CHAPTER 49: THE DRAMA IS ABOUT TO START!

Asher’s POV

The whole night, Seraphina kept trembling in my arms. I didn’t dare to leave her alone after what she had gone through. She looked like even her soul was shivering inside that fragile body.

I let her sleep in my embrace, trying to calm her every time she stirred or cried out in her sleep. She kept muttering things, some were clear and some I couldn’t understand, but all of it sounded like she had been through not a normal nightmare out of fear and panic.

She talked about the things I didn’t even want to believe, but I had no right to doubt her anymore.

The way she cried and shivered while talking about the dark rooms and everything she had been through, there was no way those were lies.

I had failed her once, and I wouldn’t do that again.

Still, my mind was restless. Everything she said, some of it made sense, but some of it... didn’t feel real.

Like the part where she said Second Brother came to rescue her. That couldn’t be right. She had never even met him. He’d only sent her gifts now and then, trying to play the good brother from afar. He had never stepped into the country for the past three or four years.

And it’s been only two years since Seraphina’s true identity was revealed. There’s no way she had met him.

And even if she had seen him on screen, it was hardly that she would recongnize him.

Or did she?

But what if she wasn’t lying? What if something did happen that none of us knew had happened?

All these thoughts messed with my head pretty badly.

So, I chose not to question her right now, when she was this scared. I just held her tighter and focused on the one thing I could do... protect her.

I had already given clear orders to my unit and told my comrades to shift all focus on what she had told me. I didn’t care if they had to tear the whole city apart, but they had to dig into everything she had said during her panic.

The names she mumbled or the places she mentioned, I took her every single word seriously and was planning to look into it till I reached the bottom of it.

Even if they were just empty words, I didn’t care.

Because something inside me told me those words weren’t just trauma, they were based on true events. And if even half of what she said was true... then we had failed her in the worst way possible.

And I... Asher Lancaster... would not rest until every person who touched her, who scarred her, who hurt her even once... paid for it in blood.

All I was waiting for was the daybreak. That damn morning light that couldn’t come soon enough since I had been this restless.

Because I already knew what I had to do, my mind had been made up the moment she fell asleep, trembling in my arms.

Even though I sat beside her the whole night, I didn’t rest for a second. I just sat there, watching her breathe like she could slip away into the world of nightmares once again if I let go. I watched the rise and fall of her chest and promised myself that I’d never let her feel unsafe again as long as I was alive.

While I was here, my team was working. I had already ordered them to retrieve every single piece of security footage from the house.

And by now, they must have scanned it all, watched every second, and jotted down every single name of those who ever stepped foot in her room.

I didn’t care what their intentions were. Whether they walked in for cleaning or just to peek out of curiosity, none of that mattered anymore.

They had no right. And now, none of them shall be spared.

Seraphina’s POV

My head throbbed the moment I opened my eyes. It was like someone had been hammering inside my skull all night.

I looked around in confusion for a second, and then I realised... I was still in that same room. The same one I had seen before I lost consciousness last night.

"Wait..." I whispered. "So, it wasn’t a dream?"

I was really here, in Brother Asher’s room?

My heart skipped a beat. What did I even say to him?

Did I cry in front of him? Did I babble my mouth about how I was being bullied or something else?

I couldn’t remember.

"Ugh!" I groaned and clutched my head again. Everything was blurry.

As if my memories were shattered and were scattered all over the place. Only bits and pieces were flashing before my eyes after I met that mysterious man, the janitor who wasn’t a janitor.

Just what the hell had that man done to me?

My mind was messed up. I couldn’t even tell what was real and what was a part of my nightmares anymore.

I was still trying to pull myself together when a loud noise broke through the silence.

I could hear someone slamming the doors and loud noises of pleas.

"What the hell is going on?" I muttered and sat up slowly, my head still heavy.

If I was right, this was the third floor... Brother Asher’s floor. So, what was that noise coming from the lower levels?

My stomach churned as a thought hit my mind.

Don’t tell me... Melissa’s back?

Was she throwing one of her tantrums again? Was she screaming her lungs out and telling Asher about how I had slapped her friend at the mall?

That witch wouldn’t sit still after losing face in public, and I just knew it. And now, she must be crying her crocodile tears, telling Asher how I’m the villain who bullied her poor friend.

Of course. That’s just what she would do.

The drama is about to start. I thought. Let’s slip away.