Voren stayed near the doorway, but his eyes never left her face. "Stanley would not stop insisting that he wanted to thank you personally," he revealed, Seraphine forced a small smile even though she still felt hollow inside.

Then she walked out of the office with Corvine beside her, both of them carrying the same exhaustion, the same grief, and the same silent determination that refused to let them give up.

As Stanley started speaking to Seraphine, Voren stepped closer to Corvine and lowered his voice.

"I see she is falling for you," he murmured, his tone carrying both curiosity and something sharper beneath it. "Why not just tell her how you feel?"

The second the words left his mouth, Voren felt something strange settle inside his chest.

It was an ugly feeling, tight, and uncomfortable. Something he could not explain.

Corvine looked at him for a moment before shaking his head.

"You are reading this wrong," he said quietly. "She almost died tonight thinking her daughter might have been in that place, and now she is walking away with nothing. The least I can do is be there for her. Nothing else matters right now."

Voren opened his mouth to respond, but nothing came out because Corvine was right. Seraphine had trusted him for a reason and Corvine cared about her deeply, maybe more than he would ever admit, but even then, he still put her first.

He put her pain first, her healing, and her happiness, even if it meant ignoring his own feelings completely.

And standing there, watching him, Voren finally understood what real love looked like. Not possession, nor obsession. Not wanting someone for yourself no matter what it cost them.

Real love meant wanting someone to be okay even if it broke you in the process.

That realization settled heavily inside his chest, leaving behind an ache he did not know how to explain.

Then Stanley stepped forward and held out his hand. "Sera," he said, his voice full of gratitude and respect, "my superiors told me you refused to do an interview, but I still wanted to thank you personally for everything you did."

Seraphine shook Stanley’s hand politely, although the sadness lingering in her eyes remained, settling over her features like a shadow that no amount of gratitude or praise could erase.

"Just make sure they find their families," she said softly, her voice quiet but carrying enough weight to make everyone around her understand exactly how serious she was.

"And if they do not have families, make sure they are given somewhere peaceful to stay because they have already been through more than enough pain for one lifetime."

Her throat tightened painfully as the faces of the dead flashed through her mind all over again, refusing to leave her alone no matter how hard she tried to focus on the people who had survived.

"Even the ones who lost their lives," she added, almost like the words slipped out before she could stop them.

Too many children who had not survived long enough to make it out of that place alive, too many bodies left behind because they had lost too much blood, suffered infections after organs had been taken from them carelessly.

Others had simply endured too much pain that their small bodies could not survive it any longer, and every single memory only brought Santiago back into her mind all over again, standing at the center of every nightmare like the monster responsible for all of it.

"The story is all over the news now," Stanley said, trying his best to offer her some comfort even though there was very little anyone could say after everything they had seen.

"Most of the victims probably are not local. We think many of them were taken from other states or even other countries, but we are already working with local police, social services, and international organizations so we can make sure every child gets the help they need."

Seraphine gave a small nod, although her gaze still looked distant, weighed down by everything she had learned and everything she still feared.

She was exhausted in every possible sense of the word.

Her body hurt, her head felt heavy, and her chest still ached from going through all those files only to walk away without a single answer about her daughter.

She had just turned to leave when Stanley suddenly spoke again. "You might want to look beside you first."

Confusion crossed her face for a moment, but the second she turned, the crushing heaviness inside her chest loosened just enough to let something softer break through.

One of the little girls Seraphine had carried out of that nightmare stood only a few feet away from her, holding a single flower in both hands like it was the most precious thing she owned, and even though her small frame still looked fragile beneath the oversized sweater wrapped around her shoulders, the bright smile on her face was enough to make Seraphine’s chest tighten painfully.

"Thank you, miss... for saving us," the little girl said softly, her voice trembling with emotion.

Seraphine did not hesitate for even a second.

The moment the little girl held the flower out to her, Seraphine bent down, accepted it gently, and wrapped her arms around the child as though she needed that hug just as much as the little girl did, because the truth was, she probably needed it even more.

The second she felt those tiny arms around her, every wall she had been trying so hard to hold up finally collapsed.

All the grief she had been swallowing down, all the disappointment, all the fear, all the heartbreak over not finding her daughter came rushing out at once, and tears spilled down her cheeks before she even had the chance to stop them.

"There’s more," Stanley said quietly.

Seraphine slowly pulled back slowly, wiping at her face as she lifted her head, and that was when she saw them, her heart twisting with something she could not explain.