CHAPTER 41: THE MYTERIOUS GUARD

Author’s POV

Now, it was Joseph’s turn to be stunned.

He hadn’t expected this woman to be so sharp. It felt like she had reached into his mind and pulled his thoughts out in the open.

He was still trying to piece together what the hell was going on and how things had turned so messy, but before he could defend himself, the atmosphere shifted again.

It was his turn to be humbled.

"Miss, you’ve certainly mistaken—" Joseph tried to speak, his voice was polite, but Sera didn’t let him finish.

"There’s no way I mistook you," she cut him off sharply, her lips curling into a smirk.

"I’ve seen those looks since the day I stepped into the Lancaster family. That same judgment in your eyes, my dear brother, here had it too. And so did your friend."

Her words felt like daggers, not only to Asher but to Lucien, who had never cared about anyone in his life and had been blunt with his judgments.

"Sera... I..." Asher’s voice cracked a little. "I know I was wrong."

He wanted to explain himself, to plead for some kind of understanding. But after hearing the bitterness in her voice, the flicker of hope he had carried that maybe, just maybe, she would accept him again... was gone.

Just like that, she’d snuffed it out.

"Mr. De Rossi," she spoke again, her voice was steady but distant. "I called you here because I know no one strong enough who could’ve helped me in this situation. So don’t assume I’ll lean on you just because you whisper a few sweet nothings."

Her words cut clean through the air.

It wasn’t easy for Sera to break the fragile hope in Lucien’s eyes, but trust wasn’t something she could offer so easily.

Not after everything.

As far back as she could remember, her life had been a long string of betrayals. Smiles that meant nothing to her and promises that fell apart. No one had ever reached out to her out of kindness.

And Lucien... this man had never once appeared in her past life. How could she possibly let someone in who was still a stranger to her heart?

Yes, he had saved her from a dark place, and for that, she would always be thankful. But to entirely put her faith in him would only lead her to a new heartbreak.

To do that would be to gamble with her fragile heart. And she wasn’t ready for that.

It was already hard enough to carry the weights of betrayals from her past life; a new one would take her second chance away, too.

And she wasn’t going to let that happen.

"If you both are done, then please let me leave," she said coldly and stepped out of the room.

Sera didn’t wait for a reply. She turned swiftly and ran... her steps echoing down the hallway until she reached the nearest lavatory. She pushed the door open and locked herself inside.

Her breaths were fast, ragged, and almost shaky. Her chest heaved as if her lungs had forgotten how to function.

"How could I do this?" she muttered to herself, staring blankly at her reflection in the mirror. "My brother came for me... and yet I was so harsh to him? And Lucien... he gave me hope, so why did I shut him out too?"

She clenched her fists as tears pricked the corners of her eyes. The questions kept haunting her, tearing her apart from the inside. But in the midst of it all, there was only one answer.

She hadn’t forgiven this world.

Yes... she was on the path of revenge, and there was no room for softness... not even for her brothers who came too late, or a man who stirred something fragile in her heart.

I can’t afford that, Sera thought, trying to calm her storming chest.

"Yes... I must not let anyone near my heart," she whispered with resolve. "Even if they’re my brothers. They deserve to know what it feels like to be left behind harshly."

Her voice hardened.

"They abandoned me once... and now, they’ll know what it means to be abandoned too."

With that, she washed her face and exited the lavatory. A cool wave of water on her skin had helped. Her chest didn’t feel as tight now, maybe because she’d finally allowed herself to let a little of it out.

But now what?

Sera paused in the quiet hallway, her steps faltering. She hadn’t been here before. This was clearly a private area. There were no signs where to go.

"Damn it," she muttered under her breath and looked around helplessly, trying to locate any sign of an exit.

"Excuse me," she called out instinctively when she spotted a janitor nearby, cleaning the already shining floor.

What the hell is he cleaning? The place looks like it was polished by angels, she thought and walked toward him.

"Can you please lead me out of this mall?" she asked in a low tone.

"Okay," the man turned to her with a polite smile.

But Sera froze.

"Wait..." she squinted. "Aren’t you the guard uncle?"

She couldn’t be mistaken. It was him... the one whom she met just then. That man’s face had been itched into her memory.

The man chuckled softly, shaking his head. "Miss, you’ve got the wrong person," he replied smoothly, though something about the way he avoided her eyes made her uneasy.

Still, he began guiding her toward the elevator.

"There are so many useless floors," she murmured to herself with a sigh, following behind him. "I don’t even know how to exit from here..."

The truth was, she had never been to a place like this before. This was too grand for her.

She clenched her fists slightly.

Even if I had... it was only once or twice, and that too when Grandma was alive.

She was never good with direction, and now... this maze of a mall... Just why did I even bother coming here?