Unloved Unwanted Unstoppable (Seraphina and Dominic) novel Chapter 48

She masked the crushing disappointment in her eyes, flashing a polite, practiced smile to the audience. Taking a deep breath, she walked up to the podium one step at a time.

Looking up, her eyes locked perfectly with Cynthia's.

There wasn't a trace of surprise on the other woman's face. With her red lips curled into a smirk, Cynthia looked completely serene and confident, as if she had known the outcome all along.

Seraphina's pupils contracted, a sharp, physical ache violently gripping her chest.

Suddenly, she remembered him casually texting on his phone earlier, and the reassuring words he whispered to Cynthia when she was stressed.

The answer was glaringly obvious.

Seraphina suddenly smiled, the corners of her mouth slowly ticking upward.

So, the finish line she had bled to reach was nothing more than a casual favor to someone else.

How incredibly ironic.

Six years ago, she had drained her entire life savings to bail Dominic out of his darkest hour.

When his startup crashed and burned, and his partners fled with all the capital, she was the one who handed him every dime she had scraped together over the years.

Back then, she had been naive enough to believe that true devotion would eventually be rewarded.

But six years later, he sat high above her in the VIP section, using the very power and wealth she had helped him build to hand-deliver her rightful glory to another woman.

It was laughably pathetic.

Staring at Cynthia basking in the glory of the first-place spotlight, Seraphina suddenly realized that her years of loyalty had been nothing but an utter delusion.

She used to believe that as long as she worked hard enough, her talent would speak for itself.

But now she understood—in the face of absolute favoritism, hard work was utterly worthless.

She stood on the stage, clutching the crystal trophy, her face a mask of total indifference.

Down in the audience, Chelsea Sterling sat in the corner, her face red with fury, her lips moving rapidly as if she were cursing someone out.

Seraphina gave her a faint, reassuring shake of the head.

"Back then, to marry Dominic, you schemed your way into his bed and forced yourself into the position of Mrs. Lockwood. And now, just for a little trophy, you somehow manipulated another man into stepping up to play your white knight. Honestly, I'm a little jealous of your skillset."

At this, Cynthia looked Seraphina up and down, her smile deepening into a cruel sneer.

"Too bad. Even with all those dirty little tricks, you still lost. You lost to me back then, and you're still losing to me now."

The air around them turned deadly quiet.

Seraphina stared at her, an old fury boiling up inside her chest.

That night five years ago was absolutely not her doing!

She had been a victim too.

But no one believed her.

Dominic didn't believe her, Cynthia didn't believe her, and absolutely no one else cared about the truth.