Chapter 5

Seraphina's POV

I clenched my fists so hard my nails dug into my palms, trying to suppress the agonizing ache in my chest.

"I don't want this villa, and I don't want any of your other penthouses," I said, my voice barely a whisper. "Just let me stay here until the end of the month. I promise I'll be gone by then."

Julian let out a sharp, mocking laugh.

"First you hand me divorce papers, then you put on a show burning old junk. I actually thought you were serious about giving up your title this time." His voice dripped with sarcasm. "But here we are. You refuse to move to a nicer penthouse and make excuses to stall. Tell me, Seraphina, when next month comes, what will your next excuse be?"

Everything I did was just a calculated move in his eyes.

I kept my eyes down and said nothing.

He had never trusted me, and nothing I said would change that. Once the divorce was legally finalized, the truth would speak for itself.

Julian took my silence as a confession. He spared me one last contemptuous look. "Stay or leave, I don't care. But Chloe likes this place, so she's moving in today."

With that, he turned and walked toward the house.

Chloe took a step forward, extending her hand to me, her eyes gleaming with triumph. "Mrs. Sterling, looks like we'll be roommates for a couple of weeks. Let's try to get along."

I didn't even look at her hand. I turned to walk away.

"What is your problem?" Chloe snapped, blocking my path. "I'm trying to be nice here."

"I heard you," I replied coldly. "But I don't get along with mistresses. I have a natural aversion to them."

Chloe laughed as if she had heard a hilarious joke. "A mistress? What about you, Seraphina? Aren't you one too?"

My gaze hardened.

"Julian is literally moving me in, and you're still begging to stay under his roof," Chloe mocked, leaning in close. "I have to hand it to you. To drug your own sister’s husband at her funeral just to get a ring... you really are a shameless masterpiece."

Her words were like poison-tipped needles piercing my heart.

My hand flew out before I could think.

*Slap!*

The sharp sound echoed in the yard. Chloe’s head snapped to the side, a bright red mark blooming on her pale cheek.

"My marriage with Julian," my voice shook with rage, "is none of your business. You're just a cheap replacement."

Chloe clutched her cheek, a dark flash of anger crossing her face.

But before she could strike back, she spotted Julian walking back toward us from the glass doors.

Her angry expression vanished, replaced by a cunning, wicked smile.

"Do you want to play a game?" she whispered, her voice barely audible. "Let's see who Julian cares about more—his legal wife, or me, the girl who has his dead love's face."

Before I could react, Chloe grabbed my wrist.

With a sudden, violent yank, she threw herself backward, dragging me down with her.

*Splash!*

The freezing water of the swimming pool swallowed us instantly.

"Help! Julian, help me! I can't swim!" Chloe screamed, thrashing wildly in the deep end.

I choked on a mouthful of water, struggling to surface.

Through the splashing water, I saw Julian sprint to the edge and dive in without a single second of hesitation.

He swam past me, his eyes locked entirely on Chloe. He scooped her shivering body into his arms and pulled her toward the steps.

"I've got you. Don't worry, you're safe," he murmured, his voice laced with panic as he carried her inside the villa.

He didn't look back at me once.

It was as if I were invisible.

I floated in the cold water, my clothes heavy and dragging me down.

I stared at the empty glass doors of the villa, and my mind suddenly flashed back to a summer when I was seventeen.

I hadn't learned how to swim back then, and I had accidentally slipped into the lake behind the school.

Julian had jumped in without thinking, fighting the current to drag me to safety.

I had only swallowed a few gulps of water, but he had fainted from pure exhaustion.

When he woke up in the clinic, his face pale, he had hugged me so tight I could barely breathe. "You scared me to death, Sera. What would I do if I lost you?"

I had cried, promising him I would never go near the water again.

He had smiled and kissed my forehead. "It's okay. As long as I'm here, I'll never let anything happen to you."

I stood in the freezing pool, water up to my chest, and let out a quiet, self-deprecating laugh.

All these years, I was the only one trapped in the past.

I should have accepted it long ago. The Julian Sterling who loved me died in that car crash seven years ago.