Lunara looked at the clock on the wall. Ten minutes had passed, but she still hesitated.
Her arms folded tightly across her chest, fingertips digging into the fabric of her sweater like she could hold herself together by force alone. Everything in her gut scread that Seraphine was bluffing—grasping for attention, spinning another story in a long, pathetic string of manipulations.
But what if she wasn’t?
What if this ti she carried truth?
Her mind flashed back to Eryx’s face earlier—tired, quiet, protective. Would he really hide sothing from her? Sothing big?
Wouldn’t he have told her?
Unless he thought she couldn’t handle it.
She stared blankly at the wall for another mont, torn between fear and fury, before her hand finally moved. She grabbed her phone from the coffee table and walked toward the door with heavy, reluctant steps.
Every inch closer to that doorknob made her breath catch tighter in her throat.
Just as her hand wrapped around it, a sharp bell sound rang and echoed all over the penthouse.
Her body jolted.
A second bell followed before she could even move toward the screen monitor.
"Mrs. Grantham?" ca a muffled voice from the door.
Lunara pressed the button on the wall monitor, her heart already thumping. The screen flickered to life, revealing one of the familiar security guards standing outside.
"Yes?" she asked.
The guard offered a stiff, polite smile. "We’re currently doing a routine ergency test of the alarm and security system, ma’am. Mr. Grantham asked us to ensure you remain inside until it’s completed. It won’t take long, but we just need your full cooperation for a few minutes."
She blinked, brows knitting. "A test? Now?"
"Yes, ma’am. Standard procedure. Just stay inside and don’t answer any calls or the door for now. We’ll alert you when it’s clear."
She hesitated, sothing about the timing making her chest tighten. But the guard had used Eryx’s na—his instructions. Still, her fingers hovered uncertainly near the panel as she nodded slowly.
"Alright," she said softly.
The guard gave another small nod, then turned to leave.
Lunara watched the screen as he disappeared down the hall, her unease growing with every step he took away.
She had just turned away when a sound ca again.
Ding-dong.
Her breath caught.
Slower this ti, she turned back to the screen. It shouldn’t be ringing again. It was too fast.
This ti, when she tapped the monitor, the cara showed nothing.
No one at the door.
Just an empty hallway.
Lunara’s blood chilled.
Lunara stared at the blank monitor for a solid half minute, unable to tear her eyes away, her breath shallow and quick. Just as her fingers twitched toward the panel again to double-check, a shape moved into view.
Her heart skipped. Then stilled.
It was Eryx.
He looked a little disheveled, like he’d rushed back, the sharpness in his expression fading the mont he spotted the cara. Relief and sothing warr filled her chest.
Without thinking, she bolted to the door.
The mont she opened it, Eryx looked up, just one foot away, eyebrows lifting as the door flew open before he even reached for it.
"Were you... waiting for ?" he asked, voice slightly out of breath, one hand still on his car key.
Lunara opened her mouth, but no answer ca. Her lips parted as if to speak, but confusion and the adrenaline still buzzing in her veins left her paralyzed.
"I—"
And that’s when it happened.
A blur of motion.
Sothing lunged from behind Eryx, fast and desperate, and before Lunara could even scream, a figure burst into view—a woman, hair wild, clothes stained with sweat and sared makeup. In her hand, sothing flashed under the hallway light. Sothing sharp.
Eryx’s eyes widened as he registered the motion behind him, but the scream that pierced the air didn’t co from him, it ca from Lunara.
"Eryx!"
Seraphine’s voice echoed a mont behind, manic, splintered. "You ruined everything!"
Lunara barely had ti to register the sound of her voice before the air shifted.
The glint of silver was the only warning before pain exploded into motion.
"Eryx!" Lunara scread again as the sharp, ornantal hair stick—long, tallic, and ant to be decorative, plunged with brutal precision beneath his ribs, just below his right side.
The breath left Eryx in a harsh, broken sound. His body doubled forward, catching himself on the edge of the doorfra, his hand instantly pressing to the wound as crimson spread across his palm and shirt.
Lunara’s voice cracked with panic. "No—no no no!"
His knees buckled, and she rushed to catch him, barely managing to guide him down to the marble floor without letting him hit it hard.
"You—!" She turned her gaze upward, fury and disbelief warring in her tear-streaked face.
Seraphine stood over them, chest rising and falling with wild energy, her fingers still twitching from the force of her attack. "He was mine," she whispered, more to herself than to them. "You were mine, Eryx. You chose first... you should’ve stuck with your first choice."
Lunara couldn’t hear anything anymore. The world felt muffled, as though it had been plunged underwater. She was shaking uncontrollably as she held Eryx tightly in her arms, his head resting against her shoulder. Her hands were now bloody red, slick with warmth that wasn’t hers.
"Don’t leave ," she murmured, her voice cracking. "Please... please stay with ."
Eryx’s breathing was shallow, uneven, his face pale and his eyes fluttering. He tried to speak, but it ca out as a faint breath.
Lunara leaned closer, pressing her forehead to his. "I’ve got you," she whispered. "You’re okay. Help is coming. Just stay with ."
But Seraphine was still there, still looming, as if she couldn’t believe what she’d done.
"You were supposed to co back to ," she said, her voice oddly calm now, dreamlike. "I waited. I watched you pretend with her. I gave you ti. But you never ca back."
Lunara didn’t look at her.
One of the guards finally burst into the hall from the elevator, followed by two more.
"Step back!" one barked. "Now!"
Seraphine looked over her shoulder, almost bored. "Too late," she whispered. "He’s already leaving."
"Hands where we can see them!" one of the guards snapped again, stepping closer.
This ti, Seraphine obeyed. She lifted her bloodstained hands slowly, expression unreadable. Her sharp hairpin clattered to the floor, forgotten. The guards moved in, securing her arms behind her back with practiced force.
But no one was watching her anymore.
Footsteps thundered through the hallway and then Lucas appeared.
He froze at the sight before him where Eryx slumped in Lunara’s arms, his shirt soaked in blood, his eyes flickering but unfocused.
"Eryx—" Lucas’s voice caught, thick with disbelief and sothing far worse, fear.
Lunara looked up, her lips trembling. "We can’t wait for the ambulance. He’s going to lose blood—"
Lucas was already moving.
"Move!" he barked at the guards. "Help get him to my car."
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