Too late to want me back

The Message Her Mother Was Never Meant to See

Seraphina got back to the Ashford estate a little after one in the morning.

The mansion had finally quieted down.

The music was gone. Champagne glasses had been cleaned away. Only the soft chandelier lights remained, reflecting gold against the marble floors.

She slipped off her heels near the entrance, wincing when pain shot through her ankles.

She quietly climbed the back staircase toward the servant wing, but the kitchen light was still on.

Her mother sat at the table folding freshly washed dish towels.

“Mom?” Seraphina blinked. “Why are you still awake?”

Lin Evermore immediately looked up the moment Seraphina walked in.

Then her expression changed.

“Why are you coming home in heels at one in the morning?”

Seraphina froze slightly.

Lin stood up slowly, eyes moving across her daughter’s face, the smeared makeup near her lashes, the exhaustion in her posture.

“And why do you look like you’ve been crying?”

“It was just a party,” Seraphina said quietly.

“A party?” Lin frowned. “Sweetheart, girls don’t come home looking this miserable after a good night.”

Seraphina forced out a small smile.

“I’m okay.”

Lin sighed softly, already unconvinced.

“You always say that when you’re okay.”

The correction was gentle.

But it still hurt.

Lin stood and walked over slowly. Years of labor had left faint cracks across her hands, but her eyes were still warm. Still painfully observant.

She touched Seraphina’s cheek softly.

“You’re freezing.”

“I’m okay.”

“Don’t say okay too much too.”

Seraphina looked away instantly.

That sounded way too similar to what Cassian had said earlier.

Her mother noticed immediately.

“What happened tonight?”

“Nothing.”

“Seraphina.”

That tone.

Soft. Patient. Impossible to fight.

For one reckless second, Seraphina almost told her everything.

How Isolde humiliated her.

How Lucien ignored her.

How she stood in pharmacies at midnight buying condoms for the boy she loved and his girlfriend.

But the words stayed trapped inside her chest.

Because her mother had already sacrificed enough.

So instead, she smiled weakly.

“I’m just tired.”

Lin studied her quietly for a moment before sighing.

“Go shower. I made soup.”

Seraphina nodded and headed upstairs.

Halfway up the staircase, Seraphina’s phone vibrated violently in her hand.

Lucien: Come to my room. NOW.

Her heartbeat stumbled instantly.

Another message appeared.

Now.

Then another.

Bring your phone.

Seraphina stared at the screen for several long seconds.

Even exhausted, even humiliated, some pathetic part of her still reacted every single time Lucien called for her.

Maybe he wanted to talk.

Maybe he noticed she’d been crying earlier.

Maybe—

No.

Deep down, she already knew better.

Still, her feet carried her toward the main wing anyway.

Lucien’s bedroom door was slightly open.

Laughter drifted out.

Female laughter.

Her stomach tightened immediately.

“Lucien,” Isolde giggled breathlessly, “your little puppy actually came.”

Another girl laughed.

“That’s honestly insane.”

Lucien sounded amused.

“She always comes when I call.”

Like it was obvious.

Like there had never been another possibility.

Seraphina stopped outside the doorway.

Then Lucien noticed her.

“There you are.”

He lounged carelessly against the headboard, shirt half-open, while Isolde sat on his lap in one of his oversized black shirts.

Lipstick stained his neck.

Seraphina’s chest tightened painfully.

Lucien didn’t look guilty at all.

Not even slightly.

Instead, he reached for the nightstand and casually tossed his phone toward her.

“Record for us.”

The world went silent.

Seraphina stared at him blankly.

“I—what?”

Isolde burst into laughter.

“Oh my God, look at her face.”

One of the girls sitting nearby smirked openly.

“Lucien, that’s cruel.”

But nobody sounded shocked.

Not really.

Because apparently this was normal to them.

Lucien leaned back lazily against the pillows.

“She’ll do it.”

That hurt the most.

The confidence in his voice.

Like she had no dignity left to refuse him with.

Seraphina’s fingers trembled around the phone.

“I don’t want to.”

Lucien raised an eyebrow slowly.

“What?”

Her throat tightened.

“I said… I don’t want to.”

For a moment, the room went quieter.

Then Isolde wrapped her arms around Lucien’s neck dramatically.

“Aww. Is she jealous?”

The girls laughed again.

Lucien’s expression darkened slightly now.

“Seraphina.”

That tone.

Warning.

Her body reacted automatically.

Fear curled instantly in her stomach.

Because Lucien Ashford had never needed to raise his voice to control her.

He only needed disappointment.

Coldness.

That was enough.

He held out his hand impatiently.

“The phone.”

Seraphina stood frozen near the door.

Every instinct screamed at her to leave.

But another part of her—

The broken part that had spent years loving him—

Was terrified to make him angry.

Lucien noticed her hesitation immediately.

His eyes turned colder.

“Don’t make this difficult.”

Isolde smirked against his shoulder.

“She’s seriously pathetic.”

Seraphina felt humiliation burn through her entire body.

Lucien looked at her like she wasn’t even human anymore.

Just useful.

Someone convenient.

Slowly, mechanically, Seraphina stepped forward.

Her hands shook so badly she almost dropped the phone.

One of the girls laughed under her breath.

“She looks like she’s about to cry.”

Lucien barely glanced at Seraphina.

Instead, he tilted Isolde’s chin up casually.

“Ready?”

Seraphina’s stomach twisted violently.

This felt wrong.

So wrong.

Humiliating.

Disgusting.

And somehow worse because Lucien genuinely didn’t care how badly it hurt her.

He expected obedience.

Nothing else.

Seraphina lifted the phone weakly.

But her vision had already blurred.

She couldn’t do this.

She couldn’t—

“Lucien.”

A woman’s voice suddenly cut through the room.

Everything froze.

Seraphina’s blood ran cold instantly.

Her mother stood in the doorway.

Lin’s eyes landed first on Seraphina.

Then the phone shaking in her daughter’s hands.

Then Lucien and Isolde tangled together on the bed.

Silence crashed across the room.

Nobody moved.

Nobody spoke.

For the first time all night—

Lucien actually looked caught off guard.

“Auntie Lin—”

“What is this?”

Her mother’s voice was terrifyingly calm.

Seraphina had never heard that tone before.

Not anger.

Not yelling.

Something worse.

Lucien sat up slightly.

“It’s not what—”

“Then explain it.”

The room fell dead silent again.

Lin walked slowly toward Seraphina.

Her eyes dropped to the phone screen still open in her daughter’s hand.

And then she saw everything.

Message after message after message.

Come here now.

Wait outside.

Bring condoms.

Wrong brand. Buy another one.

Record for us.

Why did you leave early?

Her mother’s face went completely white.

Seraphina panicked instantly and tried to lower the phone.

“Mom—”

“How long?”

Her voice cracked this time.

That hurt more than screaming ever could.

Seraphina’s throat closed painfully.

“I can explain…”

“You buy condoms for him?”

Silence.

Because there was no explanation that sounded less humiliating than the truth.

Lin looked like she couldn’t breathe.

Her eyes slowly lifted toward Lucien.

And whatever she saw there completely shattered her.

Because he didn’t look sorry.

He looked annoyed.

Like this interruption inconvenienced him.

Her mother whispered softly:

“I sent my daughter here to study.”

Not this.

Not humiliation.

Not servitude.

Not emotional destruction disguised as love.

Tears burned instantly behind Seraphina’s eyes.

Lin grabbed her daughter’s wrist tightly.

“We’re leaving.”

Lucien finally stood up.

“Auntie Lin, you’re misunderstanding—”

“Don’t.”

The single word sliced through the room.

Everyone went silent.

Even Isolde looked uncomfortable now.

Lin pulled Seraphina behind her protectively.

For the first time in years—

Someone was protecting her.

Lucien frowned slightly.

“Seraphina.”

Her body instinctively reacted to his voice again.

But this time, her mother’s grip tightened immediately.

And Lin looked directly at Lucien Ashford with quiet devastation in her eyes.

“She loved you,” she said softly.

Lucien went still.

“She loved you so much she destroyed herself trying to stay beside you.”

The room became unbearably silent.

Lin’s eyes reddened slightly.

“But you treated her like she was nothing.”

For the first time that night—

Lucien’s expression finally changed.

Only slightly.

But enough.

Seraphina saw it.

And somehow that hurt even more.

Because after everything—

Some stupid part of her still wanted him to care.

Lin pulled her daughter toward the door.

“Come home.”

Seraphina looked down at the floor silently.

Then finally—

For the first time—

She walked away from Lucien without looking back.