Chapter 208

Serena's POV I stood in the sprawling garden of the Blackwood estate, watching the parade of black limousines pull into the driveway. Evelyn's funeral was a spectacle that would have made the old woman herself raise an eyebrow—too ostentatious, too performative, too... Kane. "This is ridiculous," I whispered to Ryan, adjusting my black maternity dress that barely contained my growing belly. "She would have hated this circus." Ryan's jaw tightened as he surveyed the scene. Nearly every important business figure in the city had arrived, not to mourn Evelyn but to witness the power shift happening before their eyes. The funeral had morphed into a grotesque networking event, with Kane holding court from his wheelchair like a king on a throne. The service itself was coldly efficient—expensive flowers, rehearsed eulogies, and not a genuine tear in sight. I found myself blinking back tears, not for the ceremony but for the woman I once knew, who deserved better than this mockery. When Kane wh