The boardroom was full of men who thought they were important.
Roman Ashborne sat at the head of the long glass table, pretending to listen while numbers and projections floated across a screen. His fingers tapped rhythmically against the polished surface. Tick. Tick. Tick. Like a countdown.
He wasn't thinking about stocks. Or mergers. Or any of the half-bald fools stammering over quarterly reports.
He was thinking about her.
Serene.
His Serene.
The way her lashes fluttered when she lied.
The way her lips trembled when he touched her.
The way her body never bloomed.
His angel wasn't blooming.
Not after all the seed he'd planted in her.
Not after all the care, the patience, the nights he curled her into him and whispered that everything would be okay… one day. When she finally accepted it. Accepted him. Them. This life.
So why hadn't she grown?
A vibration tickled his wrist.
Lelo.
Three images.
One message.
> "Papa. I think Mama's sick. I found this under her bed. I did a search. It's for stopping babies. She's been killing my siblings. Please don't be mad."
He stopped breathing.
The room kept buzzing, but inside him, everything shattered into ice.
He opened the photos. Slowly. As if doing it fast might destroy him.
The pill.
The box.
The website.
The truth.
Birth control.
Roman's hand clenched the phone until the glass cracked beneath his fingers.
He stood. No explanation. No goodbye. The boardroom went silent. Someone called his name, but he didn't hear it over the roar rising in his chest.
Serene.
That lying little dove.
That trembling virgin in his bed, pretending to flinch. Pretending to submit.
All this time—poisoning herself. Poisoning him. Killing the future he was trying to build.
Their children.
His legacy.
Dead.
By her hand.
He dialed Lelo.
"Where exactly did you find it?" he asked, voice dangerously calm.
"In her room. Under the mirror. She always says it's hers alone and no one's allowed to touch it. But I wanted to surprise her and clean it for her. I thought she was sick at first, Papa. But the internet says she's not."
Roman closed his eyes.
Lelo. Sweet, possessive little Lelo — always watching. Always loving. Always more loyal than the woman he'd crowned as her mother.
His breathing slowed.
Then sharpened.
Then broke entirely.
"Get the helicopter," he told his assistant, walking toward the exit like a man on fire. "Ten minutes."
"Sir—"
"I said NOW."
---
The sky over the university was too blue. Too calm. Too serene.
Roman landed like a war.
The helicopter blades tore through the silence, scattering papers and birds and heads turning skyward. Security tried to stop him — he didn't even blink at them.
He moved through the corridors like death with a human face.
Classrooms. Glass doors. Whispers. Stares.
And then—
Her.
There she was. Sitting upright. Neatly dressed. Taking notes like a good little student. Like she wasn't a murderer.
His murderer.
Serene turned. She froze. Her mouth opened, but no words came.
Roman walked in, slowly. Purposefully. The professor stuttered. The students gasped.
Serene stood. "Roman, what—"
He reached her. Grabbed her wrist. Her notebook fell to the floor.
"Let go of me—"
"No," he whispered. "Not anymore."
Her classmates began to rise.
Roman turned his head—just once—and they all sat back down. The professor tried again to speak, but choked on his own throat.
And then he dragged her away.
Just like that.
Out of the classroom.
Out of her normal.
Out of the illusion of safety.
---
She screamed when they reached the helicopter.
"YOU CAN'T DO THIS! LET ME GO! SOMEBODY—HELP ME!"
But nobody helped.
They only watched. Filming with trembling hands.
Roman didn't care.
She fought him. Kicked. Cried.
Still, he held her.
"You lied to me," he hissed into her ear, gripping her tighter as the helicopter took off. "All this time. You were smiling, flinching, pretending—while you killed my children every single morning."
"Wh-what are you talking about—"
"The pills, Serene."
She froze.
He grinned, something wild flashing in his eyes.
"I told you this cage would bloom flowers. And you — you've been pouring poison into the soil."
She tried to speak. He silenced her with a hand to her mouth, then pressed her trembling body against him.
"No more lies. No more mercy."
---