After shooing away the buzzing fly that was Liliana, Seraphina had expected a moment of peace. But she had clearly underestimated the disgusting couple's urgency to "settle matters."
That evening, Richard arrived.
Unlike Liliana's "warm visit," Richard's arrival was all business, tinged with an air of absolute arrogance. He didn't even knock, simply using a spare key to let himself into her room.
He found Seraphina sitting at her vanity, slowly, methodically brushing her long, seaweed-like hair. In the mirror, her expression was placid, as if his intrusion hadn't caused the slightest ripple in her heart.
This calmness displeased Richard. In his script, Seraphina was supposed to be questioning him like a shrew, or crying hysterically like a madwoman. But she wasn't. She was too quiet, so quiet that it felt like punching cotton.
"It seems you're recovering well," Richard said, walking to stand behind her. He shoved his hands in his trouser pockets, his eyes examining her in the mirror with a critical gaze.
Seraphina didn't turn around, merely acknowledging him with a soft "Mm."
"Since you've calmed down, let's get down to business," he said, pulling over a chair and sitting with a self-important air, adopting the posture of a negotiator.
"Is there any 'business' left for us to discuss?" Seraphina finally asked, her voice betraying no emotion.
"Of course," Richard lifted his chin, a look of charitable superiority on his face. "Our engagement must be terminated. You 'disappeared without cause,' preventing the ceremony from taking place. According to our prenuptial agreement, you are the party in breach of contract. However, out of respect for our past, I do not intend to hold you liable for the breach."
He spoke with such sanctimonious righteousness, as if he weren't the one who had set a vicious trap and pushed his own fiancée into hell.
Seraphina sneered internally, but her face remained a placid mask. "Oh? So I should thank you?"
"Thanks won't be necessary," Richard said, pulling several documents from his briefcase and tossing them onto the vanity. "This is the engagement termination agreement, and... a letter of intent for a share transfer. Just sign these, and we'll be even. I'll also give you a sum of compensation, enough to ensure you live comfortably for the rest of your life."
Seraphina's gaze fell upon the "letter of intent for a share transfer."
She knew it. This was his true purpose tonight. He wanted the portion of company stock her mother had left her as a dowry. The shares weren't a controlling stake, but they held critical voting rights.
This man didn't just want to be rid of her; he wanted her money, too. His greed was truly shameless.
"Why the rush?" Seraphina didn't look at the papers. Instead, she met his eyes in the mirror, her voice a low murmur. "Richard, didn't you love me? Why are you in such a hurry to cut ties with me?"
Richard was taken aback by the question, and his surprise quickly curdled into anger. "Seraphina! You're the one who left without a word! You're the one who ruined our relationship! And now you have the nerve to question me?"
"I'm not questioning you," her tone remained flat. "I'm just... confused. You and Lily... when did it start?"
She deliberately brought the conversation to Liliana. She knew Richard too well; he was arrogant and suspicious. She would plant a thorn between him and Liliana.
As expected, at the mention of Liliana, Richard's expression became slightly unnatural. He cleared his throat. "There is nothing going on between Lily and me. It was only after you disappeared... she was there to comfort me, and we... we slowly grew closer."
"Is that so?" Seraphina said, as if she believed him. She turned around to face him for the first time, her beautiful eyes filled with a perfectly calibrated, heartbreaking fragility. "Lily is such a good girl. She came to see me this afternoon. She told me... everything she did was for our own good. She said you were too tired, that you deserved more. She said she would do anything to make you happy."
She intentionally framed Liliana as ambitious and cunning, while painting Richard as the one being "persuaded" and "helped."
Richard listened, and his brow furrowed involuntarily.
He had always believed he was the one in control, the master of the situation. But the way Seraphina put it, it sounded as if... he were the one being led by Liliana. Did that woman truly love him, or... did she have her own ambitions, her own calculations?
Seraphina keenly observed the flicker of doubt in his eyes.
She knew she had hit her mark.
"Alright," she said, sighing with exhaustion, as if finally accepting her fate. "Since you've made your decision, I'll sign."
She picked up a pen, poised to sign the documents.
Seeing her being so "compliant," the doubt in Richard's mind was immediately vanquished by the thrill of victory. He knew it. This woman was thoroughly broken. She was no longer capable of making any trouble.
"However..." Seraphina's pen tip paused on the paper. She looked up, her expression timid and troubled. "These documents... they involve so many legal and financial clauses, I don't really understand them. What if I sign something incorrectly and cause trouble for the family? Perhaps... perhaps I should have my personal lawyer review them first, in a few days?"
Her excuse was perfectly reasonable, impossible to refute.
But Richard was growing impatient. He wanted this over and done with, to avoid any further complications.
"What's not to understand? The terms are perfectly clear," he urged.
"But I..." Seraphina's eyes grew red-rimmed, and she looked utterly pitiful. "Richard, I'm in a really bad state right now. I can't think straight. Can you... can you just give me a couple more days? Please? For the sake of... what we used to have."
Looking at her tearful, pathetic state, Richard's last shred of caution dissolved. What could a broken woman with a scrambled mind possibly do? A delay of two days meant nothing.
"Fine," he said, standing up, resuming his arrogant posture. "I'll give you two days. In two days, I expect to see the signed documents on my desk. Don't try any tricks, Seraphina. It won't do you any good."
With that, he walked out without a backward glance, not even forgetting to "thoughtfully" close the door behind him.
The room was quiet once more.
The fragile, helpless look on Seraphina's face vanished the moment the door clicked shut.
She looked at the documents on her vanity with a derisive smile.
Then, from a hidden compartment in her vanity drawer, she retrieved a small recording device, cleverly disguised as a perfume bottle.
She gently pressed the playback button.
Her entire conversation with Richard played back, crystal clear. His selfish, shameless words about the engagement termination and the share transfer were all there, every last syllable.
"Thank you for the evidence, Richard."
Seraphina closed her hand around the recorder, its cool metal surface feeling wonderfully solid.
"You were right. Tricks won't do me any good," she whispered to the empty room, her eyes, fixed on the night outside, glinting with a dangerous, captivating light.
"Because I don't play tricks."
"I play open games that will lead to your utter ruin."