I was ten years old when I lost my hearing saving Adrian Falcone's life.

After that, I couldn't survive without my hearing aids.

He held my hand afterward, his eyes red-rimmed with guilt, and made me a promise in front of his entire family. "Serena Lombardi, I'll protect you with my life," he said. "I'll marry you."

But when I turned eighteen, everything changed. Adrian needed to pass some test set by Daniela Moretti—the daughter of a rival family—and he chose the cruelest way to prove himself. He ripped the hearing aids from my ears in front of everyone and laughed.

"You're just a deaf, useless burden," he said, his voice cold and cutting. "I've been sick of you for years. Honestly? I wish you'd died in that explosion when we were ten and saved me the trouble."

I gripped the rehabilitation report the doctor had just handed me, and my fingers crushed the paper's edges. The diagnosis was precise—my hearing had fully recovered.

That night, I burned my hearing aids and convinced my parents to cut all ties with the Falcone family.

Adrian Falcone, we're done. Whatever we had, whatever you owed me—it's over now.

"Serena, I wish you'd died in that explosion when we were ten and saved me the trouble."

Adrian's words hit me like a bullet to the chest.

Rough laughter erupted in the room. "Holy shit, Boss is savage as hell!"

"Next time when Serena's busted ears are finally fixed, you should say it right to her face. I'd love to see that fragile little princess cry her eyes out."

"Who cares if she hears? She's a deaf—no one else would want her anyway except Adrian."

My hands were shaking.

Today was supposed to be my birthday party.

I'd been planning to show Adrian my diagnosis report tonight and tell him that my hearing had finally recovered. I wouldn't be a burden to him anymore.

But instead, my carefully planned surprise led me straight to the brutal truth I was never meant to hear.

I thought he loved me.

"Enough." Adrian's voice cut through the room, calm and detached. "Serena saved my life as a kid. Don't say that stuff around her."

A faint click—plastic against plastic. My hearing aid.

"Got it. We know the deal."

"Throwing away your life to repay a debt? You're too noble, Adrian."

More laughter followed, and I bit down hard on the inside of my lip.

"Serena's fragile," Daniela said. "Not like me. She can't handle you guys. Don't push her too hard."

"Adrian," she said, her tone turning serious, "you passed my test. Now I believe you're really over that deaf girl. So... tomorrow night, you and me. A date."

"Okay," Adrian smiled.

Before I could react, Adrian slipped the hearing aid back behind my ear. "Baby, what are you thinking? Too happy to speak?"

His eyes fixed on me like I was everything.

What could I say? I heard it. I heard every word.

But nothing came out. I just stared at this face I'd memorized a thousand times.

"Serena!" Someone called my name.

They all wore identical fake smiles.

"Adrian took out your hearing aid and said the sweetest things," one said. "Honestly, it gave us chills."

"You two childhood sweethearts are so perfect together," another added.

Daniela linked her arm through Adrian's and smiled. "You must be blessed to have her."

Her fingertips traced his suit cuff—intimate, deliberate. Adrian didn't pull away.

"Come on," he said, extending his hand. "Your birthday party's starting. Everyone's waiting."

I just stared at him.

"Serena?" He frowned. Something flashed in his eyes—impatience, quick but real.

I reached out and took his hand.

His palm was warm, his grip steady and familiar, just as it had been for the past ten years.

But this time, all I felt was ice-cold emptiness.

Serena's POV

I thought back to past gatherings. How many times had this happened?

Adrian would remove my hearing aids and speak to me with tender eyes. I couldn't hear anything. I could only watch his lips move and see the knowing smiles on everyone's faces. When he put my hearing aids back in, everyone said he'd been whispering sweet promises to never betray me.

If I hadn't secretly gotten my hearing fixed.

If I hadn't heard his vile words tonight after he removed my hearing aids—words hidden beneath his gentle mask—I would have never known the truth.

Daniela dropped her arm from Adrian's shoulders. "Sorry, Serena. Adrian and I just joke around like this. Don't be jealous."

Her fingers had been tracing his shoulder. The gesture was too practiced.

Adrian laughed. "You act like such a dude. Where's your feminine side?"

They started chasing each other around the room. Everyone went back to drinking and chatting, as if I—the birthday girl—didn't exist.

I closed my eyes and took a deep breath. The room reeked of perfume, cigars, and alcohol. My stomach turned. I headed for the door.

"Where are you going?" Daniela blocked my path. Her red nails dug into my wrist. Annoyance flashed in her eyes. "Everyone came to celebrate your birthday. And you're just leaving?"

Adrian walked over and reached up to touch my hair—that gesture used to make my heart race, but now it just made me sick. He frowned, "You haven't even opened everyone's birthday gifts yet. Don't be difficult, okay?"

I stepped aside to avoid his hand.

"We're done." I said coldly, "Don't contact me again."

Then I pushed past Daniela and walked out of the room without looking back.

Behind me, voices erupted in shock and disbelief, but I didn't stop.

My phone wouldn't stop buzzing on the drive home.

Adrian's messages came one after another: [What's wong with you? Everyone came all this way to celebrate your birthday and brought you gifts, and you just leave them hanging like that?]

[Daniela was just excited, okay? That's how she is—fun and easygoing, not dramatic like other girls. So what if she had her arm around me? She let go right away and apologized to you, didn't she?]

Then the group chat exploded with messages from the others: [Serena, don't you think you're being ridiculous?]

[You just stormed off for no reason. What did we ever do to you?]

[Ungrateful much?]

I stared at those messages, and suddenly I started laughing.

I laughed so hard I could feel tears burning at the corners of my eyes.

I typed back just one line: [Who's really being ridiculous here?]

Then I blocked every single one of them and left all the group chats.

Thunder rumbled across the sky outside my car window.

By the time I got home, the rain was pouring down hard.

I walked into the living room, soaking wet, and my parents, Monica and Hugo, were sitting on the couch waiting for me. The moment Monica saw me, she jumped up and grabbed a towel to dry my hair.

"How did you get this soaked? What happened?"

I took a deep breath and gave them the short version of tonight. When I got to the part about what Adrian said, my voice began to shake.

"I don't like him anymore." I said, "And I don't want to see him again, and I definitely don't want to be with him or marry him."

Monica pulled me into her arms and rubbed my back gently. "Sweetheart, this isn't the end of the world. I'll take you to cancel the engagement tomorrow, and you can apply to any college you want. Your dad and I will always support you."

Hugo came over and placed the cake knife in my hand. The living room lights were warm and soft, unlike the cold, luxurious atmosphere of the private room at the restaurant.

"Let's just have a quiet little birthday with the three of us." He smiled, "Come on, birthday girl, no more crying. Make a wish and blow out the candles."

I laughed through my tears and closed my eyes in the candlelight to make my wish.

But just as I was about to cut the cake, the doorbell rang.

I opened the door, and Adrian was standing there.

He was completely soaked. But he just stood there like he couldn't feel the cold, smiling as he held out an elegant jewelry box.

The luxury brand logo gleamed under the porch light.

"Look, I picked this out just for you," he said, his voice still gentle. "Stop being upset, okay? Everyone's still waiting for you back at the private room, and let's not talk about breaking up anymore."

I stared at the jewelry box, and something clicked.

Daniela had been wearing a necklace from this exact brand today. Same collection.

I didn't reach for it.

Adrian's arm just hung there in midair. After a long moment, he finally lowered his hand, and the smile vanished from his face. Impatience and annoyance took their place.

"What's wrong with you today? When I asked you out, you cried your eyes out, remember? So what's with the attitude now? Serena, do you even remember how sweet and obedient you used to be?"

His words cut through me like a knife, hitting exactly where it hurt most.

Because I was deaf, I was easily controlled.

He didn't love me. He never had.

To him, I was nothing more than a burden, someone who'd saved his life once when we were kids but couldn't make any real waves now.

"I'm not making a scene," I said, "The breakup is real. Don't contact me again."

Adrian's face twisted with rage.

He hurled the jewelry box to the ground. His eyes blazed with fury. "Serena, what is your problem—"

"Adrian." Hugo's voice cut him off.

Hugo stepped forward and pulled me behind him. His eyes narrowed. "Watch your mouth," he said coolly. "You're soaked. Go home, take a hot shower, and get some rest."

Monica came out of the kitchen with a slice of cake and a polite smile that didn't reach her eyes. "Serena already made her wish, and we don't need any more gifts. You can take this cake home with you. It's getting late, and you should head back—it's not safe for a boy to be out alone at night."

Adrian just stood there, frozen.

He probably never imagined this day would come. Before all this, whenever he showed up at our place, Monica and Serena treated him like he was practically part of the family. They'd never turned him away at the door before.

He opened his mouth like he wanted to say something, but before he could get a word out, the door swung shut right in his face.

I leaned against the door and listened to his footsteps fade away outside. For the first time in what felt like forever, that crushing weight on my chest finally lifted.

When I turned around, I saw the half-cut cake still sitting on the coffee table, and the candles were still flickering.

"Come here," Hugo said gently. "Let's get back to celebrating your eighteenth birthday."

I walked over and picked up the cake knife.

Thunder still rumbled outside, but inside, everything felt warm and safe.

This was what home was supposed to feel like.

"Serena, you sure about this?" Monica sat on my bed, worry clear in her voice.

She knew how much I loved Adrian.

I stared at the hearing aid in my hand. The memory came back sharp.

Ten years ago, I was ten years old.

That day, both our families went to check out an illegal weapons factory in the suburbs. Our competitors ambushed us out of nowhere, and the whole place went up in flames in seconds.

Hugo's years of training kicked in, and I instinctively found an escape route. But when I burst out of the warehouse, I saw Adrian just standing there in the middle of the inferno, frozen with fear.

I didn't know where the strength came from.

I ran back in and grabbed Adrian's hand, dragging him toward the exit.

Then the factory exploded, and the shockwave sent me flying.

When I woke up, I couldn't hear anything.

I curled up in my hospital bed and refused to talk to anyone. I couldn't accept that I'd never hear sound again.

Then Adrian showed up.

He skipped class to visit me and brought a bunch of snacks, trying to cheer me up. He even drew an oak tree on them to represent strength, and a wolf, too. He told me he'd protect me like a wolf from now on.

His eyes locked onto mine, and he made a solemn promise. "I'll always protect you, my princess."

I was the only one who remembered his childhood promise.

If ten-year-old Serena heard nineteen-year-old Adrian say, "I wish you'd died in that explosion," she would've cried.

People change.

I saved his life once. The Falcones repaid me—fifty percent of their profits over the years. More than fair.

We were even.

I didn't need to be anyone's accessory. I could survive on my own.

I lifted my head and met Monica's eyes. "I've made up my mind."