Chapter 1: The Third Betrayal
[Seraphina POV]
Three times. That's how many times Marco Rossi betrayed me in our six years of marriage.
The first time, I caught him with another woman in our bed. I was young then. Naive. I believed his tears, his promises that it would never happen again.
The second time cost me our baby. Seven months pregnant, and he pushed me down the stairs during one of his rages. The doctors said the fall caused complications. I lost everything that night—our child, and whatever foolish love I still had left for him.
But this third time? This time he's gone too far.
"Please, Marco," I beg, my knees scraping against the rough asphalt of the cliffside highway. "I'll do it. I'll give Livia the kidney. Just don't hurt her."
My mother sits in the driver's seat of her own car, her hands bound, her eyes wide with terror. Marco holds a small remote control in his hand, his finger hovering over the button.
"You had your chance, Seraphina," he says, his voice cold as winter. "Livia has been suffering for weeks because of your selfishness."
"I'm not being selfish!" The words tear from my throat. "I just needed time to think—"
"Time?" He laughs, and the sound makes my blood freeze. "Time for what? To watch my woman die while you play the martyr?"
I crawl closer to him, my designer dress torn and dirty. "Marco, please. She's my mother. She's all I have left."
"And Livia is all I have." His finger tightens on the remote. "Choose, Seraphina. Your mother's life, or Livia's kidney."
"I choose both!" I scream. "I'll donate the kidney right now. Tonight. Just let her go!"
But Marco's face remains stone. "Too late."
The next second, the car smashes through the guardrail, and I can only watch as my mother plunges toward the lake.
"Remember this," Marco says, pocketing the remote. "This is the consequence of making Livia suffer for even one more day."
I don't remember running to the edge. I don't remember the rocks cutting my hands and knees as I scramble down the steep embankment. All I know is the freezing water hitting my body like a thousand knives as I dive in.
"Mom!" I scream, my voice echoing across the dark water. "Mom, hold on!"
The car is sinking fast. Too fast. I swim harder than I've ever swum in my life, but the distance feels impossible. My lungs burn. My limbs feel like lead.
"Mom!"
The headlights disappear beneath the surface.
I dive under, again and again, until my chest feels like it's going to explode. But the water is too dark, too deep. I can't see anything.
I can't reach her.
When the rescue team arrives half an hour later, I'm still in the water, still screaming her name. They have to drag me out.
"Ma'am, please step back," one of the divers says as they attach cables to the submerged car.
I watch in numb silence as they pull it up. Water pours from every opening. And then they open the driver's door.
Blood. So much blood mixed with the lake water.
My mother's body slumps forward, her skin ashen gray, her eyes closed. The ropes around her wrists have cut deep into her flesh.
"No." I push past the rescue workers. "No, no, no."
I grab her lifeless body, pulling her against my chest. She's so cold. So still.
"We need to get her to a hospital," I tell the paramedics. "Right now."
The ambulance doctor kneels beside us, his face grim. "Ma'am, I'm sorry, but she's been submerged for too long. There's no pulse, no breathing—"
"I don't care!" I clutch my mother tighter. "Try anyway. Please."
He shakes his head. "Ma'am, I understand your grief, but—"
I tear the million-dollar diamond ring from my finger—my wedding ring, the one Marco gave me on our honeymoon. "Please," I whisper, pressing it into the doctor's palm. "I'm begging you, save her. Is this enough?"
The doctor stares at the ring, then at my desperate face. After a long moment, he nods.
"We'll try."