Dominic left me behind.

As the engine roared in the underground garage, I received a text message from him. "I'll be away for a while. Clear your things out of the house. I'll have someone change the locks in two weeks."

I didn't reply. I silently cleared away all traces of myself from the mansion where I'd lived for five years.

After a long while, my phone screen lit up again from a text. Dominic had probably met with the terrified Lily by now and was attempting to wrap up our ten-year relationship with some semblance of dignity.

"Call me if you need anything. We're still friends even if I couldn't commit to you."

I had loved Dominic for ten years, only to be casually dismissed as a friend.

…

That torrential rain continued for two full days. Westbrook was drenched in the downpour, leaving everything feeling cold and clammy.

I couldn't sleep and repeatedly got up in the middle of the night to click my lighter.

The year I got together with Dominic, he was just a broke troublemaker who couldn't pay rent and lived in a half-basement apartment.

Only the flame from the lighter provided illumination in the humid air. The small blaze ignited, then died, over and over.

Back then, the buzz-cut Dominic stared at me in my school uniform as he said, "Think carefully, Violet. A guy like me won't amount to much. I can't give you the future you want."

I was painfully innocent back then. I took off my rain-soaked sneakers and pushed my cold feet onto his chest. Dominic's body heat was like a torch through his thin tank top, gradually igniting my body.

With nothing but that tiny lighter flame illuminating us, I stubbornly nodded as I told him, "Dominic, I don't give a damn about my future. I only want you."

Dominic and I had lived on the edge together. During nights permeated with the smell of bandages and antiseptic, we'd do it repeatedly by pushing ourselves to the edge of consciousness before coming back.

Dominic once said that if he were to go clean and finally leave the underworld behind, the first thing he would do was marry me. Yet now that he was going straight, his first priority was cutting ties with me.

At 28 years old, I truly wasn't young anymore. I couldn't keep living recklessly. My family had even set me up with someone, and they were just waiting for me to make it official.

I decided to leave Westbrook.

I went to find Dominic with the keys to the mansion. I didn't bother with makeup and simply put on jeans with sneakers. Many of his men didn't recognize me when I walked into the club.

When I finally removed my cap, the guys who used to eagerly call me "Mrs. Hayes" fell silent. They obviously knew about Dominic's change of heart. The younger guys who were close to me tried to lighten the mood.

"Violet, we all think you and Dom still make the best couple."

"We can't believe he went for some college chick. Please. He'd be embarrassed to be seen with her in public."

"Why don't you try to sweet-talk Dom? He always listens to—"

I merely let out a bitter laugh.

I'd developed a certain image during my ten years with Dominic. I had naturally innocent features, but my look transformed into something dangerously alluring with thin arched eyebrows and red lips.

Many men watched me from afar, but Dominic was always my protector. Anyone who dared touch a hair on my head was sent for "punishment duty"—his euphemism for the worst assignments.

If I shed even a single tear, Dominic would drop everything to comfort me. That had once been my exclusive privilege.

But this time, the guys couldn't even finish their sentences. A ceramic mug flew across the room, striking someone's brow bone before breaking into two.

Dominic's face darkened dangerously.

"One would think this was Violet Ingram's territory or something," he snarled. "Is this how you lot handle business when I'm not around?"

The entire club fell instantly silent. That was Dominic's influence. Except now, that influence was being used against me.

I tried to explain, but the young woman behind him peeked out cautiously as she remarked with feigned innocence, "Dominic, is this the Violet you told me about? She dresses just like me!"

Dominic frowned slightly as he examined my outfit. Simple jeans and sneakers were indeed identical to Lily's style.

He looked at me suspiciously. "Violet, have you been investigating Lily?"

Looking closer, Lily did resemble my 18-year-old self. The similarity was uncanny, especially in those jeans and sneakers.

I recognized the young woman's little game but refused to acknowledge it. Rather than me investigating Lily, it seemed more like a certain someone had carefully studied Dominic's preferences.

Nonetheless, even after ten years together, Dominic couldn't even trust me this much. I pressed my lips together stubbornly.

Dominic scoffed. "Dressing like her won't make you 18 again. Why are you being so difficult with me, Violet?"

I blinked, hardly believing what I'd just heard.

"How about this?" Dominic said as he licked his lips, showing no mercy. "Name your price for the ten years."

I froze. I had been with Dominic for ten years. I had taken bullets and faced knives for him, yet none of those moments had ever hurt like this one.

I dug my nails into my palms as my voice trembled. "What did you just say, Dominic?"

"I said, since I've wasted ten years of your youth, you should name your price."

Dominic stood with his hands in his pockets. Despite the turmoil in his eyes, he forced himself to finish speaking through a strained voice.

My legs nearly gave out after hearing this. Meanwhile, Lily tugged at Dominic's sleeve, quietly trying to mediate.

"Don't be so harsh, Dominic. Violet hasn't done anything wrong."

Dominic lowered his head and gently nuzzled her nose. "Be good now, and listen to me."

He then pulled her behind him protectively. "I won't let anyone upset you."

Dominic used to protect me the same way. I couldn't bear to watch and felt bitterness rising in my throat.

Looking down, I noticed the silver bracelet on my wrist. It was snug when Dominic first gave it to me.

Yet the deeper I fell in love with him, the looser it became.

I still remember my second year with Dominic. A severe flu epidemic swept through Westbrook with a three percent mortality rate.

I caught it immediately due to my weak immune system. Then, at my request and to protect others from infection, the school doctor had placed me in isolation.

My eyes burned from the fever, making everything blurry. So I thought I was dreaming when I saw Dominic's face hovering above me.

I clutched his hand and called to him with my raspy voice. "Dominic, I've missed you so much. Am I going to die without seeing you again?"

I could only stay conscious for a few minutes each day. Dominic had never cried in front of me before. That day, though, he sobbed uncontrollably.

This troublemaker had somehow found connections to get hired as a security guard at the school. He'd worked his way from Building A to Building C before finally finding me.

I called Dominic an idiot for risking his life to care for someone as contagious as me. Even so, he wouldn't listen and slipped a silver bracelet onto my wrist.

He said, "Happy birthday, Violet."

We were both dirt poor back then. We'd stare longingly at even a simple silver ring in a shop window, unable to afford it.

I thought I wouldn't live to see another spring. But on the day Dominic wished me happy birthday, dogwood blossoms drifted past my isolation room window.

Later, I learned that the silver bracelet had been made by melting down Dominic's childhood lucky charm—a silver medallion his grandmother had given him for protection.

Dominic had said, "Violet, I'm tough, so I can take whatever life throws at me. Your only job is to live safely and happily."

That bracelet had dangled from my wrist for nine years. It was young Dominic's mark of ownership.

Back then, I truly believed Dominic and I would last forever. Now, he had become to me like this ill-fitting bracelet.

I bit down hard on my lip, tugging forcefully at the bracelet until my wrist turned angry red.

Dominic anxiously crushed his cigarette. His eyes turned bloodshot as he shouted, "Violet, what the hell are you doing?"

I frowned, my eyes brimming with tears I refused to shed.

Wasn't it Dominic who had asked me to name the price for my ten years? I'd named it, but now he couldn't bear the cost.

"Dominic, let's just pretend we…"

"Don't say it!"

He lunged forward to silence me, but Lily accidentally tripped him.

I finished with a faint smile and a single tear rolling down my cheek, "Never met."

As I said this, I tossed the broken bracelet into the ornamental fish pond outside the door. The surface erupted with ripples for a moment as startled fish darted through the green water.

Dominic rushed to the pond. He fell to his knees on the wet ground, frantically searching but finding nothing.

Watching his desperation, I struggled to suppress the urge to plunge into the pond after the bracelet, my chest tight with conflicting emotions.

What even was this? Did some part of his heart still belong to me?

The ten years with Dominic flashed before my eyes like scenes from a spinning carousel. My heart ached so deeply that I felt numb, and even breathing became difficult.

Perhaps it was barely worth it if this pain was the price for that "happy birthday" from so long ago. But Dominic and I, no matter how hard it was to let go of our past, would have no future together.

A light drizzle fell from the sky. Walking into the rain, I felt like half my soul had been torn away.

Dominic carried an umbrella when he came after me. The smell of cigarettes clung to him, and his hand gripping my shoulder couldn't be pushed away.

"Violet, let me take you home."

I didn't turn around, but Lily splashed through a shallow puddle toward us. Her bangs were wet and clinging to her pale, fragile face. She looked utterly pitiful.

"Dominic, are you going to leave me here all alone?"