Alpha's Regret: The Seventh Time was Forever novel Chapter 187

Chapter 187: Chapter 187 – There is something you have to see

Leon’s brow pulled together as he looked at her with that familiar mix of curiosity and quiet irritation he always seemed to carry whenever Seraphine became too intense, and even though his voice stayed calm, there was something heavier in his voice when he asked, "And why exactly would I refuse you that?"

A tired smile pressed against Seraphine’s lips, faint and fragile, but there was still determination behind it as she took the folder from his hands and headed toward the small office she had claimed as her own inside the hospital.

It had become the only place where she could breathe for a second without feeling like the walls were closing in on her.

Corvine followed right behind her without saying a word.

He already knew what she was about to do before she even sat down.

The moment she lowered herself into the chair, she opened the file and began sorting through the reports, while Corvine sat beside her and quietly helped. Together, they separated the files by age, narrowing them down to children between six and seven years old.

At first, it seemed simple enough. There were only names, ages, blood types, records, samples, and tiny fragments of lives folded into paper.

But the longer Seraphine looked through them, the harder it became to breathe.

Every file felt like it could belong to her daughter, every little detail became something to cling to.

A birthday, a blood type, a strand of hair collected for testing, a note from a nurse. Every single thing had the power to fill her chest with hope for a few seconds before tearing it apart all over again.

She looked through one report after another, fingers trembling more with every page she turned, and every time she found a child whose age lined up, her pulse would spike so hard it hurt.

Then came the blood results, the DNA. None of them matched her, and none of them matched Ravyn either.

Every single time, that tiny spark inside her died all over again.

She had not realized hope could hurt this much. It came so fast, so bright, making her believe for one fragile second that maybe this would be the child, maybe this would finally be the answer she had been looking for all these years, only for reality to slam into her chest hard enough to leave her breathless.

One by one, the files were pushed aside, and one by one, every possibility disappeared.

The pile in front of her grew smaller and smaller until there was only one folder left sitting on the desk between her and Corvine.

Seraphine stared at it for a long moment before finally reaching for it. Her fingers felt numb, her chest felt hollow.

And when she opened it and found another child who was not hers, something inside her quietly cracked.

The last bit of hope she had been holding onto slipped right through her fingers.

The silence in the room became unbearable, the office suddenly felt too small, too quiet, too heavy.

A soft sound escaped her throat before she could stop it, barely more than a broken sniff, but Corvine heard it immediately.

Without hesitation, he reached for her and pulled her into his arms. Seraphine did not fight him.

The second his arms wrapped around her, she folded against him completely, burying her face in his chest as his warmth surrounded her.

For a while, neither of them spoke. She just stood there, holding onto him like he was the only thing keeping her from falling apart, listening to the steady beat of his heart beneath her ear.

She wanted so badly to stay strong, to keep pretending she could handle this.

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