I Blew Up My Ancestral Home To Divorce Her

In the annual ranking of the Emerald Coast’s Most Useless Son and Most Exemplary Heir, my stepbrother, Owen, and I clung to our top spots. Predictably.

The results had barely been published when the photos dropped: my fiancée and Owen, entangled and exposed, blazing across every social media feed.

Against the backdrop of the penthouse’s floor-to-ceiling windows, Seraphina—the woman held up as the paragon of virtue, molded by the three thousand rules of the Sinclair Code—was pressed against my stepbrother, shifting into one shameful position after another.

The entire Emerald Coast was waiting for my reaction.

After all, the last man who dared to get too close to my fiancée was still recovering in the hospital.

I spent the whole night smoking.

Watching the thousands of images scroll by, one by one.

Near dawn, Seraphina finally called, her voice strained with a clumsy explanation. “I had too much champagne last night, Linc. I… I mistook you for Owen.”

“Please, go public and clear up the scandal immediately. Otherwise, Owen’s reputation will be ruined for good.”

This was the ninth time she’d confused me with Owen.

Listening to her threadbare excuse, I slowly ground the tip of my cigarette onto the part of the marriage contract that bore her name.

“It doesn’t matter anymore.”

It didn’t matter who was in the pictures.

Seraphina didn’t matter anymore, either.

She could mistake the man she was supposed to marry.

I could certainly marry someone else.

1

“Hmph. That Sinclair girl is too much. Does she truly believe we’re desperate to marry only her?”

After I hung up, Uncle Marcus—my mother’s brother—snorted, then had someone deliver a thick, leather-bound compendium.

“Linc, this catalog contains every eligible daughter from the Gold Coast’s most established families. Pick anyone you want. Your uncle will handle the rest.”

I stared at the volume for a long moment.

It wasn’t until the ash from my cigarette burned my finger that I reached out, pulling a random entry from the stack.

“This one.”

Uncle Marcus took the book, glancing at the name, and a surprised noise escaped him. “Her?”

After a pause, he asked again, his tone tentative. “Linc, are you certain you want Ember Blackwood?”

I nodded, watching the sun rise over the coast.

I didn’t notice the look of confusion or apprehension on my uncle’s face.

Ever since my own mother was driven to her death by Elias Harrington’s mistress, I had stopped believing in the concept of love or trust.

Seraphina, the one woman who had almost broken through my cynicism, had just slammed that reality back into my face.

They were all the same.

It truly didn’t matter who I married.

After catching a few hours of sleep, I drove to my usual spot, a club called The Vault.

I also blocked Seraphina’s number on every single platform.

“No way. The great Sera Sinclair is completely unhinged. I’ve heard of mixing up a date, but sleeping with your fiancé’s stepbrother? She knows you despise Owen, right?” My best friend, Daniel, said, pouring me a Scotch.

This was the ninth time Seraphina had confused me with Owen.

The first was merely taking the wrong hand.

The second, leaning on the wrong shoulder.

Now, she couldn’t even repeat the position.

Our glasses clinked.

Expressionless, I unclipped the watch from my wrist and tossed it into the swirling crowd on the dance floor.

Daniel’s eyes widened. “Isn’t that the custom watch the Sinclairs’ grandstanding bid for you at that charity auction?”

I took a sip of my drink, indifferent.

When Seraphina had first presented me with the watch, the whole spectacle had made the headlines. Everyone envied the man whose future wife would spend a fortune for him.

But no one knew that I had practically begged her for it.

The Sinclairs had found a priceless rare diamond in their family mine, which they crafted into a timepiece to mark our engagement.

Yet, because Owen once mentioned in passing how much he liked it, Seraphina immediately gave it to him.

I lost it. I caused a terrible scene.

The next day, she made a public show of buying this replacement watch at auction, a grand gesture that was entirely transactional. It was a careless object she used to placate me, yet I wore it faithfully, never taking it off.

Now, it was laughable.

“Come on, dwelling on a woman is boring.” Daniel stopped me from pouring another drink and dragged me toward the floor.

I loved music, and I loved a good drink.

But the Sinclair family code was notoriously strict, and Seraphina was obsessively disciplined.

As her fiancé, I was forced to be a suitable partner, giving up all my vices and hobbies.

The thought sent a wave of resentment through me. I yanked at my collar, ripping open my tailored white shirt to expose my chest.

A sudden cheer erupted from the dance floor.

I was about to take my partner’s hand when a piercing scream cut through the music.

Seraphina had stormed in, slapped the woman I was with to the ground, her usually beautiful eyes clouded with a chilling rage.

“Lincoln Harrington!”

Her cool, clear voice was laced with undisguised fury.

I thought I was hallucinating. Seraphina would never set foot in a place like this.

Just as I prepared to turn away, she delivered a sharp, stinging slap across my face, then grabbed the bottle of Scotch on the table and doused me in it.

“You disgust me, Lincoln.”

Seraphina grabbed my arm, dragging me out without explanation.

It wasn’t until she had shoved me into the back seat of her Maybach and was fastidiously wiping her hand with a silk handkerchief that I finally snapped. The situation was utterly ridiculous.

“I disgust you, Seraphina? And what? When you were in bed with Owen, changing positions, you didn’t feel disgusted?”

“Lincoln Harrington!”

Her face instantly hardened, and her hand flew up, ready to strike again.

I caught her wrist, a final, pathetic sliver of hope flickering inside my chest.

“Tell me. Are you this furious because I found another woman, or because…”

Seraphina laughed, a cold, sharp sound, and snatched her hand back.

“I asked you to clear up the scandal, and you ran off to a dive like this to wallow. Yes, that disgusts me! If we delay the clarification and something happens to Owen’s reputation, I swear, I will make you pay!”

Her words were a bucket of ice water.

My intoxication instantly vanished.

She only showed true, raw emotion when it concerned Owen.

After a few seconds of silent, hostile standoff, Seraphina turned away, reverting to her usual cool, aloof demeanor.

“To the Harrington estate.”

The car sped toward the Harrington ancestral home.

It was only then that I remembered: it was Owen’s birthday.

As I reached for the door handle, Seraphina abruptly seized my hand, lacing her fingers with mine.

My eyes flicked to the dark corners of the driveway. Sure enough, I caught the lens flare of hidden paparazzi.

She intended to use me to force a clarification.

I was about to pull away when my phone screen lit up with a text from Uncle Marcus.

She agreed. The wedding is set for three days from now.

The same day as my scheduled wedding to Seraphina.

Before Seraphina could see the message, I tightened my grip on her hand. A new, dark idea took shape in my mind.

“Sera!”

Owen spotted the Sinclair car and hurried over, excited.

His smile froze the moment he saw me.

Watching the shock spread across his face, I grabbed the back of Seraphina’s head before she could react, pulling her face down and kissing her.

“You wanted a show, Sera? Let’s put on a performance.”

Seraphina’s initial struggle instantly stopped.

She allowed the kiss.

From Owen’s and the paparazzi’s vantage point, we were engaged in a moment of passionate, all-consuming embrace.

I lifted my gaze, locking eyes with Owen over Seraphina’s shoulder.

He stood there, fists clenched, shaking with impotent fury, before spinning on his heel and retreating into the house.

My interest gone, I followed him inside, leaving Seraphina standing alone, her expression a mix of complication and confusion.

The kiss was staged. We’d been together for years, and this was our first staged kiss.

I had no interest in Owen’s birthday, nor did I think he deserved my presence.

I only agreed to Seraphina’s arrangement because the Harrington estate held the only thing that mattered to me.

“Go and bring all of my mother’s things to her room.”

I sat alone in the room my mother died in while a maid went to retrieve the items.

In three days, I would be leaving the Emerald Coast.

I didn’t care about the Harrington legacy.

But I had to take my mother’s possessions.

“Oh no, Mr. Harrington! The jadeite cuff your mother left for you is missing!”

I rushed downstairs.

The banquet hall was filled with the clinking of glasses.

Owen was at the center of the crowd, radiating smug confidence, showing off a black jadeite cuff on his thumb.

I pushed people aside, barely keeping my rage in check.

“Take the cuff off.”

Owen raised an eyebrow, a triumphant, sneering curve to his lips. “Brother, I’m thrilled you came to my birthday. But this cuff was a gift from Dad. If you like it, maybe I can loan it to you for a few days once I’m tired of it.”

“Take. It. Off.”

The volume of my demand instantly silenced the room.

The crowd pressed in. My stepmother, Veronica, clicked over in her heels.

“Linc, darling, it’s a party. Please, for your mother’s sake, don’t…”

“What are you? A gutter-raised mistress who clawed her way in. You don’t get to invoke her name.”

Veronica’s false smile instantly shattered.

I had lost all patience. I grabbed Owen, intending to rip the cuff from his hand.

“Lincoln Harrington!”

Elias Harrington, alerted by the noise, stormed out of his study.

Seeing me grappling with Owen, he roared, “What are you waiting for? Separate those boys!”

I didn’t move.

My fingers dug into Owen’s neck, my eyes blazing at him.

I held the position until Elias made a move to intervene himself.

With a powerful wrench, I yanked the cuff free.

A scream tore from Owen’s throat. His thumb was instantly fractured, twisted at a grotesque angle.

“Lincoln Harrington!”

Elias’s eyes bulged. He lunged forward and delivered a vicious, open-handed slap across my face.

My ears rang. I wiped the blood from my lip, holding up the cuff.

“Did you forget this was my mother’s final memento? What, Elias? Did driving your first wife to her grave not satisfy you? Do you now need to beat her son to death for the sake of your mistress and her bastard?”

“You!”

Elias’s face was beet red with fury.

He raised his hand for another strike, but a figure blocked me.

Seraphina turned to face me, her expression so dark it seemed to drip with shadow.

“Lincoln Harrington, apologize to Owen.”

I laughed, a harsh, brittle sound. “He’s not worth the breath.”

Elias stepped forward, raging. “You are a disgrace! If you don’t apologize to your brother, I swear, you are no longer my son!”

“Who cares!”

I shoved Seraphina aside and walked out, not looking back.

The door slammed shut, sealing off the screaming behind me.

I pulled out my suitcase, carefully placing my mother’s retrieved items inside.

Just as I prepared to leave, the door opened again.

Owen, the toxic shadow, had followed me in.

I stepped around him, cold. “Leave now if you value your life.”

The next second, my wrist was grabbed.

Owen smiled, a predatory gleam in his eyes, and half-dragged, half-shoved me onto the balcony.

Simultaneously, the sound of fireworks erupted from the yard.

The dazzling display illuminated the entire Emerald Coast Harbor.

Owen’s lips curved into an expression of pure, poisoned malice.

“Beautiful, isn’t it? You were looking for your mother’s belongings, right?”

“Those fireworks? They were made with that dead old woman’s ashes. Do you like them?”

My blood surged to my head.

I stared blankly at the explosions in the sky.

Owen looked immensely satisfied, as if he’d just scratched an unbearable itch. “Lincoln Harrington, I hear Sera still won’t let you touch her.”

“You have no idea how incredible she was last night. We came at least seven times, and she still wanted more.”

He lifted his chin, radiating arrogant triumph.

“You’re useless. You don’t deserve her. If you know what’s good for you, you’ll call off the engagement yourself, or else…”

I didn’t let him finish. I gripped his neck and slammed his body against the balcony railing.

“Owen, you came up here to provoke me. I know you’re trying to set another trap, you weasel.”

Owen’s face froze.

I smiled, a genuine, terrifying smile.

“Well, you succeeded.”

“If you want to die, I’ll be happy to oblige.”

“Lincoln! Stop!”

Screams echoed from the lawn below.

Expressionless, I raised my fist, putting all my strength into the blow, and sent him flying over the railing.

“Owen!”

Seraphina screamed, rushing to cradle the fallen body of my stepbrother.

“Brother! I came to make peace, and you tried to murder me!” Owen coughed up a large amount of blood before his eyes rolled back, and he passed out.

Seraphina snapped her head up, her gaze piercing me with a chilling, bone-deep coldness.

I knew Owen’s disgusting, low-level tricks by heart. I grabbed my suitcase and walked out, unwilling to spend another second in that house.

But before I reached the main gate, I was surrounded by a swarm of security guards.

Just then, the family doctor yelled, “He’s lost too much blood! The hospital is too far! We need an immediate transfusion!”

Seraphina’s voice was a whip-crack. “Bring Lincoln here now!”

“Seraphina, don’t you dare!”

I struggled as they forced me back to the scene.

Seraphina’s voice was dangerously calm. She grabbed my arm, her grip so tight I felt my bones might crack.

“Draw his blood.”

The needle pierced my skin. Sweat beaded on my forehead.

“You will regret this, Seraphina.”

Her face remained impassive. “Lincoln Harrington, I always thought you were merely spoiled and rebellious, but you are arrogant enough to treat human life like dirt! How can I ever convince my family elders that a man like you can follow the Sinclair Code?”

I gritted my teeth, a retort spilling out before I could stop it. “Who said I’m marrying you? You’re not my wife!”

“What did you say?”

Seraphina’s expression darkened.

“It seems you still haven’t learned how to obey the rules.”

She stepped back, then delivered a sharp kick to my knee with her heel, forcing me to collapse and kneel beside Owen’s unconscious body.

She then ordered the guards to seize my head and smash it against the marble floor.

“Apologize! Confess!”

I bit down on my lip until it bled, refusing to speak a single word of submission.

Seeing my resistance, Seraphina decided she was done negotiating. She had the guards bring in my carefully packed suitcase.

One by one, she had them smash my mother’s precious mementos on the ground.

“Stop it!”

I looked up at Seraphina, my eyes bloodshot.

“I’m… sorry!”

Owen, on the bed, pushed himself up slightly, a triumphant smirk playing on his lips.

“Sera, I feel a little dizzy.”

At his call, the entire family rushed him to the hospital.