Chapter 8: Blood and Promises
996 Words
For a second, Seraphina didn’t understand what had happened.
The sound of the gunshot still rang in her ears, sharp and unreal.
Then Adrian’s hand slipped from hers.
He staggered.
“Adrian.”
His name left her lips as a breath, not a scream.
Time slowed. The armed men froze, just as startled as everyone else. One of them cursed. The shot hadn’t come from their direction.
Adrian dropped to one knee.
And that’s when she saw it.
Blood.
Dark against the white of his shirt.
Her heart stopped.
“No, no, no—” She caught him before he could fall completely, her hands pressing against his chest. Warmth soaked through her fingers.
“It’s not…” He sucked in a sharp breath. “Not fatal.”
“Don’t talk,” she said, her voice shaking.
Another set of headlights cut through the chaos. Sirens wailed in the distance now — real ones this time.
Police.
Someone had called them.
The armed men began retreating toward the SUVs, their confidence gone. This was no longer clean. No longer controlled.
Evelyn didn’t move.
She stood a few feet away, watching.
Watching as Seraphina knelt in Adrian’s blood.
“You always ruin everything,” Evelyn said softly.
Seraphina’s head snapped up. “You did this.”
Evelyn’s expression didn’t change. “You think I’d be foolish enough to pull a trigger at my own engagement party?”
Adrian tried to stand but winced, collapsing slightly against Seraphina. The bullet had grazed him — shoulder, not chest. It could have been worse.
It should have been worse.
Which meant something.
The shot wasn’t meant to kill him.
It was meant to warn him.
Police officers flooded the entrance. Questions were shouted. Weapons were lowered. Cameras from inside the gala began flashing again as guests spilled out.
Chaos.
But Seraphina heard only one thing — Adrian’s breathing, uneven against her shoulder.
The Ambulance
The flashing red and blue lights painted everything in harsh color.
Paramedics worked quickly, cutting away fabric, wrapping his shoulder. He refused a stretcher at first.
“I can walk,” he insisted.
“You’re losing blood,” the medic snapped.
Seraphina stayed beside him the entire time, her dress stained, her hands trembling.
“Why did you do that?” she asked quietly when the noise around them faded into background blur.
“Because they weren’t aiming at you,” he said.
Her stomach tightened. “They were sending a message.”
“Yes.”
“To you.”
“No.” His gaze found hers, intense even through the pain. “To us.”
That word settled heavily between them.
Us.
From across the scene, Mr. Vale was speaking urgently to the police. His face was pale, furious. Investors were being escorted back inside. The press had already started gathering at the gates.
This wasn’t just a family scandal anymore.
It was public.
And that made it dangerous.
The Real Threat
Adrian was placed in the ambulance despite his protests. Seraphina climbed in before anyone could stop her.
Inside, with the doors closed, the world shrank to the space between them.
“You shouldn’t have come tonight,” he said weakly.
“If I hadn’t, they would have arrested me.”
“Yes.”
She stared at him. “You knew.”
“I suspected.”
“And you didn’t warn me?”
His jaw tightened. “I was trying to end it before it reached you.”
“By marrying her?”
Silence.
The ambulance jolted forward.
“You don’t understand how far the Holloways are willing to go,” he said. “This isn’t about a merger. It’s about control.”
“Control of what?”
He hesitated.
And that hesitation terrified her.
“Adrian.”
He exhaled slowly. “Your father didn’t just work for Vale Industries. He uncovered something.”
Her pulse pounded. “What?”
“Illegal overseas accounts. Shell companies. Money laundering.”
The words felt impossible.
“My father wouldn’t—”
“Not him,” Adrian interrupted. “The Holloways.”
Her breath caught.
“He found proof,” Adrian continued. “And before he could go public, the evidence disappeared. Then the accusations started. Suddenly, he was the one under investigation.”
Seraphina’s world tilted.
“That’s why they need this marriage,” she whispered. “To keep you silent.”
“Yes.”
“And to keep me close.”
Adrian’s eyes darkened. “Exactly.”
The Twist
The ambulance doors opened at the hospital entrance.
As paramedics wheeled him out, Seraphina’s phone buzzed again.
Same unknown number.
Her hand trembled as she answered.
“You’re running out of time,” the voice said.
“Who is this?”
“You think Evelyn is the mastermind?” The man gave a quiet, almost pitying laugh. “She’s just the face.”
Seraphina’s blood ran cold.
“What do you mean?”
“If Adrian finds the original files, everything collapses. Including people far more powerful than the Holloways.”
A pause.
“Ask him about his uncle.”
The line went dead.
She stood frozen for a second before rushing after the stretcher.
Inside the emergency ward, doctors took Adrian through double doors. She wasn’t allowed past.
So she waited.
And thought.
His uncle.
Adrian’s uncle had died years ago in what the papers called a “private aviation accident.”
But she remembered the rumors.
Financial disputes.
Board disagreements.
Power struggles inside Vale Industries.
The Holloways weren’t the only ones who benefited from silence.
What if the real enemy wasn’t outside the Vale family—
But inside it?
Cliffhanger
The hospital doors swung open.
A nurse stepped out.
“He’s asking for you,” she said.
Seraphina walked in, heart pounding.
Adrian was pale but conscious, his shoulder bandaged.
Before she could speak, he said quietly:
“I know who pulled the trigger.”
Her stomach dropped.
“And it wasn’t Evelyn.”
- Writer
