could sense death.
He had witnessed it countless times.
But this death felt wrong.
Not because Alexander had been sick.
Because something about the room bothered him.
His eyes moved toward the bedside table.
The medication bottle was still there.
Lucien walked closer.
He picked it up.
His eyes narrowed.
The label looked ordinary.
But Lucien had lived long enough to recognize something humans often overlooked.
The smell.
The pills inside didn’t match the prescription written on the bottle.
Someone had changed them.
His fingers tightened around the container.
“Someone killed him.”
Then he noticed something else.
A tiny black envelope was missing from the drawer.
Lucien slowly looked toward the hallway.
Someone had taken it.
And whoever that person was…
They hadn’t finished what they came here to do.
Because across the road, inside a parked black car, a man watched the medical facility through darkened windows.
He held the missing envelope in his hand.
A faint smile appeared on his face.
“Alexander Vale is dead.”
He opened the envelope.
His smile disappeared.
Inside was a photograph.
A photograph of a much younger Alexander standing beside two people.
And written on the back were five words:
She must never know the truth.