The Heart I Gave You

In my seventh year working the red-light district, I ran into Alex Harding.

He'd become Harbor City's uncrowned king—untouchable.

Successful, famous, and desperate to scrub his image clean.

I was the stain he needed gone.

Neon light carved shadows across his face as he looked down at me.

"Josephine Simmons." His voice was ice. "After all these years—any regrets?"

Something churned behind his eyes. Love. Hate. Seven years of both, tangled together.

Like if I just bent my head a little, time might fold back on itself. Back to when we were happy.

I smiled.

"Never."

I'd made my choice that night seven years ago. If heaven gave me a hundred do-overs, a thousand—I'd choose the same thing every time.

Even knowing I'd face every storm alone.

——

Mongkok Tower was Harbor City's most notorious slum. A place for people who couldn't survive in the light.

I'd hidden here to stay as far from Alex Harding as possible.

Seven years of running in circles, and I still crashed right into him.

In the most humiliating way imaginable.

Alex had brought investors to inspect the site. They were discussing demolishing Mongkok Tower, replacing it with some gleaming commercial high-rise.

I was chasing down a customer who owed me five hundred bucks. Wasn't watching where I was going.

Fell right at Alex Harding's feet.

Our eyes met.

His flashed with shock. Disgust. And something else—a flicker of pain he didn't even seem to notice—gone in an instant.

Then his face went cold. He stared down at me like I was garbage.

"Josephine Simmons. You left me no matter what I said."

A pause.

"So this is the life you wanted."

One of his lackeys caught the contempt in Alex's voice and piled on. He crouched down, making a show of wiping the shoe I'd dirtied.

"Well, well! Mongkok's number one flower herself!" His voice rang out for everyone to hear. "Back when Alex hit rock bottom, you cleaned out his savings and ran off with some pretty boy."

He clicked his tongue. "Seven years and look at you now. Where's your man? Just letting you sell yourself on the street?"

A snort. "Figures. A pretty boy—what else would he be good for? You thought every man would be like Alex? Guy used to sell his own blood just to feed you—"

He kept going, righteous and loud.

Completely missing how Alex's expression had shifted behind him.

These past years, Alex's rise had been meteoric. He'd inherited the Harding family empire and clawed his way higher through sheer ruthlessness. The kind of desperate, nothing-to-lose drive that scared even his rivals.

Now he stood at the peak.

Happy. Successful. A golden future stretching ahead.

Why would he want to remember that miserable past? The one that belonged only to me.

But our history wasn't exactly secret. The other executives noticed Alex's darkening mood and scrambled to change the subject.

They brought up his fiancée—Lola Pruitt.

Reminded him there was no point getting worked up over trash like me.

The flattery seemed to work. Alex's jaw unclenched. He stepped past me without another glance.

But at the end of the hall, he stopped.

Turned.

"Josephine."

His voice was quiet now. Almost raw.

"Why?"

The others looked confused.

But I knew exactly what he was asking.