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 queen—untouchable.

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 old—love 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 slum—home 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 plans—tearing 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 else—a flicker of pain she probably didn't even notice—gone 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, well—if 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 ruthlessness—that 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 Pruitt—her fiancé—assured 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.