The sound of Julian’s leather shoes clicking against the floor approached from behind. “Serafina, I’ll have a car take you back to the estate.” 

I didn’t look back, instead, I quickened my pace. 

I stumbled over something on the floor and fell hard. My freshly bandaged burn wound instantly tore open, staining the bandage red. 

The fall was brutal. Deep inside my chest, something shattered, taking with it the last, laughable shred of hope I had left. 

I clenched my jaw tight, but no matter how hard I tried to stop them, unwanted tears rolled down my face. 

Growing up in a convent orphanage, my greatest fear was seeing holidays where families reunited. 

Seeing the warm glow in streetlamp windows and hearing the laughter drifting out of other people’s homes, the envy felt like a dull knife, hacking away at my flesh piece by piece. 

Julian knew this better than anyone. 

Yet now, just to coddle the woman who cried behind his back, he was repeatedly tearing that old scar wide open with his own hands. 

He rushed forward and tried to pull me up from the floor, suppressing anger in his voice. “Serafina! Do you really have to act tough right now?!” 

Before he could finish, a scalding cup of black coffee was hurled at my face. 

The dark liquid splashed all over me, and a battered leather purse smashed against my temple, causing it to swell instantly. 

Mia’s mother stood a few steps away, trembling all over like a madwoman. “You bitch! How dare you throw yourself at my son-in-law? I’ll teach you not to be some home-wrecking slut!” 

She lunged forward and slapped me hard across the face. 

The impact knocked my head aside, and I slumped onto the floor. 

Immediately after, that stiff, old leather purse swung down hard on my shoulder. 

I heard the sickening thud and felt it in my bone as my vision went black for a moment. 

Julian caught her arm as she swung for the third time. “Enough! Calm down! It’s not what you think!” 

“What else could it be?!” the old woman shrieked. “This homewrecker was throwing herself at you. Do you think I’m blind?!” 

I pushed against the coffee-stained tiles and staggered to my feet. “Keep your daughter in check. She knows perfectly well who the real mistress is, whoring her way into his life!” 

Julian whipped his head around, issuing a low growl that only the two of us could hear. 

“She has a severe heart condition and can’t take any stress! Serafina, I’m begging you, don’t make a scene!” 

With that, he immediately turned back to support the old woman. His tone shifted instantly, becoming so gentle he was a different person. 

“You misunderstood. This woman is just… an acquaintance. She lost a child recently and isn’t well…” 

He even pointed at the prescription for the heavy-duty painkillers I had just received. 

The old woman glanced at it, scoffed coldly, and spat on the ground. “No wonder! No wonder she’s so creepy. Forget it, I’ll just take pity on her! I’ll let it slide!” 

Julian half-carried, half-supported the mother and daughter out of the corridor, escorting them away. From start to finish, he never looked back at me once. 

I slumped onto the coffee-drenched floor tiles, staring at his retreating back, no longer even capable of shedding tears.