A New Horizon After Her Betrayal

to Seraphi

years, I called it my life. I' d count the days, watch the moon wax and wane, feeling a quiet ache that I never gave a name to. I was

eels up in twenty minutes. The air was thick with smoke, the world tinted a hellish orange. We dropped into chaos, the roar of the fire

a jammed door. I put my shoulder into it, once, twice, and the wood

en I s

e, Ser

ily, huddled together. Perfect. Terrified. The man was Julian Croft, a "colleague" from her New York firm. The boy, Leo, was his son. The col

ke! M

s widen. She saw me. There was no surprise, just a flicke

ees. I didn' t say a word. I couldn't. The image was seared into my mind, hotter than any ember. I led them to safe

er, covered in soot and exhaustion, I ex

he house was pristine, smelling of lavender and sage. It was like the fire, like the ima

said, her voice a

d to talk abo

reen tea. Then she gestured to a set of papers on the polished coffee t

ing a new piece of furniture. "Julian is unstable after the fire. It wa

ust like that? You don't think th

uld be spiritually selfish to ignore it. Thi

allowing. "What about our marriage, Sera? What the hel

s focused on calming a terrified child. Your interpretatio

alked toward the kitchen. "And for the record," she added, not even looking at me, "our energetic al

me waiting for the full moon. The rage that ha

Sera. Not in our guest

n the living room, the adoption papers mocking me from the table. That night, I lay in our bed, wide awake, listening to the silence of the house.

ished shoes and condescending smile, and Leo, a

New York friends on the phone, filled the garden as she played with Leo. She touched Julian' s arm

fternoon, I saw Leo wandering near the old oak tree at the edge of the prope

ther side of the tree. Seraphina' s. Julia

her neck. Her head was tilted back, her eyes closed in a look of pure bliss. It wasn't comfort.

eak. It was torn out, le

s eyes meeting mine over her shoulder. He d

k. "Just checking the property line. You

I knew then. This wasn't a new development. This wasn't a r