Chapter 646 Meeting Seraphine
"We're here." Michael unbuckled his seatbelt, a smug smile spreading across his face. "Seraphine's been asking about you every day, always wanting to see her mom."
Emma tried to keep her anxiety and fear in check as she followed Michael through the layers of security.
The first checkpoint was a metal detector, which blared loudly as she passed through; the second was a fingerprint scanner, the cold machine demanding her palm to be perfectly aligned; the third was an iris scanner, its blinding blue light forcing her to squint.
Each checkpoint felt like a reminder to Emma: this place was a meticulously crafted cage, and she was the trapped canary.
Pushing open the final heavy wooden door, a pink blur shot towards her like a cannonball.
"Mommy!" Seraphine, as joyful as a little bird, threw herself into Emma's arms, her small hands clinging tightly around her neck. "I missed you so much! I dream about you every night!"
Emma's eyes instantly welled up. She knelt down, hugging Seraphine's small frame tightly, greedily soaking in the long-missed warmth.
Seraphine had grown taller, her cheeks rounder than the last time they met, and she was wearing her favorite pink princess dress, adorned with delicate lace trim. The familiar scent of milk on Seraphine almost brought Emma to tears.
"Sweetheart." Emma's voice choked up as she buried her face in Seraphine's soft hair, deeply inhaling the familiar scent. "Mommy missed you too, counting the days to see you again."
Michael walked over with an elegant stride, looking down at the embracing mother and daughter. He gently ruffled Seraphine's hair, a practiced motion as if he'd done it a thousand times. "See, Daddy didn't lie to you. I told you Mommy would come to see you, and here she is."
"Daddy's the best!" Seraphine let go of Emma, turning to hug Michael's leg, looking up with a playful smile and innocent eyes. "Can we go to the amusement park together? You promised to take me on the Ferris wheel!"
Emma's heart felt like it was being pierced by a needle.
Watching Seraphine's innocent smile, she felt both comforted and pained. Seraphine had completely accepted Michael as her father, clinging to his hand and frequently asking to be carried, her dependence on him twisting Emma's heart. She wished it was George, Seraphine's real father, standing there instead.
"Sure, today both Mommy and Daddy will go with you." Michael easily lifted Seraphine, his other hand naturally wrapping around Emma's waist, whispering in her ear, "Right, honey?"
The whole day, they appeared like the most ordinary family of three.
At the amusement park, Michael patiently rode the carousel with Seraphine eight times, adjusting the horse's height each time she excitedly shouted, "Higher!" At the upscale restaurant, he meticulously cut Seraphine's steak into bite-sized pieces and gently wiped the sauce from her mouth. On the way home, a tired Seraphine fell asleep in his arms, and he carefully adjusted his position to avoid waking the little princess.
Emma watched all this in silence, her emotions a tangled mess.
Michael's tenderness towards Seraphine didn't seem fake, but the more genuine it appeared, the more it unsettled Emma. Every time Seraphine happily called out "Daddy," Emma thought of George, the real father, who must be somewhere missing Seraphine terribly.
As night fell, they didn't return to Michael's villa but went to a secret base.
In bed, Seraphine clung to Emma, her small face nuzzling against her. "Mommy, can you sleep with me tonight? Tell me a story like you used to."
"Of course, sweetheart." Emma kissed Seraphine's forehead, then turned to Michael, her voice firm and unyielding. "I'm staying with Seraphine tonight."
Michael's smile faded slightly, his eyes turning dangerous. "We have an important meeting tomorrow. We need to go back."
"Then you go back." Emma held Seraphine tighter, locking eyes with Michael. "I want to spend more time with Seraphine. She needs me after so long apart."
Their gazes clashed intensely, but Michael eventually relented. He leaned close to Emma's ear, whispering a warning only she could hear. "Fine, I'll pick you up tomorrow. Remember, don't do anything foolish, or you know the consequences."
After Michael left, Emma sat by Seraphine's bed, gazing at her sleeping face in the dim light of the bedside lamp.
Seraphine's eyelashes cast delicate shadows under the light, her lips curled in a sweet smile, as if dreaming of something happy.
Emma longed to tell Seraphine the truth, to reveal that the "Daddy" who played with her every day was actually a monster, and that her real father was desperately searching for them. But looking at her child's peaceful face, she feared shattering this beautiful illusion, afraid the truth would bring unbearable pain to young Seraphine.
"I'm sorry," Emma whispered, tears silently falling and landing on Seraphine's rosy cheeks. She quickly wiped them away with her fingertips. "Mommy will take you home, back to your real daddy. Just wait a little longer."
Meanwhile, across the city in a dark alley, George was facing a meticulously planned assassination attempt.
Moonlight fragmented by towering buildings spilled onto the damp ground. He had just finished a meeting with the Sunterrathe Russell family and was walking back to his hotel, unaware of the impending danger.
"Mr. Russell, watch out!" His bodyguard, Ulysses, suddenly shouted, shoving him aside. Almost simultaneously, a bullet grazed George's shoulder, leaving a menacing hole in the wall.
The gunshot echoed sharply in the quiet night. George quickly took cover behind an abandoned van, spotting three armed men approaching in the faint moonlight, each wearing black masks that only revealed their cold eyes.
"Who sent you?" George demanded, his hand stealthily reaching for his gun. His voice echoed in the empty alley, met only by the assassins' cold laughter.
The lead assassin stopped, deliberately pulling down his mask to reveal part of his face. "You know who you crossed. Ms. Stuart paid a hefty price for your head, even tripling the deposit."
George felt as if he'd been struck by lightning, his heart gripped by an invisible hand. But he quickly realized it was a setup. Emma would never want him dead. However, in that moment of distraction, a bullet struck his left arm, blood immediately soaking through his expensive suit.
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