The Heart I Gave You

Seven years into my life in The Underground, I crossed paths with Serena Harding again.

She'd become Harbor City's uncrowned queenuntouchable.

Famous. Powerful. Ready to scrub her past clean and step into the light.

And I was the stain she needed to wash away.

Beneath the glare of neon signs, Serena looked down at me.

"Alex Simmons. After all these years... do you ever regret it?"

Her gaze churned with something oldlove and hate, tangled together from seven years ago.

As if I only had to bow my head, just slightly, and we could slip back through time to when we were happy.

But I just smiled, cold and faint.

"Never."

I'd made my choice that night seven years ago.

Even if heaven gave me a hundred do-overs. Even if I had to face every storm alone.

I wouldn't hesitate. I'd choose the same thing every time.

Mongkok Tower was Harbor City's most notorious slumhome to everyone this city wanted to forget.

I'd hidden here to put as much distance between myself and Serena as possible.

Funny how seven years of running in circles led me right back to her.

And in the most humiliating way imaginable.

Serena had brought an entourage to inspect the building. They were discussing demolition planstearing down Mongkok Tower, replacing it with a gleaming commercial high-rise.

Meanwhile, I was chasing down a customer who owed me five hundred bucks.

One careless step, and I landed face-first at Serena Harding's feet.

Our eyes met.

Hers held shock. Disgust. And something elsea flicker of pain she probably didn't even noticegone in an instant.

Then her face went cold again. She stared down at me.

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

A pause.

"So this is what you wanted."

The lackey behind her caught the contempt in her voice and ran with it. He crouched down, making a show of wiping the dirt I'd gotten on her shoes, his voice pitched loud enough for everyone to hear.

"Well, wellif it isn't Mongkok's number-one pretty boy!"

"Back when Serena hit rock bottom, you grabbed all her money and ran off with that little tramp."

"Seven years later, look at you now. What happened? She dump you too? Left you out here selling yourself?"

He snorted. "Figures. What else would you expect from a homewrecker?"

"You think every woman's gonna be like Serena? Selling her own blood just to keep you fed?"

He ranted on, righteous and oblivious.

Completely missing the way Serena's expression had shifted behind him.

These past years, Serena's rise had been meteoric.

She'd inherited the entire Harding empire. Built on it with her own ruthlessnessthat desperate, all-or-nothing edge she'd always had.

Now she stood at the peak.

Happy. Dazzling. Untouchable.

Why would she want to remember that miserable chapter of her life? The one that belonged to me?

But our history wasn't exactly a secret.

The executives noticed the change in her face and scrambled to smooth things over. They brought up Ethan Pruitther fiancassured her trash like me wasn't worth her anger.

Surrounded by flattery, Serena's expression softened. She stepped past me without another glance.

But at the last moment, she stopped. Turned.

"Alex Simmons. Why?"

The others looked confused.

But I knew exactly what she was asking.

Why did I leave without saying goodbye back then.

Why did I choose a person like that.

Why, after ending up with such an outcome, was I still unwilling to bow my head to her.

I looked at the trace of coldness in Serena's eyes that she couldn't let go of.

With a light laugh, I gave the same answer as seven years ago.

"Because of love."

I love Serena Harding.

From the moment I first came to Harbor City, when she pulled me out of the mud, I had already fallen in love with her.

I remember that daythe evening wind brushing my face, the sky ablaze with sunset.

Serena lifted me onto her motorcycle and told me to hold her waist and not be afraid.

"Remember thisyour sister here is the boss of this whole block."

"From now on, stick with me, and you won't have to be afraid of anything."

What bossSerena was a big liar.

All her belongings added together amounted to one clueless little underling who couldn't read the room, and a beat-up motorcycle that had been patched up more times than I could count.

But we made it work. Day after day, we got by on that motorcycle.

Using the skills I'd learned on the mainland, I opened a flower shop. Serena rode that broken bike to make deliveries.

The day we made it official, we agreed to save up and take over a storefront. When the shop opened, we'd get married.

Serena was so happy she almost didn't know where she was. She hugged me and kissed me again and again, giddy like a little kid.

"This is amazingme, Serena Harding, I'm finally going to have a home!"

"My future husband, I'll work so hard for us, I swear!"

From then on, she put those words into action.

Rain or shine, freezing cold or scorching heatSerena didn't slack off a single day.

She already had a head for business. Once she shed that careless, good-for-nothing disguise, she became unstoppable.

In just a few years, she'd built up her own network and saved a decent amount of money.

Every time Serena came back after finishing her rounds, her favorite thing was counting money at home. She liked to divide it into little stacks, one after another, muttering with conviction.

"This portion's for buying a house."

"This portion's for marrying Alex."

"This portion's for buying him new clothes."

I felt sorry for how hard she worked.

But Serena always said that as long as I was happy, everything she endured had meaning.

Just like that, we finally saved enough to buy a house.

But it was also that year that Serena was diagnosed with heart failure.

The surgery fee was astronomical.

Even if I gave up everything I had. Even if her underling friends emptied their savings, running around everywhere to borrow money.

We were still three hundred thousand short.

I went to loan sharks. Relatives and friends dodged me the moment they saw me coming.

I had no other choice. So I sold myself.

I went to find Third Masterthe man who had tricked me into The Underground all those years ago.

I promised that if he'd give me three hundred thousand, I would follow him wholeheartedly and work for him for the rest of my life.

After hearing my offer, Third Master laughed so hard he couldn't straighten his back. He looked at me with contempt.

"With that plain face of yours, you think you're worth three hundred thousand?"

He sized me up from top to bottom, his eyes calculating.

"Three hundred thousand to buy a person isn't worth it. But to buy some facenow that's worth it."

"I just don't know if you're willing."

To me back then, as long as I could save Serena's life, I would agree to anything.

Even if it meant hurting her.

To satisfy Third Master's twisted sense of entertainment, I lied to Serena and told her I'd fallen in love with another woman.

I made Serena kneel to me in public.

I posted her humble, helpless image online.

I used every vicious method I could think of to hurt her.

During that time, Serena really humbled herself to the extreme.

She cut her wrists. Banged her head against walls. Countless times, she looked at me with red-rimmed eyes and asked me why.

And I just kept telling her, cold as ice: "Because I don't love you anymore."

A woman who had never feared anything in her life cried for the first time. Like a child, she sobbed and begged me not to leave. She said she'd get proper treatment, work properly. She'd give me every cent she earned. She just begged me not to go.

"Alex, I won't live much longer. I won't live much longer!"

"Just think of it as charitylie to me, okay?"

"I still have a little stash in the bank. The password is your birthday."

"I'll give you everything I have. Just stay with me two more days. Just two daysis that still too much to ask?"

Serena trampled her own dignity into the dirt. She humbled herself to nothing. She wasn't even asking me to come back to her. She only asked that in the final days of her life, I would look at her one more time.

I lied to her.

I pretended to agree to get back together. And the moment hope flickered back into her eyes, I stole all her money.

I remember exactly how much was in that account. $35,800.

It was what Serena had saved up for a bride pricefor me.

She knew I had no parents, no relatives who could arrange these things. She didn't want me to lose face at our wedding. So she asked around everywhere, learned the customs of my hometown, and saved up every penny.

$35,800. I took it all. I didn't even leave her that beat-up motorcycle.

When she found out, Serena vomited blood in the hospital and collapsed on the spot.

Her boys went crazy searching for me, north and south. Someone even put out a bounty. They swore they'd cut me into a thousand pieces for what I did to her.

But neither Serena nor anyone else ever found me.

Because I was lying in a hospital bed. Preparing for heart surgery.

I broke Serena's heart completely. I sold myself. But I used the money to extend her life.

I never told her our match was perfect. Just like I never told her the real reason I left.

Fate finally showed mercy to that pitiful woman.

Serena's surgery went smoothly. She recovered fastand through it, she found the family she'd been separated from for years. That's when everyone discovered the truth: the gifted little delinquent from the streets was actually the lost bloodline of the wealthy Harding family.

Serena returned to her roots. After all that bitterness, sweetness finally came. She moved out of Mongkok Tower and got the best medical care money could buy. She inherited the family business. Got engaged to some rich heir.

Her life kept getting better. Her name started appearing on financial news channels.

And me? I replaced my heart with the cheapest artificial one on the market. Curled up in the Underground, silently waiting to wither away.

Seven years passed in the blink of an eye.

Even I didn't expect that at the end of my life, I'd see Serena again.

The roar of the sports car cut through my memories.

When I looked up, her figure had already vanished into the dust.

I patted myself off, picked up the loose change from the ground, and walked back to that shabby little rental.

Maybe Serena had already forgotten. That we once lived here together, happy, for a very long time.

Maybe she still hadn't been able to forget.

So she wanted to tear down this building. Tear down every memory tied to me.

But none of that mattered anymore.

An artificial heart only lasts seven years.

Whether Serena forgives me or not. However the world sees me. My life entered its countdown the moment I made that choice seven years ago.

Life is too shortno time left for sighing.

Before death comes, there's only one way to live: fight with everything I have.

I tidied up the room and waited for the evening's regulars.

But that night, it wasn't regulars who showed up.

It was a pack of vicious punks.

The rickety door caved in with one kick. They shoved me around while trashing the place.

The lackey up front bowed and scraped to the man standing off to the side.

I recognized himEthan Pruitt. Serena's fianc. The one she'd thrown obscene amounts of money at to chase down.

Ethan was handsome, but his temper ran hot.

The moment our eyes met, he backhanded me across the face.

His nails raked my cheek. He grabbed my chin and sneered. "So this is Serena's first love? Doesn't look like much. How'd you manage to stay in her head all these years?"

The lackey forced an awkward laugh, still groveling. "How could he compare to you, brother-in-law? He's just a shameless streetwalkernot even fit to carry your shoes. If he hadn't pulled tricks to show up in front of Serena today, I'd never have let him dirty your eyes!"

Ethan's gaze turned even more contemptuous. He covered his mouth in exaggerated disgust and handed over the video camera.

"Since he's Serena's first love, we should take extra good care of him." He gestured at my empty room. "Business looks dead. I brought some friends to liven things up. Serve them wellI'll send more customers later."

At his signal, a group of men with brutal faces closed in.

I shook my head, panic clawing up my throat. "Noyou've got it wrong, I'm not"

Before I could finish, a hand grabbed my hair and hurled me sideways.

My body slammed into the wardrobe.

A loud crashand that long-sealed photo tumbled into view.

I lunged to cover it.

The next second, a custom leather shoe came down without hesitation.

Glass shards bit into my palm. Blood seeped out, staining the photo beneath.

Fighting through the bone-deep pain, I lifted my head.

Serena stood there. Face cold. Indifferent.

Her gaze swept past me and landed on Ethan. "What are you doing?"

He wasn't afraid at all. Smiling, he hooked her arm. "Nothing. Just helping you vent. That bastard treated you like trash back thenI'm not letting him off easy."

Something flickered across that frozen face. A trace of a smile.

Serena reached up and ruffled Ethan's hair, chuckling softly. "Leave these things to the people under you. Why dirty your own eyes over him?"

That careful tendernessit was like looking through time at who I used to be.

Back then, I stood by Serena's side with that same look of happiness. Dreaming of the sweetness our future would hold.

But now, the heart beating in her chest is my heart.

And the way she looks at me holds nothing but ice.

Serena's words did nothing to cool Ethan's rage.

To vent his furyand the jealousy gnawing at himhe grabbed my hair and dragged me from inside the house all the way out. My calves scraped over broken glass, leaving a winding trail of blood behind me. Disgusted, he grabbed a basin of cold water and dumped it over my head.

"Back then, you made Serena kneel here while people mocked her." His voice dripped with venom. "Today, you get to feel what that was like."

I knew he wanted to humiliate me. I knew none of them wanted me to have it easy. I knew how much Serena hated me.

Chatter swelled around us. Everyone was laughinglaughing at me for not knowing my place, for bringing this on myself, for being loose and fickle, for being cheap. Even one of Serena's underlings couldn't help but chime in. "Serena was so good to you back then. If you hadn't left, you'd be the one living the high life now..."

If I hadn't leftif I hadn't done what I didSerena wouldn't have lived to see today at all.

I clenched my teeth, refusing to let the tears fall. But my body still trembled from the cold.

Harbor City's winters don't kill people. But that surgery had left my body wrecked. A simple cold, a bit of wind-chilleither could take me out at any time.

I curled up on the ground, rubbing my arms over and over. But I couldn't fight off the bone-piercing wind. Or Serena's icy stare.

Seven years. I'd survived alone in this mud pit for seven years. The artificial heart's beat was growing weaker. My life was nearing its end.

I lifted my head one last time to look at her. And suddenly, I understood how she must have felt seven years ago. At the edge of death, at the final moment of a lifetimeI was just like she had been. Humble. Helpless. Begging for the person I loved to turn around and look at me. Just once.

But she didn't. Seven years ago, I never turned back. Seven years later, neither did she.

As darkness swallowed me, the only voice I heard was a stranger's.

"Serena, what the hell are you doing!" Third Master's roar cut through the noise. "Alex gave you his heart to save your life! If you can't be grateful, finebut do you really need to kill him twice to be satisfied?!"