*Seraphina*
"You've lost all right to the company, Ms Seraphina. Mister Lucian Cross now is the new CEO of Axionix. Inc." My lawyer, Adrian Nocturne said wistfully, his eyes finding everything in my office but my face.
I clamped my shaky hands together just as my heart began to beat erratically, but still managing to keep up with my farce of indifference, I leaned forward, "So what does this entail?"
"That you've lost this fight, Missus." He answered quickly—too quickly. "Pardon me, but I think you signed off Axionix. Inc. to him a little too rashly, and now, see… he breaks off your engagement but wishes to keep it, and there's nothing you can do because he now owns more than sixty percent of the company's shares."
What would your father think of you!
I know he didn't say that out loud but from the way his lips curled downwards and his deep cerulean eyes found mine in that brooding but discouraging manner, I knew he thought so.
Heavens, I did too.
I had fucked up big time. Messed up my entire family's legacy and fortune just because of some stolen kisses, a fine face and a lovely D.
I sighed. "God, what have I done?"
"Nothing that you cannot handle," Adrian answered, his brows furrowing as he stared pointedly at the now abandoned cup of coffee in front of him, "…you could talk to Mister Lucian Cross. Try to iron things out with him. Get him to put you back on the board, or you could continue to fight… but I'll tell you this, if you fight, it'll be a losing game."
Tears filled my eyes at his words but I stubbornly blinked them back. And while I knew that getting Lucian to put me back on the board would be difficult, I also knew that fighting him was as good as fighting a brick wall.
This was pointless.
All of this.
Lucian Cross was my fiancé. And I use the term 'was' because we're now a thing of the past, and that's because one day, about a month ago, he'd simply decided that we were no longer a good fit and that he no longer wanted to be with me.
Mind you, this was exactly six days after I signed off my father's—my— company to him.
My bottom lip trembled as the tears I'd been fighting off finally spilled from my eyes and onto the table. Adrian dropped his gaze, his harsh voice suddenly softer as he said; "I could help you talk to him."
"He hasn't been listening…"
"I could ask my daughter to have a word with him."
At that, I blanched. My eyes widened in surprise as I whipped my head up to meet his now very unsteady gaze. "Your daughter?"
"Yes, Eloise." He murmured, but I didn't miss the hint of something else under his voice. Something that sounded strangely like pride…? Guilt? Satisfaction?
"Eloise and Lucian are pretty close these days."
How did I never know about that?
How's that even possible?
I couldn't hide my surprise as I simply asked; "How?"
"How what?" Now, Adrian sounded snappy. His frown had returned, and the sneer, the one he always used in court, had resurfaced. He spat; "I don't understand what you mean?"
"How does Lucian and Eloise know each other?"
"I don't know," he shrugged but something in the stiffness of his actions made me realize that he didn't just know what was happening. He was a part of it all. My heart fell. "All I know is that they're getting married pretty soon, and that he left you for her."
Betrayal slammed into me like a ton of bricks. The corners of my eyes burned with tears unshed. I swiftly rose to my feet, ignoring the coffee cup that had stumbled and fell, spilling black liquid across the table.
Adrian rose too, his large frame towering over me as he stared me down.
This was why I could never win the case in the first place.
Why I had lost so easily— too easily.
Why it felt like the entire world was against me…
Because my lawyer had been in on it too— for personal reasons. He'd never wanted me to win in the first place because he wanted his daughter on the winning side. With Adrian. Enjoying my wealth.
My eyes stung so badly, my body trembled uncontrollably but I forced myself to stand upright. And I forced myself to ask; "who else knows about this?"
Who else is aware of this betrayal?
I didn't know what I wanted him to say, but I never expected it to be what he said next. "Everyone." He drawled, peeling off the concerned mask that once adorned his face, and finally revealing the satisfaction he was deriving from my plight. "Your staff at the company. The members of the board. Your staff at home… me… everyone."
I'd been a fool. A spectacle. And while I paraded myself as the lady of the house, everyone knew it was only a matter of time before I had the rug pulled from under my feet.
My knees gave way, crashing to the floor. But I didn't feel the pain I'd expected to feel because the one in my chest was far greater. Stronger. More painful.
A wretched sob wracked from the deepest corner of my heart, so loud, so raw.. so pained. Adrian glanced away.
"I could have made them employ you." He offered in mock concern. "You could've been the new maid of the house… but that's impossible now, since you've drunk from that coffee. I tried to stop you though, you just weren't paying attention to me, the way you always never do."
It took a moment for me to process his words and when I finally did, my heart raced. Droplets of the said coffee still dripped from the spill on the table, and it wasn't until now that I noticed that besides the pain in my chest, there was another one far more painful in my stomach.
I winced, looking up at him desperately. "W-what do you mean?"
"Lucian knows you'll try to cause trouble so he made sure to eliminate you. And he succeeded." He said slowly, menacingly. "He made me poison your coffee."
His words made a chill run up my spine, my body shook with pain and fear… so much fear. I cried; "please help me."
But he didn't move. He didn't even do so much as blink. I tried to scramble to my feet but my legs had gone numb. Even my knees felt like jello—whooshy, rubbery, unable to carry my weight.
And so panic set in.
"Please, help me Adrian, I've been nothing but kind to you and your daughter. I'd never let anyt—"
"I know you were kind. You were sweet too, too sweet even. But it's a shame my daughter wants what you have. And I'd die before I'd let my own blood down." He sneered, and with that, walked out of the room, leaving me panting for air and breaking out in cold sweat.
In another desperate attempt to stand up, I accidentally swiped my arm over the table's surface, causing the novel I was reading earlier to fall straight at me. The hardcover slammed at my ribs, momentarily knocking the air out of me.
Until there was no more air.
No more light. No more pain.
My body felt like it was levitating. The pain gnawing at my intestines came to a stuttering stop.
A strange sense of peace overcame me suddenly… and then I whipped my eyes open.
But shockingly, I was no longer in my office. There was no trace of the coffee or the large novel from earlier. No pain. No uncontrollable weakness. Just a serenity that I found strange.
I sat up and gasped. I was in a bed.
A gothic large queen sized bed with purple silk bed curtains, situated in a room I've never been in before.
Is this hell?
Or heaven?
What the fuck is happening?
My heart raced as I slowly rose to my feet and stalked over to the door but just as I passed a mirror not so far from the bed, I froze.
Because it wasn't me I found in the mirror looking back at me. It was a different girl entirely. A girl with silver pin drop straight hair that fell to her waist, with black pointy ears, large fangs protruding from her red red plump lips…
…and two wings and a tail.
I screamed.