Seraphina's POV
The champagne glass slips from my hand.
It falls in slow motion, spinning through the air while I stare at the man standing in my apartment doorway. He's wearing a black suit and holding up a badge that says FBI.
"Seraphina Vale, you're under arrest for illegal blood trafficking and conspiracy."
The words don't make sense. Around me, fifty guests freeze—my coworkers, my boss, my family. Everyone came tonight to celebrate my engagement to Marcus. The ring on my finger suddenly feels like it weighs a thousand pounds.
"There's been a mistake," I say, but my voice comes out wrong. Weak. Scared.
Three more agents push past the first one. They're holding guns. At my engagement party. In my home.
My best friend Jade drops the cake knife she was holding. It clatters on the floor. "Sera, what's happening?"
"I don't know!" I look around wildly for Marcus. He'll fix this. He always knows what to do. I find him standing by the window, his face pale. "Marcus, tell them this is crazy. Tell them I would never—"
"Ma'am, put your hands behind your back." The agent moves toward me fast.
"Wait, please, I'm a pharmaceutical researcher. I work with medicine, not—I don't even know what blood trafficking means!" My heart pounds so hard it hurts. This can't be real. This is my engagement party. Two hours ago, I was the happiest woman alive.
The agent grabs my wrist. Cold metal circles it—handcuffs. The click sounds like a gunshot in the silent room.
"You have the right to remain silent—"
"Stop! You're making a mistake!" I try to pull away, but he's too strong. The second cuff snaps around my other wrist. "Marcus, do something!"
But Marcus doesn't move. He just stares at me with an expression I've never seen before. Almost like... fear? No, not fear. Something else I can't name.
My mother pushes through the crowd. "There must be some explanation. My daughter is not a criminal."
"Ma'am, we have evidence." The agent pulls out a tablet and shows her something. I can't see what it is, but I watch my mother's face change. Her eyes go wide, then hard. She looks at me like I'm a stranger.
"Mom, whatever they're showing you is fake. I swear—"
"Ms. Vale operated an illegal blood trafficking ring out of her laboratory," the agent announces to the room. "She used her position at Morrison Pharmaceuticals to steal human blood samples and sell them on the black market to vampire organizations. We have her signatures on shipping documents, bank records showing payments, and witness testimony."
The room explodes with whispers. I hear my name repeated over and over, mixed with words like "criminal" and "vampire sympathizer."
"That's not true!" I'm shaking now, my whole body trembling. "I would never—I don't even have access to blood samples anymore. I work in drug development. Please, someone believe me!"
But no one is looking at me the way they did an hour ago. My boss backs away slowly. My coworkers whisper behind their hands. Even my younger brother won't meet my eyes.
The agent starts walking me toward the door. I dig my heels in, desperate. "Jade! Tell them! Tell them I was with you every day after work. Tell them I couldn't have done this!"
Jade's face crumples. Tears run down her cheeks. "I'm so sorry, Sera. I wanted to tell you, but I was scared."
Ice floods my veins. "Scared of what?"
"Ms. Ashford has already given her statement," the agent says.
No. No, no, no.
"Jade?" My voice breaks on her name. "What statement?"
My best friend since second grade, the girl who knows all my secrets, who I trusted with everything—she won't look at me. She's crying, her shoulders shaking. "You said you'd hurt my family if I told anyone. I had to stay quiet. But I can't lie anymore."
The floor disappears from under me. "What are you talking about? I never said that! Jade, please, you know me!"
"Take her downtown," the head agent orders. His partner pushes me forward.
As I stumble toward the door in handcuffs, I look back one last time. Looking for Marcus. Needing him to fight for me. To tell them this is insane.
He's standing perfectly still, watching me leave. Our eyes meet across the room full of people who now think I'm a monster.
And Marcus—the man who proposed to me just three weeks ago, who said he'd love me forever, who I was supposed to marry next month—doesn't say a single word.
That's when I see it. Just for a second. A tiny smile touches the corner of his mouth before he wipes it away.
My blood turns to ice.
"Marcus?" I whisper.
He breaks eye contact and turns to comfort my crying mother.
The agent shoves me through the doorway. Behind me, I hear Jade's voice, high and fake: "I tried to stop her. I really tried. But she threatened me"
The door slams shut, cutting off the rest of her lies.
In the hallway, fluorescent lights buzz overhead. My neighbor Mrs. Chen peeks out her door, sees me in handcuffs, and quickly locks herself inside.
"I didn't do anything," I tell the agents. My voice sounds hollow. Dead. "Someone set me up."
"That's what they all say." The agent pushes me toward the elevator.
As the doors close, I catch my reflection in the metal surface. I'm still wearing my engagement dress—the beautiful blue one I spent two months' salary on. My makeup is smudged from crying. The ring on my finger catches the light.
And I realize with horrible, crushing certainty: Marcus and Jade's tears weren't shock.
They were acting.
The elevator descends, taking me down and down and down. Away from my life. Away from everything I thought was real.
By the time we reach the ground floor, I understand three terrible truths:
My fiancé and my best friend just destroyed my life.
They planned this together.
And I never saw it coming.
The elevator doors open onto an underground parking garage. A black van waits with its back doors spread wide like a mouth ready to swallow me whole.
"Wait," I say, my voice shaking. "I want to call a lawyer. That's my right, isn't it?"
The agent's smile is cold. "Sure. You can call from the station. Right after we process your vampire association charges."
"My what?"
He pushes me toward the van. "Trafficking blood to vampires is a life sentence, Ms. Vale. Hope your lawyer is good."
They shove me inside. The doors slam shut, trapping me in darkness.
Through the metal wall, I hear one agent say to another: "Think she really didn't know her fiancé was working with us?"
"Doesn't matter now. She signed all the documents. Her face is on all the security footage. The case is airtight."
The engine starts. The van begins to move.
And sitting alone in the dark, wearing my engagement dress with handcuffs cutting into my wrists, I finally understand.
This wasn't a mistake.
This was a trap.
And I walked right into it.