The look in his eyes softened.
“You could never let me down, Lucian.”
The tension left his shoulders, and for a fleeting second, he seemed almost…human, not the inscrutable, confident Alpha I’d grown used to seeing.
Then he leaned in, closing the small space between us. Before I could process, his lips brushed mine in a gentle kiss.
My heart skipped a beat, my surprise fading as I tilted my chin up to kiss him back. His hand lingered on my cheek, just enough to feel the warmth of his skin when he pulled back.
“We’ve only been on one date, and now you’re leaving. I hope this brief separation doesn’t affect us,” he whispered, voice low and earnest.
I blinked, surprised by the openness in his words. Lucian rarely-if ever-expressed himself like this. Sure, he was free with his compliments and words of comfort, but I’d never seen him express vulnerability or uncertainty.
And yet, standing there in the soft morning light, I couldn’t help but feel the sweetness of it all, the quiet reassurance that even if his life was a mountain of responsibilities and obligations, I mattered in it.
“I don’t think it will,” I said softly, leaning into him just a fraction, savoring the moment while I could. “I’ll be back before you know it. And we’ll pick up right where we left off.”
Lucian smiled faintly, his lips brushing mine as he leaned in again. “I’ll hold you to that,” he murmured..
I nodded, holding his gaze a beat longer. There was just something so…grounding about him, a calm certainty that always made me feel safe.
The moment was shattered when Kieran’s impatient voice cut through again, sharp and mocking. “Here I was thinking you were in a hurry to see your son, Sera. But please, by all means, waste the whole day making googly eyes.”
I closed my eyes, sighing softly.
I’d seen many versions of Kieran-cold, distant, dominant, enraged, possessive, indomitable…I could go on and on-but this utter childish petulance was new and already aggravating.
I took a breath, lingering a heartbeat longer with Lucian before finally retreating.
“We can’t communicate due to security reasons, but I’ll see you when I’m back.”
He gave me a soft smile that didn’t quite assuage the sudden hardness in his eyes. “Have a safe trip, Sera. I’ll be thinking of you?”
I gave him one last smile before I turned away, heading towards Kieran’s car.
Kieran straightened as I slid into the passenger seat, lips curved in an infuriatingly smug way. “Don’t tell me you’re going to waste your whole vacation with Lucian Reed stuck in your head,” he said, voice low but carrying the usual bite.
I rolled my eyes and said nothing.
“The silent treatment, really, Sera?” The smugness was gone from his voice, replaced with an edge that almost made me smile.
I closed my eyes and settled into the seat. “Wake me up when we get to the airport.”
There was a beat of heavy silence where I fought with myself to keep my eyes closed and not give him the satisfaction of a reaction.
Finally, he snorted and started the engine, the low rumble of the SUV vibrating through the seats.
I let out a breath, keeping my eyes closed.
The drive to the airport was tense but quiet. I focused on my breathing, letting the hum of the tires and the occasional turn of the wheel ground me.
Periodically, I felt the weight of Kieran’s gaze, but I stubbornly kept my eyes closed.
This trip wasn’t about him-it was about Daniel. And if he wanted to act petty, he’d have to do it silently.
At that point, I made a promise to myself: I wouldn’t engage with Kiernan on this trip-not unless it involved Daniel.
Other than that, I would stay as far away from him as I could.
That was the only way I could survive this trip with my sanity intact.
SERAPHINA’S POV
I should have known my plan wouldn’t survive first contact with reality.
It lasted through the six-hour flight to Nassau, which I spent on the opposite side of
Kieran’s private jet, as far away from my ex-husband as I could get.
Even with the distance, Kieran’s presence was heavy but contained-controlled, like a predator sizing up its prey, except I wasn’t prey.
I had Daniel on my mind, the island ahead, and the tiny spark of warmth from Lucian’s kiss still lingering in my chest.
But everything went to shit after we touched down in Nassau and transitioned onto
Kieran’s yacht, Ashar’s pride, and I realized something new about myself: I get seasick.
The yacht looked like something out of a glossy magazine spread-sleek, ivory-white hull gleaming beneath the noon sun, its polished chrome railings winking like jewelry against the endless sweep of ocean.
Even from the dock, it was impossible not to be impressed. The vessel stretched long and graceful, like a predator of the sea, and once inside, I’d glimpsed plush interiors: wide sofas’ upholstered in cream leather, thick carpeting underfoot, and dining tables that looked more suited for banquets than travel.
Kieran might not have been one for lavish or opulent parties, but there were definitely some luxuries he indulged in.
But no amount of luxurious comfort could save me.
Not an hour after boarding, the sea turned against me. The gentle rocking that had seemed pleasant on shore morphed into a nauseating rhythm that churned my stomach with every rise and fall.
My head spun, my skin went clammy, and all the grandeur of polished wood, glittering chandeliers, and panoramic windows blurred into a haze of misery.
I had never been on a ship before. If I had known seasickness was this vicious, I would have begged to travel another way-by air, by land, fuck, I would have walked if I had to.
Anything but this endless, nauseating bobbing.
What unsettled me most, though, wasn’t the sickness. It was Kieran.
Because he didn’t leave me to suffer. He didn’t sneer, didn’t mock, didn’t ignore me the way the Kieran I remembered from our marriage surely would have.
Instead, he…took care of me.
He held back my hair when I doubled over the basin and attempted to vomit all my internal organs. He steadied me when I stumbled, his arms like iron bars of strength I hadn’t asked for but clung to anyway.
He pressed a cool cloth to my forehead, brushed strands of sweat-damp hair away from my face, and murmured low words of comfort I couldn’t quite catch over the roaring in my head.
And when the ship’s doctor brought medicine-bitter chalky tablets that turned to paste on my tongue-Kieran was the one who insisted I swallow them.
“Take it, Sera,” he said, voice brooking no argument, though his hand on mine was steady, not harsh.
I tried to protest, some small, stubborn flicker inside me refusing to surrender to his authority, but my body betrayed me. Weakness made me pliant.
When he pressed the cup of water to my lips, I drank. When he guided me back toward the bed in the private cabin, I let him.
My cabin was decadent. Wide enough to shame most hotel suites, its walls paneled in rich walnut, its king-size bed layered with silk sheets in a muted cream.
The windows stretched floor to ceiling, offering a view of the ocean rolling endlessly into the horizon. It should have felt like luxury. Instead, it felt like a trap-soft, but suffocating.
Kieran lowered me carefully onto the bed, his hand still cradling my arm as though afraid
I’d collapse again.
“You need rest,” he said. His voice was quiet, but there was something in it I couldn’t name.
Not command, not irritation.
Concern.
I stared at him, hazy from nausea and medication, wondering if I was hallucinating.
In ten years of marriage, I had never received such a thing as concern from him.
Not when I burned with fever. Not when I wept alone in our cavernous house. Not when loneliness and despair had threatened to eat me alive.
And yet, here he was-our divorce finalized, our lives unstitched-sitting by my side as if I were the most precious thing in the world to him.
It was almost laughable. Overwhelmingly cruel.
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