Unloved Unwanted Unstoppable (Seraphina and Dominic) novel Chapter 63

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Seraphina couldn't go on.

Her voice had started to tremble, and the tears she had been holding back finally slipped down her cheeks silently.

She raised a hand to wipe her face and took a deep breath.

"Mrs. Lockwood..." Janice's voice wavered with tears. "Are you really not coming back? Lily... she truly misses you so much."

How could she ever go back?

Seraphina closed her eyes.

A chaotic montage of memories flashed through her mind.

Her daughter standing in the hallway, holding Lauren's hand, calling another woman "Mom."

Her daughter standing by the hospital room door, calling her a wicked mother.

Her daughter declaring in front of everyone that she looked ugly in everything and didn't deserve to wear that dress.

Her daughter asking if she could have two moms—one to play with her, and one to cook her meals.

Each incident was like a jagged knife carving into her heart.

She was the daughter she had raised single-handedly, the daughter she loved so fiercely, giving her absolutely everything she had.

Yet her daughter had pushed her away with her own hands, time and time again.

She had given her so many chances.

But her daughter's answers always left her completely shattered.

Seraphina opened her eyes. Tears were still wet on her face, but her gaze had grown eerily calm.

"Janice, I leave her in your care."

"Mrs. Lockwood—"

"Please don't call me that anymore."

Seraphina hung up the phone. She watched the neon lights outside the car window blur past one by one. She didn't cry again.

Her tears had dried, leaving only two faint streaks on her cheeks.

She remembered something Clara Sinclair had told her when she was young.

"Sera, the most important thing in a woman's life isn't marrying into a good family or having a perfect child. It's being yourself."

She hadn't understood it back then and thought her mother was wrong.

Sitting at her desk, she booted up her computer, ready to finalize the project details, when a new email notification popped up in the corner of her screen.

The sender's name made her fingers freeze.

Professor Vane.

Her mentor.

Seraphina practically sat bolt upright as she clicked on the email.

It wasn't long, just a few short lines.

"Seraphina, it's been a long time. I recently launched a new R&D project focusing on urban renewable energy, and we're short on personnel. I'd like you to join the team. If you're available, let's meet at The Metropolis Culture Club this afternoon. — Professor Vane."

Seraphina stared at the words, her eyes stinging.

Professor Vane.

The elderly man who had patiently held her hand as they revised blueprints, wrote her glowing recommendation letters, and encouraged her to study abroad.

The man she had let down for six years, the man she had been too ashamed to face.

He was actually willing to give her another chance.

His email didn't even contain a single unnecessary word, acting as if the six-year gap between them had never existed.