The next evening, just as the sun dipped below the horizon and the coven's business day began, Seraphina appeared in the Nightshade Syndicate's boardroom.

Julian sat at the head of the long obsidian table, nursing a crystal glass of synthetic blood mixed with dark liquor. He looked entirely satiated, his skin glowing with the ethereal, immortal beauty that came after a deep, fulfilling feed. He took a slow sip, his eyes scanning the room of high-ranking vampires and elite human executives, before he casually made his announcement.

"From tonight onward, Seraphina is my chosen Consort," Julian's voice echoed through the cavernous room, commanding absolute silence. "She is not only my eternal mate, but she will also be an instrumental partner in our mortal affairs and real estate expansions. You will all treat her with the utmost reverence. Her word is my word."

Then, his obsidian eyes shifted, locking directly onto me where I stood by the projector. He pointed the silver tip of his pen at me, a subtle, cruel smirk playing on his lips.

"Especially you, Elara."

The room's temperature seemed to drop. The other vampires subtly shifted their gazes between us, well aware of my long-standing, pathetic devotion to the Vampire Lord. I was his chief blood-servant, his shadow, the one who managed his life for five agonizing years.

I looked back at him, my expression a blank, unreadable mask, and simply nodded.

Seraphina, seated to his right, smirked. She flashed me a triumphant, pitying smile, leaning slightly so her shoulder brushed against Julian's broad chest.

I pretended not to notice the display of ownership. I quietly gathered the meeting notes, tapped my tablet to shut off the holoscreen, and started to leave the boardroom to begin my nightly administrative duties.

But just as I reached the heavy glass doors, Seraphina's voice drifted through the room, soft, melodic, and expertly wounded.

"Julian, darling..." she murmured, loud enough for the heightened hearing of every immortal in the room. "Does Elara not want me involved in Syndicate affairs? I know how protective she is of your schedule. I know how... important she considers herself to you. If my presence upsets her, or if she's unhappy with me taking my rightful place by your side, perhaps I shouldn't come to the tower anymore."

Her eyes glistened with unshed tears. She looked as fragile and pitiful as a wounded bird.

Julian’s brow furrowed instantly. A low, protective rumble vibrated in his chest, his fangs lengthening slightly in defense of his mate. The protective instincts of a pureblood were fiercely territorial.

Before he could unleash his anger on me, before he could dress me down in front of the entire council, I turned back around and replied in a crisp, professional tone:

"Of course not, Lady Seraphina. I am merely an employee. But if my presence causes you any distress or dissatisfaction, I will ensure that I stay entirely out of your sight from now on. My only priority is the efficiency of this Syndicate."

Without waiting for Julian's reaction—without glancing to see the shock that surely registered in his ancient eyes at my coldness—I walked straight out of the room and back to my private office.

Half an hour later, the heavy oak door of my office swung violently open, slamming against the wall with a deafening crack.

There he stood. Julian. His tall, imposing frame blocked the doorway, his dark, stormy eyes completely devoid of the satiated calm from earlier. He looked furious.

Instinctively, I took a step back, wanting to hit the electronic lock. I didn't want to deal with his volatile moods anymore.

But Julian moved with supernatural speed, bridging the distance between us in a fraction of a second. He slammed his hand against the door, shutting it, and trapped me against my desk, his towering form caging me in. He leaned in, his nose brushing my hair, inhaling deeply. He was searching for the sour scent of jealousy, the rapid heartbeat of a heartbroken lover.

"Are you avoiding me?" he demanded, his voice a dangerous, velvet whisper. "Why did you speak to her like that?"

I kept my heartbeat steady, utilizing every ounce of discipline I possessed. "I spoke to her with respect, My Lord. Are you upset? Because I agreed to stay out of Seraphina's way?"

I quickly shook my head, meeting his intense gaze. "I'm not avoiding you. I'm happy for you, Julian. You and Seraphina finally get to be together without any obstacles."

His eyes flickered, a flash of genuine confusion breaking through his anger. He stared at my neck, watching my pulse, listening to the steady, calm rhythm of my heart. He seemed... deeply dissatisfied with my answer.

"Is that the truth?" he scoffed, his lips curling into a cruel sneer. "Or are you just being passive-aggressive? A pathetic attempt to make me feel guilty?"

He backed away, running a hand through his dark hair, a bitter laugh escaping his throat.

"Elara, don't insult my intelligence. Don't tell me you've suddenly gotten over me. Three years ago at the Winter Solstice gala, you let me feed from your wrist and you kissed me when you were drunk on vampire wine. You think I didn't notice the desperate way you clung to me?"

He began pacing my office like a caged predator. "All these years, those little hints you tucked into your daily briefings. The way you willingly offered your blood whenever I was stressed, never asking for payment. That encrypted folder on your terminal—the digital journal? I've had my tech vampires crack it. I've read all of it. You thought you were hiding your obsession so well. But the way you look at me? Everyone in this entire coven can smell the love rolling off you."

He stopped, his eyes gleaming with malicious satisfaction. "The smartest thing you ever did was never formally confess. Because if you had? I would've laughed in your fragile, mortal face. Laughed at how pathetic and delusional you are to think a pureblood Lord would ever love a blood-bag."

He chuckled darkly to himself, then suddenly lunged toward my desk. He yanked open the bottom drawer, ripping the lock clean off the wood. He reached in and grabbed a thick, velvet-bound physical journal I had kept hidden—the one where I poured out my heart in my past life—and a handful of old, dried blood-rose petals he had casually given me centuries ago.

He scattered the pages and the crushed petals across the floor, driving the heel of his Italian leather shoe into them.

"I handpicked you fresh out of university," he spat, leaning down until his face was inches from mine. "I gave you immortality's protection. I trained you. I elevated you above the other mortals. And this is how you repay me? By sulking? You knew I only loved Seraphina. But you still harbored these disgusting... feelings you had no right to have. Do you know how embarrassing this is? For both of us?"

He leaned closer, his voice dropping into a sinister, low register, his cold breath fanning over my ear.

"I came here to tell you something. Yesterday, when the Blood-Lotus was burning through me, I saw the look in your eyes before you left. You wanted to be the one to satiate me, didn't you? You wanted to offer your neck and trap me. Thank the dark gods you didn't. Because if you had touched me, I would've been disgusted for the rest of my immortal life. You're not worth a single drop of my venom."

My heart gave a solitary, painful thud. Even though I had sworn upon my rebirth never to love him again, hearing those merciless words still brought a phantom ache to my chest.

After warning me to keep my scent hidden and not to make Seraphina uncomfortable with my presence, Julian slammed the door so hard the hinges groaned, and vanished into the night.

I stood in the silence of my ruined office. I didn't cry. I didn't fall to my knees. I simply pulled up the Syndicate’s internal network and finalized my transfer paperwork. I was going to leave for the European Coven.

That night, I deliberately waited until the darkest hour, almost 3 a.m., when the Syndicate was quiet, to return to my office to pick up my personal belongings.

The moment I stepped inside, I noticed something was wrong. My custom, UV-shielded ergonomic chair—gone.

Then my phone buzzed. It was a social media post on the elite Syndicate network. Seraphina had posted a selfie, lounging elegantly in a luxurious, midnight-blue velvet office chair.

The caption read: "I just mentioned my back was aching, and my Lord immediately gave me the most comfortable chair in the entire tower. This is why it's so important to find a Vampire who possesses power, wealth, and infinite thoughtfulness! 🖤🦇"

She had taken the chair Julian had custom-ordered for me. Earlier this year, when a rogue vampire had thrown me against a wall, severely injuring my spine while I was protecting Julian's assets, he had specially commissioned the master craftsmen in Paris to build that chair for me. It was infused with healing magic, a gift worth over fifty thousand dollars—because I was his loyal "chief secretary."

He used to be so meticulously good to me. He knew exactly what it meant to show that kind of specialized, protective attention to a female subordinate in vampire culture. It signaled ownership. Affection.

And yet, he had intentionally let me fall for him, only to use his supreme power to crush me and declare I had no right to my own heart.

And now? Seraphina made one offhand, whining comment, and Julian didn't even bother to inform me before he ordered his guards to strip my office of my healing chair.

Hearing my footsteps, Julian suddenly appeared in my doorway, leaning against the frame with feigned nonchalance. "Seraphina has a delicate mortal spine. I gave her your chair. Your injury's healed anyway thanks to my blood. Any standard chair will do for you now."

I didn't even look up from the cardboard box I was assembling. "Mm," I murmured, my voice perfectly steady.

Julian's frown deepened. He crossed his arms, staring at me with a predatory intensity, his heightened senses searching for a crack in my armor.

"Elara," he probed, "didn't you used to hate it when I showed favor to other mortals? You used to give me the silent treatment for days. Why aren't you throwing a tantrum now? Why aren't your tears flowing?"

He pushed off the doorframe, stalking closer. "Are you plotting something? Because I'm warning you—if you dare try to sabotage Seraphina, I'll strip you of your Syndicate protection and throw you to the feral vampires in the underground."

I finally looked up, meeting his ancient, angry eyes with absolute nothingness. "I'm not trying to do anything to anyone, Julian. I just want to be left alone to do my work. And isn't this what you've always wanted from me? For me to be a perfectly hollow, professional machine? You should be thrilled."

Julian pressed his pale lips together into a thin line. A muscle ticked in his jaw. Then, almost like a sulking, petulant immortal child who realized his favorite toy wasn't reacting to his torture, he repeated, "Fine. Fine. Fine. Elara, you're just perfect."

He turned and stormed out, slamming the door on his way back to his penthouse.

Whenever he repeated words like that, it meant his ancient temper was boiling over. But I wasn't going to offer my throat to soothe him anymore. Whether he was angry or not didn't matter. Because soon, I would be an ocean away.

The next few weeks passed with excruciating simplicity.

Seraphina came to the Syndicate tower every single night to flaunt their mating bond. She paraded around the executive floors, her neck constantly bruised with fresh, possessive bite marks. Julian’s mood remained perpetually foul; he was sulking, snapping at his generals, and leaving a trail of terrified employees in his wake.

And this time, I wasn't going to be the one to offer a vial of my blood or a soothing word to fix it.

A month later, a shockwave hit the supernatural underground. Seraphina announced she was pregnant. A miracle dhampir child.

Julian was over the moon. The dark, brooding Lord was suddenly throwing lavish blood-banquets, wanting to tell the entire immortal world that his legacy was secured. The Blood Mating ceremony, originally planned for the winter, was moved up immediately to the end of the month. Every vampire in the Syndicate was gossiping about the upcoming blood-rites.

In this life, the one who was carrying his child, the one who would endure the agony of a supernatural birth, was the woman he actually loved.

And I decided to let them have their perfect, cursed fairytale.

As soon as my transfer paperwork was secretly approved by the European elders, I booked a private, sun-shielded flight to Milan—scheduled to depart at the exact twilight hour of their Mating ceremony.

Two days before the flight, Julian finally cracked. He waited until Seraphina was out shopping for mortal baby clothes, then violently bypassed my electronic locks and pushed open my door.

He marched up to my desk, pulled out his obsidian tablet, opened an encrypted email from the High Council HR, and slammed it down in front of me.

"You applied for a permanent transfer to the Milan Coven?" His voice was a low, terrifying hiss, his eyes flashing dangerous shades of red. "What, you're so utterly devastated by my mating ceremony that you're running away like a coward?"

My heart gave a brief, traitorous skip at the sheer proximity of his imposing aura. But his next arrogant words extinguished any lingering anxiety.

When I didn't immediately beg for forgiveness, his tone turned freezing cold.

"Elara, are you entirely done with this childish tantrum?" he demanded, leaning his palms flat on my desk. "Ever since Seraphina became my Consort, you've been avoiding my gaze. You pull your collar up around me. You don't offer your blood anymore."

He scoffed. "But I am going to bind my soul to hers eventually. So what, you're planning to keep hiding from me in Europe even after the blood-rites are complete?"

I slowly capped my pen and shook my head. "Lord Julian, I think you severely misunderstand. I only see you as the ancient Master who mentored me in this industry. I am grateful for the mortal wealth you've provided. That is all."

He laughed. A harsh, booming sound that rattled the glass of my windows. It was as if I had just told the most absurd joke in history.

"Grateful? Elara, every blood-sucker in this building knows you've been hopelessly, desperately in love with me for half a decade. Who the hell is going to believe you're just 'grateful'? Do you even believe that pathetic lie yourself?"

He stood straight, his gaze sweeping around my office. He spotted the small, reinforced display shelf in the corner and smirked cruelly.

"All these little trinkets I gave you over the centuries—you've kept them so meticulously clean. So carefully displayed. And you have the audacity to look me in the eye and tell me you don't crave my bite?"

He walked over with a predator's grace and picked up the items one by one. A solid silver, runic-carved pen. A brooch containing a crystallized drop of his own blood. A Rolex watch engineered to withstand supernatural speeds.

He turned to me, his expression suddenly adopting a sickeningly serious, patronizing mask.

"You should put all this garbage away. I am about to take Seraphina's blood before the dark altar. You need to sever these ridiculous, romantic fantasies. We are Master and servant. Boss and employee. I will never love a creature like you. And Seraphina is carrying my heir now. If she wanders in here and smells my scent on these gifts, it might trigger her anxiety. I cannot have anything stress my mate or my unborn son."

"Mm. Understood," I said briskly. I stood up, pulled a plain cardboard shipping box from under my desk, walked over to him, and immediately started swiping everything into the box.

I was planning to incinerate it all before leaving the country anyway. Might as well pack it up now.

Seeing how ruthlessly calm I was, Julian’s smug expression vanished. He frowned darkly and his hand shot out, his ice-cold fingers wrapping around my wrist in a vice-like grip.

"Elara, can't you be more careful?" he snapped, his fangs clicking together in agitation. "Look what you just did, you dented the silver casing on this pen!"

I glanced indifferently at the luxury, rune-carved pen he had snatched back. It was the very first gift he ever gave me—on the night I survived a rogue vampire attack, passing my 'probation' to officially become his chief confidante.

For years, I had treasured it like a holy relic. I wouldn't let the cleaning staff even breathe near it.

But now, I had just tossed it carelessly onto a pile of other junk. And Julian, whose ego required absolute worship, couldn't stomach the sight of it.

"Elara, you're clearly devastated about me marrying Seraphina. You're shattered. That's why you're running away. But now you're trying to pretend you don't care?" His grip tightened slightly, a desperate need for validation bleeding into his voice.

He abruptly let me go and exhaled sharply, adjusting his cuffs. "Fine. Maybe it's actually good for you to go cool off in Italy. European vampires will put you in your place. Seraphina is in a highly delicate, volatile stage of her supernatural pregnancy. It's better if your depressive scent isn't stinking up the tower anyway."

Julian pulled out his phone, his thumb flying across the screen. A second later, my terminal beeped. He had just wired one hundred thousand dollars into my mortal bank account.

"Take this," he ordered, his tone slipping back into the arrogant CEO. "Get yourself settled in Milan. Buy some expensive blood-wine. Travel the mortal ruins a bit. Take a month to clear your delusional head. By then, Seraphina's pregnancy will be stable enough that she won't view you as a threat."

He looked at me with a dark, meaningful stare.

"Adjust your mindset while you're among the Italians, Elara. Don't miss me too much. I'm going to be a bonded man. You need to accept your place in the shadows. Otherwise, working together in the future is going to be incredibly tedious for me."

Julian gave me a few more condescending instructions about the Milan assignment, entirely convinced he was punishing a lovesick girl.

But he didn't know—I had died for him once. I had been reborn.

And this time, I was leaving the Nightshade Syndicate forever.

On the twilight of Julian's Blood Mating day, both the ancient Gothic cathedral and the Syndicate headquarters were bustling with vampires arriving from all over the globe.

While everyone was fixated on the impending blood-rites, the chanting, and the lavish displays of power, I quietly grabbed my single suitcase, slipped out the service elevator, got into a mundane human cab, and headed straight to the international airport.