A distinct ripple stirred in the depths of his dark eyes, but they quickly returned to their usual calm.
'She's a heartless, faithless woman. She doesn't have a heart. She wouldn't do it.'
Back then, when he'd tried to stop her from leaving the country, he'd run into the street and been hit by a car, thrown half a meter through the air. She hadn't even glanced back.
He lay unconscious in the hospital for three days. When he finally came to, he begged her to visit him, but all she said was, "Damian Fairchild, let's get a divorce."
Heh!
'She was so cruel. How could she possibly hire a professional salvage team to recover his 'body'?'
At dusk, Damian Fairchild appeared at the door to Seraphina Quinn's hospital room anyway.
But just as he was about to push the door open, the sound of a man and woman talking inside stopped him.
"Seraphina, I bought back the Quinn family heirloom you pawned all those years ago."
The speaker was Caleb Sterling, Seraphina Quinn's cousin.
Seraphina Quinn took the Emperor Green Jade Pendant from his hand and said gratefully, "Caleb, thank you."
The Sterling and Quinn families had a feud going back years. To marry into the Quinn Family, Seraphina's mother had gone so far as to sever her relationship with her father, Sterling. Because of this, Sterling had cut all ties with the Quinns, forbidding any of his children or grandchildren from associating with them—especially Seraphina.
Caleb Sterling's visit was also a secret, done behind Sterling's back.
He cut to the chase with Seraphina. "We're family; there's no need for formalities. Besides, one of the reasons you hired that professional salvage team back then was for my wife…"
Outside the door, Damian Fairchild heard this and pulled his hand back from the door.
His face was cold as he turned and strode away.
「Downstairs, in the parking lot.」
When Seth Thorne saw his boss return so soon after leaving, he was confused but still greeted him respectfully. "Mr. Fairchild, you…"
Damian Fairchild pulled out a cigarette and lit it.
Between drags of smoke, he ordered Seth Thorne, "Investigate the plane crash from five years ago. Find out if Seraphina Quinn's cousin-in-law was on that flight."
"Yes, Mr. Fairchild," Seth Thorne said.
Seth Thorne was remarkably efficient. About half an hour later, as the car arrived at The Shogun's Manor, he had an update.
Seth Thorne quickly reported his findings to Damian Fairchild as he stepped out of the car.
"It's confirmed. Miss Quinn's cousin-in-law was also her senior in school and a close friend. When the plane crashed, Miss Quinn did pawn the Quinn Family heirloom to hire a professional salvage team…"
Damian Fairchild clenched the cigarette between his teeth and took a long, deep drag. The tip glowed a rusty red, flickering in the darkness.
After finishing the cigarette, he stubbed it out, a scornful smile touching his lips as his cold, sharp eyes glinted with ridicule.
'So that was the real reason she pawned her family heirloom to hire a salvage team.'
Heh!
"Seth Thorne."
The man's voice was ice-cold.
Seth Thorne couldn't help but shiver. "Mr. Fairchild, your… orders?"
After nearly half a minute of silence, the man's voice finally cut through the air, cold and hard. "Have Quinn Manor demolished. Tonight."
There was a fire in his heart, but even more than that, there was hate.
It had built up day by day, year after year. For five years.
He had reached his breaking point and needed an outlet for it all, or he would go insane.
Seraphina Quinn learned that Quinn Manor had been demolished the following evening, from Zella Buckley, who had come to visit her in the hospital.
Zella Buckley hesitated for a long time before she finally asked, her words halting, "Seraphina, have you… seen the news today?"
The demolition of Quinn Manor, which had stood for a hundred years, was big news. It was the top headline in Aurelium.
If Seraphina had looked at the news at all that day, she would have known.
But Seraphina's fever had been spiking and breaking all day, leaving her groggy and barely lucid.
It was only now, after some antipyretics and antibiotics, that she seemed a little more herself.
She took a sip of thin porridge and looked up at Zella Buckley. "What is it? Did something happen?"
Zella Buckley stammered, "Uh… The Quinn…"
Zella didn't know how to say it, but it was clear the news had something to do with the Quinn Family.
Seraphina put down her spoon and bowl, found her phone, and opened a news app.
[SHOCKING! Century-Old Quinn Manor Turned to Dust Overnight!]
The headline alone was more than Seraphina could bear.
She couldn't find the courage to click through to the full story.
She bowed her head, her lashes trembling as tears welled up and fell, splashing onto the phone screen and blurring her vision.
Seeing this, Zella quickly pulled out a tissue and offered it to her. "Seraphina, are… are you okay?"
In the end, Seraphina clicked on the article anyway.
Just as the headline described, Quinn Manor had crumbled overnight. Even the two stone lions that had guarded the main gate were now just shattered fragments strewn across the ground.
This was the place where she was born and raised, the place that held all her cherished memories of youth.
Memories of joyous laughter, of whispered secrets nestled close to her family, of chasing and playing with her brother.
Now, it was all gone.
She had finally lost her last sanctuary.
She had failed to protect the last sacred ground of the Quinn Family…
The pain was worse than death itself.
In the dead of night, Seraphina appeared at the ruins of Quinn Manor.
The night was dark, and the air above the leveled grounds of Quinn Manor was thick with dust.
Seraphina picked her way through one pile of rubble after another until she finally reached the spot where the ancestral hall—dedicated to her parents, her brother, and all the Quinn ancestors—once stood.
She knelt amidst the dust and broken tiles, picking out the ancestral tablets of the Quinn elders one by one.
She didn't even notice when sharp fragments of tile cut her fingers. Blood mixed with her tears and sweat, splattering onto the dust before her.
But even with all her effort, she couldn't find all seventy-two of the family's ancestral tablets.
Helpless and broken, she sobbed uncontrollably in the dead of night.
She cried until her voice was hoarse, cried until no more tears would fall from her unfocused eyes. And then, the heavens opened up in a torrential downpour.
It was the final straw.
In her blurry, shattered world, she saw her mother and father walking toward her, drawing closer and closer.
They reached out to her with hands that could soothe her aching heart.
"Seraphina, don't cry."
"You're tired, aren't you?"
"If you're tired, come to Mom and Dad."
"Mom and Dad will take you home."
"We'll be together forever and never be apart again."
As a shard of broken tile sliced across the artery in Seraphina's wrist, a deafening clap of thunder ripped through the sky.
The rain fell even harder.
In the dim light, rainwater mixed with thick blood, pooling on the ground and soaking her oversized hospital gown.
She swayed, then collapsed into the bloody water, unable to rise again.
In this world, partings of life and death happen every minute of every day. No one would notice or care that on this miserable, rainy night, another life was about to be extinguished.
Damian Fairchild certainly wouldn't know.
What was he doing at that moment?
He was by his daughter's bedside, reading her a picture book.
When he came out of the children's room after putting his daughter to sleep, Audrey Winslow was there looking for him.
Audrey rarely came to find him so late at night.
Damian Fairchild looked at her and asked coldly, "What is it?"
Audrey hesitated. "Miss Quinn… something's happened to her…"
Before she could finish, the man cut her off, his expression hard. "Whether she lives or dies has nothing to do with me."
"She tried to kill herself!"
For a few fleeting seconds, Damian Fairchild's mind went completely blank. He thought he must have been hearing things. "What did you say?"