Chapter 4Love Ends in Old Dreams

That night, Asher tried to stay.

He’d already taken off his pants.

But I’d recovered enough to grab the toilet brush from the bathroom and chase him out of the house.

And no, I didn’t take his talk of “starting over” seriously.

I’m Seraphina. I don’t do recycling, especially not for trash like him.

After he left, I called my lawyer and had him draw up divorce papers.

I didn’t have a long list of conditions.

Just one: an absolutely astronomical settlement fee.

After all, if the love was gone, I’d be damned if I walked away without the money, too.

As for Nicole, the mother of his two children, I knew there was little I could do. Those kids were her lifetime insurance policy. As long as she played her cards right, she had a very real chance of becoming the next Mrs. Blackwood.

Initially, Asher’s parents hadn't liked her. But faced with their grandchildren, they’d softened, gradually accepting the reality of the situation. It helped that Nicole wasn’t some girl he’d picked up in a bar. She had worked diligently at Blackwood Industries for two years. Her family background was clean, even if no one knew how she and Asher actually got together. The Blackwoods had come to terms with it.

And so had I.

I couldn’t spend another three years making myself miserable just to spite them.

The next day, my friends invited me out shopping. They knew I’d been down and were trying to get me out of the house. I really hadn’t been anywhere in ages. I pulled a new dress out of the closet, one that had been collecting dust for years, and even put on a full face of makeup.

But the moment I opened the front door, I found Nicole there with her two-year-old son.

The little boy, wearing a pair of shiny black leather shoes, toddled behind his mother’s legs, peeking at me with curious eyes.

My heart seized. I didn't want it to hurt.

But his face, a seven-tenths copy of Asher’s as a child, was a sharp, painful blow.

Nicole’s face went pale, and she raised her voice theatrically.

“What do you want? Seraphina, if you lay a hand on my son, I swear I’ll kill you.”

If you’re so afraid of me, I thought, then don’t bring your child to my doorstep. Are you really not scared I’ll lose my temper and do something to him?

I walked down the steps.

I looked at this woman, dressed immaculately from head to toe, the woman Asher had cherished and protected for three years.

I let out a cold snort.

“Nicole, you don’t deserve to be a mother. You’re willing to use your own son as a pawn. I’ll give you this, you’re far more ruthless than I am.”

She was using her own child as a tool, a bargaining chip, just to provoke me.

But the worst was yet to come.

As I walked past her, she shot me a triumphant smirk.

Then, she gave the little boy a sharp, deliberate push.

He stumbled, falling backward onto the pavement with a surprised cry. His small hands scraped against the concrete.

A loud, piercing wail erupted from him.

The sound brought Asher and his mother rushing out of the main house.