Not Your Toy Anymore Chapter 02
His face could’ve been carved from stone. Zoe tugged his arm, voice clipped. “What are you doing?”
His expression didn’t change. “Seraphina is a guest of the Draven family tonight. Disrespect her and you’re disrespecting me. Are we clear?”
He shoved Mason back. I stared at him before I could stop myself. Since when did Rafael step in for me?
Zoe’s jaw tightened, but the smile snapped back into place like a reflex. “You know how Mason is. He can’t keep his mouth shut when it counts.”
“Still, let’s not make a scene over someone who isn’t even family. We came for fireworks — I’ll go check if everything’s set up.”
Rafael nodded. His voice dropped, warmer now. “I’ll come with you.”
But as he turned, his eyes drifted toward me. I wasn’t watching them. I was looking at my phone, smiling at something on the screen — a real smile, the kind that reached my eyes.
I used to smile like that only for him. I didn’t see the way his expression shifted — but I heard the scream.
My head snapped up. The lighter in Zoe’s hand had sparked the fuse, but the Roman candle tipped — a line of fire shot straight at me.
“Watch out!” Rafael’s whole body moved before his voice caught up.
He threw himself forward — and covered Zoe. His body curled over hers, shielding every inch of her. And in the half-second I stood frozen, the flame hit me full in the face.
The pain was instant, blinding, total. It buried itself so deep behind my eyes that the scream building in my chest never made it out.
I tried to turn away, but the sparks were everywhere — catching in my hair, searing across my neck, eating through fabric to find skin.
I stumbled sideways, blind, hands clawing at nothing — and then someone shoved me. Hard.
I hit the fountain back-first and went under.
Laughter exploded around the fountain. They thought it was a goddamn joke.
“Give it up, Seraphina. Once the Don’s better, those two are getting married.”
“So know your place, or we’ll make sure L.A. spits you out.”
The burns screamed across my skin, but I was choking on water, fighting to get my head up, trying to call out. Nothing came. My throat wouldn’t work.
My legs gave out. The water closed over my face, and everything went dark.
I came to in a hospital bed. The room was still, empty. Voices filtered in from the corridor — doctors, talking low.
“Severe ocular burns with retinal detachment. High probability of permanent vision loss.”
The words went through me like a blade.
I lurched upright so fast I nearly fell off the bed. The door swung open, and footsteps rushed toward me.
I grabbed at the sound of them, caught someone’s sleeve, and held on. “Please — I can’t go blind.”
My voice was shaking so hard the words barely held together. No one understood what sight meant to a surgeon better than I did.
My hands, my eyes — they were everything. Without them, I was nothing. I was begging, and I didn’t care.
“Whatever it takes. Whatever surgery, whatever treatment — I’ll do all of it. I’m a surgeon. Please. I can’t lose my eyes.”
I didn’t realize it was Rafael I was clinging to. Not until I felt him go still under my grip, his arm tensing in a way I couldn’t read.
He started to speak, but a voice cut in from the doorway — thin, amused, deliberate.
“Seraphina, I get that you’re scared, but this really isn’t the time to play doctor. A surgeon? Seriously?”
I couldn’t see her face, but I could hear the smirk in her voice as Zoe drifted in, the rustle of a hospital gown trailing behind her.
“You couldn’t even pass your boards. You washed out halfway through and ran. So where exactly did you pick up a medical degree?”
Every word landed like an open hand across my face.