I didn’t turn around immediately.

The elevator doors closed behind me.

Then I heard Sebastian’s footsteps.

“Serena.”

This time, his voice was closer.

I slowly removed my sunglasses and faced him.

Four years had changed him.

His shoulders seemed broader, his expression harder, and there was a thin scar near his temple that hadn’t been there before.

But his eyes were exactly the same.

“General Grant.”

His jaw tightened.

“You don’t have to call me that.”

“What should I call you?”

“My name.”

I smiled.

“We aren’t married anymore. Formality seems appropriate.”

The men who had been joking inside the elevator suddenly found the floor extremely interesting.

Sebastian ignored them.

“When did you return?”

“Yesterday.”

“For how long?”

“I haven’t decided.”

He looked at me as though four years of questions were trapped behind his teeth.

Finally, he asked:

“Why did you disappear?”

I almost laughed.

“You signed the divorce.”

“You left the country the next morning.”

“That was the point of getting divorced.”

“No.”

For the first time, something sharp entered his voice.

“You vanished.”

I stared at him.

“What difference did it make to you?”

His expression changed.

Before he could answer, my best friend rushed toward us.

“Serena!”

She hugged me and immediately noticed Sebastian.

Her smile disappeared.

“General Grant.”

Sebastian nodded.

Then she grabbed my hand.

“Come on. Everyone’s waiting.”

I followed her.

But Sebastian caught sight of something above the back of my dress.

A faint scar.

One of many left by the punishment in the Blake ancestral hall.

His face went still.

“What happened to your back?”

I stopped.

“Nothing that concerns you.”

“Serena.”

I walked away.

An hour later, the party was crowded.

Artists, investors, heirs, celebrities.

I had spent four years building a name in Europe under Serena Blake rather than Mrs. Grant.

Tonight, several collectors had come specifically to see me.

Then Clara arrived.

My half-sister walked into the room wearing white.

And beside her was Lily Hayes.

I nearly laughed at the absurdity.

Clara approached me first.

“Sister, welcome home.”

She huggedged me as though she hadn’t watched our father order me beaten.

Then she whispered:

“You shouldn’t have come back.”

I stepped away.

“Why?”

Her smile remained perfect.

“Some places move on without you.”

Her eyes shifted toward Sebastian.

I understood immediately.

“You’re still chasing him?”

Clara’s expression stiffened.

Before she could answer, Lily approached.

She was beautiful.

But different from the frightened young woman I remembered outside Nightfall.

More composed.

More mature.

“Miss Blake.”

“Miss Hayes.”

She studied my face.

Then unexpectedly said:

“I’ve wanted to apologize to you for years.”

Clara’s smile vanished.

I frowned.

“For what?”

“For allowing you to misunderstand what you saw that night.”

I became still.

Lily continued.

“Sebastian and I were together once. That’s true.”

“I know.”

“But by the night outside Nightfall, we’d already been separated for almost two years.”

I stared at her.

“That doesn’t change what I saw.”

“No.”

She lowered her voice.

“But you didn’t see what happened afterward.”

I didn’t want to hear it.

Yet something in her expression stopped me from walking away.

“After Sebastian took me home that night, I asked him to leave the Grant family and start over with me.”

My fingers tightened around my glass.

“And?”

“He refused.”

I laughed softly.

“Family duty?”

“No.”

Lily looked directly at me.

“He said he was married.”

My smile disappeared.

“He said his wife drove him insane, destroyed cars when she was angry, treated rules as suggestions and seemed determined to shorten his life.”

Despite myself, my chest tightened.

Lily continued.

“Then he said something I never forgot.”

“What?”

“That somewhere along the way, protecting his marriage had stopped feeling like duty.”

Before I could respond, a man’s voice interrupted.

“Lily.”

Sebastian stood behind us.

His face was cold.

“Enough.”

Lily looked almost amused.

“You’ve had four years to tell her yourself.”

She walked away.

I turned toward Sebastian.

“Is that true?”

He didn’t answer.

I laughed bitterly.

“Still terrible with words.”

Then Clara appeared beside him.

“Sebastian, your grandfather is waiting downstairs.”

She touched his sleeve naturally.

I noticed the gesture.

So did Sebastian.

He immediately removed her hand.

Clara’s face tightened.

Then she looked at me.

“You shouldn’t misunderstand. The Grant family has been discussing a marriage alliance again.”

I raised an eyebrow.

“With you?”

“My father thinks—”

“I don’t care.”

And surprisingly, I meant it.

I placed my empty glass down.

“Congratulations if it happens.”

Sebastian’s face darkened.

“It won’t.”

Clara froze.

“Sebastian—”

“I have already refused.”

I walked toward the terrace.

Sebastian followed.

“Stop following me.”

“No.”

That single word sounded exactly like the man I remembered.

I turned.

“What do you want?”

“The truth.”

“About what?”

“Your injuries.”

My smile vanished.

He had noticed.

Of course he had.

Military training had taught Sebastian to notice everything except apparently his own wife’s feelings.

“I asked for a divorce.”

His eyes narrowed.

“And?”

“My father disagreed.”

Understanding slowly appeared on his face.

“No.”

I said nothing.

“Serena.”

His voice changed completely.

“Did your father hurt you because you wanted to divorce me?”

I looked away.

That was answer enough.

For the first time in my life, I saw Sebastian Grant truly lose control.

Not dramatic rage.

Something colder.

More frightening.

He pulled out his phone.

“Cancel tomorrow’s meeting with Blake Group.”

I grabbed his wrist.

“What are you doing?”

His eyes met mine.

“Correcting something four years too late.”

“I don’t need you to avenge me.”

“I know.”

That stopped me.

He lowered the phone.

“You never needed me to solve your problems.”

His voice became quieter.

“I used that as an excuse because solving things was easier than telling you what I felt.”

My throat tightened.

“And Lily?”

“I loved her.”

At least he didn’t lie.

“But?”

Sebastian looked directly at me.

“But the woman I couldn’t forget for four years wasn’t Lily.”

Silence stretched between us.

Then he reached inside his jacket.

He removed an old envelope.

My name was written across it.

The paper was worn at the edges.

“I carried this through three deployments.”

“What is it?”

“The document you never received.”

I opened it.

It wasn’t a love letter.

It was an amendment to our original marriage contract.

Signed by Sebastian.

Dated six months before our divorce.

One clause had been added.

Sebastian Grant voluntarily relinquishes the contractual termination date and requests conversion of the marriage into a permanent union, subject only to Serena Blake’s consent.

My hands trembled.

“You wanted to stay married?”

“Yes.”

“Then why did you sign the divorce?”

His expression became painfully calm.

“Because your father told me you had requested it after discovering Lily.”

“He told you that?”

“He also told me you hated me.”

My blood turned cold.

Sebastian continued.

“And that if I refused the divorce, you would be forced to remain in Harbor City.”

Suddenly, the pieces began fitting together.

My father’s guilt.

Clara’s eagerness.

The punishment.

The marriage alliance being discussed now.

Sebastian looked toward the ballroom.

“There is something else.”

“What?”

“The night you followed me to Nightfall wasn’t an accident.”

I frowned.

“Lily called you.”

“Yes.”

“But she didn’t call from her own phone.”

Sebastian handed me another document.

A communications report.

The number that had summoned him belonged to a Blake family corporate account.

My eyes slowly moved toward the ballroom.

Clara was watching us.

Her face had gone completely white.

Sebastian lowered his voice.

“Someone wanted you to follow me that night.”

I stared at my sister.

“And whoever arranged it knew exactly what you would see.”

For four years, I had believed my marriage ended because Sebastian loved another woman.

Now I was beginning to understand something far worse.

Someone inside my own family had carefully made certain I believed it.
:::